US "hopes" Kenya will join Rice talks

Story by KEVIN KELLY in New York

"We hope Kenya will be there," Jendayi Frazer, the assistant secretary of state for African affairs, told reporters at a Washington briefing on Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s upcoming talks at African Union headquarters in Ethiopia.

"Kenya is in the midst of an election campaign, a very close election campaign," Ms Frazer noted.

She seemed to be suggesting that the proximity of the December 27 vote might prevent President Mwai Kibaki and cabinet ministers from attending sessions that may include the heads of state of Kenya’s neighbouring countries.

Secretary of State Rice is scheduled to arrive in Addis Ababa on Wednesday, December 5.

Following talks with leaders of the Great Lakes countries, Ms Rice plans to hold a ministerial-level meeting on Somalia. In addition to Kenya’s hoped-for participation, the talks will include officials from Somalia, Uganda, Djibouti, Ethiopia, the United Nations and African Union.

"We're hoping that the consultation will focus on how to achieve a more inclusive political dialogue and reconciliation to move the country towards 2009 elections, how to mitigate the impact of the current violence, especially in Mogadishu on the civilian population and address the humanitarian emergency," Assistant Secretary Frazer said in regard to the Somalia talks.

She added that the participants will be "working together to further isolate extremists and spoilers who continue to use violence, and then to push for quicker deployment of the African Union force into Somalia, the Amisom force."

Secretary of State Rice will also discuss Sudan with the member states of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, Igad.

"These are the countries that were, in a sense, semi-guarantors of the CPA, having helped to negotiate it under Kenya's leadership," Ms Frazer said, referring to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended 20 years of fighting in southern Sudan.

The Igad nations conferring with Ms Rice will include Djibouti, Ethiopia, Uganda, "we hope Kenya" and Sudan, Ms Frazer said.