Acting Foreign Affairs minister Prof George Saitoti has said Kenya is willing to work with Libya’s interim authorities to restore the country August 23, 2011. FILE
By BENJAMIN MUINDI, bmuindi@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Tuesday, August 23 2011 at 19:00
Posted Tuesday, August 23 2011 at 19:00
Kenya has expressed willingness to work with Libya’s interim authorities in restoring the country.
Acting Foreign Affairs minister George Saitoti said Tuesday that Kenya will co-operate in restoring order, forging reconciliation and national cohesion, restoring infrastructure and reviving the economy.
“Kenya stands ready to work with the people of Libya, the African Union and the international community to help build a new Libya,” Prof Saitoti said in a statement.
He asked the interim authorities to establish a political dialogue with both the AU and international community to help in formulating a new constitution and holding free and fair elections.
“With the impending collapse of the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddaffi, Kenya urges that all efforts be exerted for the early restoration of peace and stability in Libya,” he said.
“Consistent with the AU road map for Libya, Kenya has always believed that only a political solution will make it possible to fulfill the mutually reinforcing objectives of peace and democracy.”
Prof Saitoti added that this was only way that there would be respect for human rights, the rule of law, and national reconciliation for the people of Libya.
At the same time, all Kenyans living in Libya have been repatriated back home, Foreign Affairs permanent secretary Patrick Wamoto has said.
Mr Wamoto said both Kenyans working in different parts of Libya and employees at the Kenyan mission in Tripoli had returned home.
“We had about 12 teachers who had remained in Southern Libya when we evacuated other Kenyans but they arrived home about two weeks ago,” he said.
Meanwhile, acting Foreign Affairs assistant minister Richard Onyonka has asked public officers posted in missions abroad to understand the country’s developmental blueprint to better represent the country.
Speaking at the launch of a training for 51 officers to be posted in various missions, Mr Onyonka noted that Kenya’s foreign diplomacy has adopted a new dimension with greater emphasis on economic diplomacy.
“Our foreign policy priorities seek to promote economic development and prosperity by increasing market access, capital inflow and advanced technological advancement,” he said.
“This policy is not going to be pursued in isolation from our domestic policy, since most foreign policy objectives are more often than not influenced and indeed intertwined with domestic policy.”
He spoke at the Kenya Institute of Administration where the officers are to be trained on the new strategy.
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