KENYA: Clinton welcomes Sudan oil agreement, wants Kenya to hold free and fair elections.

Record ID: 362343

  • Title: KENYA: Clinton welcomes Sudan oil agreement, wants Kenya to hold free and fair elections.
  • Date: 4th August 2012
  • Summary: NAIROBI, KENYA (AUGUST 4,2012) (REUTERS) U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE HILARY CLINTON SITTING AT PRESS CONFERENCE WITH HER DELEGATION (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE, HILLARY CLINTON, SAYING: "I welcome the agreement on the oil reached between Republic of South Sudan and the Republic of Sudan. This agreement reflects leadership and a new spirit of comprom
  • Embargoed: 19th August 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVABZBCWJJSZTZGTUQV0U4PAM2NU
  • Story Text: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praises Sudan and South Sudan for reaching oil agreement and repeats call for free and fair elections in Kenya.
    U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Saturday (August 4) said she was encouraged by the oil agreement between Sudan and South Sudan which showed a "new spirit of compromise on both sides."
    The Africa Union early on Saturday said the two countries had reached the deal after weeks of talks and a threat of sanctions from the United Nations.

    "I welcome the agreement on the oil reached between Republic of South Sudan and the Republic of Sudan. This agreement reflects leadership and a new spirit of compromise on both sides, and I particularly praise the courage of Republic of South Sudan leadership in taking this decision. As I said in Juba yesterday, the interest of the people of south Sudan were truly at stake. The oil impasse has lasted more than six months. It was time to bring it to a close for the good of the people of South Sudan and their aspirations for a better future amidst a lot of challenges they face. Their nation is only one year and a few days old, and they have to turn to educating their people, providing health care, establishing strong democratic institutions, and South Sudan's leaders - lead by president Salva Kiir - has really risen to the occasion for which they deserve a great deal of credit. They tabled a bold comprehensive proposal in the latest round of talks, and an agreement was hammered out with a strong assistance of the Africa Union, and I think it's to great benefit of South Sudan and to Sudan," said Clinton at a press conference in Nairobi.
    Clinton visited Africa's newest nation for the first time on Friday (August 3), hours after a U.S. Security Council deadline expired for the neighbours to solve a long list of disputes ranging from border security to oil payments.
    Also on Friday, Clinton visited a military base in Uganda where United States Special Forces are working with Uganda in the hunt for fugitive Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) leader Joseph Kony, across some of Africa's most remote and hostile terrain, on her visit to the country after holding talks with President Yoweri Museveni.
    She thanked the veteran leader for helping in Somalia, where Ugandan troops form the backbone of an African Union peacekeeping force battling to restore order to the Horn of Africa nation overrun by al Shabaab Islamist insurgents.

    "Clearly we are very focused on the international hunt for Joseph Kony and the Lords Resistance Army that has caused so much terrible damage and violence over so many years, and we had very good discussion with Uganda People Defence Forces on that. And we also covered a range of issues in my long conversation with President Museveni that we will be following up on. And similarly here in Kenya we've had very comprehensive discussions on economics, on humanitarian issues, refugee issues, the very important contributions that Kenyan forces are making to AMISOM, to the work we are doing in agriculture and so much else," Clinton stated.
    Earlier in the day Clinton met the Kenyan President, the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice and the speaker of parliament to emphasize that Kenya's upcoming elections must be free, fair and peaceful.

    "I have won elections and I have lost elections, and when you lose an election and when your supporters see you lose an election, it's important that they have to see that the process was fair, and that's what we hope for here for our friends in Kenya," said Clinton.
    The general election next March will be the first since a disputed poll in 2007 that set off a politically based ethnic slaughter in which more than 1,200 people were killed.
    Gangs faced off with machetes and clubs, and security forces opened fire on the streets, until mediator Kofi Annan brokered a power-sharing pact between Kibaki and Odinga that ended the violence and made Odinga prime minister.
    Clinton warned on the cost of another botched election, urging the government and civil society to work together.
    Clinton, launching a seven-nation Africa tour in Senegal on Wednesday (August 1), urged Africa to recommit to democracy, declaring the "old ways of governing" can no longer work on a continent with strong economic growth and an increasingly empowered citizenry.
    She also met Somali President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed and other Somali leaders in Nairobi before travelling to Malawi and South Africa.
    Clinton's trip to Africa is intended in part to strengthen U.S. security ties with allies such as Kenya, the economic powerhouse of eastern Africa, in the face of growing threats from Islamist militants.
    Nairobi has blamed a series of bomb and other attacks in Kenya on Somalia's al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab, which has threatened to retaliate since Kenyan troops pursued the Islamists into Somalia in October.
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