- Title: KENYA: U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL ARRIVES IN KENYA
- Date: 26th May 2001
- Summary: NAIROBI, KENYA (MAY 26, 2001) (REUTERS) 1. SV POWELL'S AIRCRAFT ON TARMAC/MAN DRIECTING PLANE (2 SHOTS) 0.11 2. SLV POWELL WITH WIFE COMING DOWN 0.32 3. SV/SLV POWELL SHAKING HANDS WITH KENYAN OFFICIALS (2 SHOTS) 0.55 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 10th June 2001 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: NAIROBI, KENYA
- Country: Kenya
- Reuters ID: LVA61C1C8LHQ6F3NXM0ZH1RNDY3Q
- Story Text: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has arrived in
Kenya to discuss corruption, the AIDS pandemic and the civil
war in neighbouring Sudan with President Daniel arap Moi.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told Kenyan
President Daniel arap Moi on Saturday (May 26) that his
country must make more reforms if it wants money from the
International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
Moi assured Powell his government was committed to
economic and political reforms, including the fight against
corruption, one of the main grievances of international
lenders.
Powell, touring Africa to promote democracy, open markets
and honesty about AIDS, told a joint news conference after
talks with Moi he was confident Kenya would follow the
constitution when presidential elections fall due next year.
Under the constitution, Moi cannot seek a further
five-year term as president, but some of his supporters have
urged him to change the system and stay on in office.
In South Africa on Friday (May 25), Powell said many
African leaders were clinging to power. He singled out
President Robert Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe for 20 years,
but Moi has been in office even longer, since the death of
Jomo Kenyatta in 1978.
On international lending, Powell said Kenya needed
legislation to deter corruption and economic crimes.
The IMF and other donors suspended some $300 million in
loans to Kenya late last year after the government backtracked
on promises on privatisation and the fight against corruption.
IMF support is seen as vital to reviving Kenya's economy,
which contracted by 0.4 percent last year and is wallowing in
its worst recession since independence in 1963.
A senior U.S. official travelling with Powell said the
United States also wanted Moi to speak out more on the need
for Kenyans to take precautions against the HIV/AIDS pandemic
that has hit some 25 million Africans.
Moi and Powell talked about the Kenyan leader's attempts to
mediate in Sudan's civil war, one of the longest in Africa.
On Sunday before flying on to Uganda, Powell will meet
relief organisations working in southern Sudan but will not
see any representatives of the rebel Sudan People's Liberation
Movement, who often pass through Nairobi.
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
