Kenya did not respond to Ukraine’s request to speak before its parliament. Since the beginning of the war, the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky multiplies the addresses in front of the Western assemblies to try to rally the opinions to his cause vis-a-vis Russia. But the exercise is not to Nairobi’s taste. Kenya has certainly condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but at the same time is careful not to alienate Moscow.
With our correspondent in Nairobi, Florence Morice
Officially, the Ukrainian request, which dates from February 25, is still ” under review “. In any case, this is what the Kenyan Ministry of Affairs replied in a note verbale on March 10. But since no more news despite “ our repeated reminders, which in diplomatic practice means a refusal laments a source at the Ukrainian embassy. Still according to this source, the ambassador has also been asking in vain for two months to be received by the Kenyan Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
Signals all the more badly perceived in kyiv since on May 12, the Russian ambassador to Kenya was received by the number 2 of the ministry. The photo was on the front page of the press the next day. A few days before the start of the war, the Kenyan ambassador to the United Nations made an impression by condemning Russian aggression and comparing it to colonial history. But since Kenya has adopted a more neutral position in this conflict so as not to jeopardize its diplomatic ties with Moscow.
Last week, the country thus abstained during a vote of the general assembly of the United Nations which proposed to suspend Russia from UN human rights council. For Moscow as for kyiv, Kenya’s support is all the more strategic, and therefore fiercely disputed, as the country currently occupies one of the 10 non-permanent seats on the Security Council.
► Read also: Exclusion of Russia from the UN Human Rights Council: the position of Africans