C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NAIROBI 003300

SIPDIS

LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/21/2025
TAGS: PREL PGOV EAID ECIN PINS KUNR SO SU ET DJ SP CH KE
SUBJECT: REGIONAL ISSUES AND KENYA TRAVEL WARNING:
CONGRESSMAN PAYNE MEETS PRESIDENT KIBAKI

Classified By: POL/C MICHAEL J. FITZPATRICK, REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D)


1. (C) SUMMARY: Congressman Donald Payne expressed
appreciation to Kenya for its leadership role in the Sudan
peace accord and the Somalia reconciliation process in a
meeting with President Kibaki August 10. The Congressman
said he was trying to encourage the State Department to take
a more active role in Somalia, but the Department "has not
listened." Kibaki characterized the Somalis as "difficult"
to work with, spent a considerable portion of the meeting
complaining about the travel advisory, and pleaded for
greater representation of poor countries in the Security
Council. President Kibaki was affable, alert and engaged
during the entirety of the one-hour meeting. END SUMMARY.


2. (U) Congressman Donald Payne (D-NJ), the ranking Democrat
on the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights, and
International Operations, met with President Kibaki at State
house August 10. The Congressman was accompanied by two of
his staff members Ted Dagne and Noelle Lusane, and the
Embassy was represented by the Political Counselor and poloff
(notetaker). On the Kenyan side were President Kibaki's
Advisor for Strategic Policy, Stanley Murage, and two
officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Assistant
Minister Moses Wetangula and Permanent Secretary Boaz Mbaya.

--------------
REGIONAL AFFAIRS
--------------


3. (C) A principal topic in the meeting was regional affairs.
The Congressman, who was on the last leg of a trip to
Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Sudan (the latter as a
member of the official U.S. delegation to the funeral of John
Garang), expressed his appreciation to President Kibaki for

Kenya's leadership role in bringing peace to Sudan and in
facilitating the Somali reconciliation process. He said he
had been encouraging the State Department to take a more
active role in Somalia, but the Department "has not
listened." He hoped that Secretary Rice would get the U.S.
government more involved in the Horn of Africa and said that
his subcommittee might summon the Secretary to explain U.S.
Government Somalia policy.


4. (C) Kibaki offered that the Somalis were "difficult," even
more so now that the transitional federal institutions had
moved from Kenya to Somalia. Despite one ethnicity, one
language and one religion, the clans just liked to fight,
with the warlords having a vested interest in protecting
their fiefdoms.


5. (C) On the East Africa Community, Kibaki said relations
with Uganda and Tanzania were good. He looked forward to the
three countries becoming one state sometime next year (sic).
--------------
TRAVEL ADVISORY
--------------


6. (C) The Congressman also expressed his appreciation for
the many years of good relations between Kenya and the U.S.,
despite problems like the travel advisory. This prompted
Kibaki to wonder why the U.S. persists with the travel
warning. The advisory, he said, affects not only American
tourism, but also the willingness of tourists from other
countries to come to Kenya. It affects foreign investment as
well. Why is Kenya more dangerous than the U.K. or Spain,
which do not have travel advisories? Only the Somalis cause
us problems. Americans who live in Kenya know it is safe.
He said he did not want to protest officially or make the
issue any bigger than it is, but wondered aloud if there was
some hidden agenda, something the U.S. Government was not
telling Kenya?

--------------
UN REFORM
--------------


7. (C) President Kibaki confirmed that he would be leading
the Kenyan delegation to New York for the opening of UNGA in
September. He said Kenya wants a permanent seat on the
Security Council. The world had changed since 1945 with many
more countries now in the UN. These countries need to have a
voice, but the U.S. just wants to keep Security Council
permanent membership at five.

--------------
OTHER TOPICS
--------------


8. (C) The Congressman touched on several other issues to
which the President responded. Kibaki explained that, as a
result of his policy of providing free elementary education,
primary school attendance had increased from 4.5 million in
early 2003 to 7.25 million at present. The biggest problem
was building more schools to accommodate this increase. On
the economy, the flower industry was booming and AGOA had
helped Kenya compete with countries like China in textile
exports.
--------------
COMMENT
--------------



9. (C) The travel advisory continues to be a sore point in
bilateral relations. Kibaki and his advisors spent nearly
half the meeting complaining about it and it is almost always
raised in Emboff meetings with other Government officials.
The fact that the travel advisory no longer affects tourism
-- it is virtually impossible now to find a hotel room in the
most popular Kenyan tourist sites -- is almost beside the
point. The Government believes that the U.S. is singling out
Kenya unfairly, thus injuring Kenyan pride.


10. (C) President Kibaki was affable, alert and engaged
during the meeting. This and other recent meetings Post has
had with the President have convinced us that Kibaki has
fully recovered from the health issues that impaired his
performance in the first year or so of his term in office.
END COMMENT.


11. Khartoum minimize considered.
BELLAMY