Today in NAIROBI, Kenya — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton opened her seven-nation African tour in Kenya with an address to a major United States-African trade conference and other public events on Wednesday, in a visit intended to promote the broad themes of good government, trade, food security and women’s rights.
But Wednesday’s events were shadowed by a subject of deep international concern: Kenya’s volatile politics.
Some of the headlines that greeted Mrs. Clinton on her first morning in Kenya anticipated American pressure to set up a special tribunal to try the perpetrators of election-driven bloodshed early last year that left more than 1,000 people dead.
“Clinton lands as U.S. breathes fire,” said one. “Quit lecturing Africa on politics, says Raila,” said another, referring to Raila Odinga, the Kenyan prime minister who narrowly lost the disputed election that set off the violence. He signed a power-sharing agreement a few months later with the man many accused of cheating him out of victory, President Mwai Kibaki.
Mr. Odinga joked about the vote as he welcomed Mrs. Clinton at the trade conference. “In Africa, in many countries, elections are never won, they are rigged,” he said, cracking a grin and paused for a moment or two before introducing Mr. Kibaki.
Despite strong pressure from its own citizens and Western donors, the Kenyan government has refused to begin work toward a tribunal.
Many people fear that the Kenyan government will take no action.
“We are waiting, we are disappointed,” Mrs. Clinton told a news conference.
She reminded Kenyans of how the United States played a large role in brokering a peace treaty last year between Kenya’s warring political parties but said that “unfortunately, resolving that crisis has not yet translated into the kind of political process the Kenyan people deserve.”
Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court at the Hague have vowed to get involved if the Kenyan government fails to prosecute the top suspects, possibly including government ministers. On Wednesday, the Kenyan foreign minister said that this was still an option.
But Mrs. Clinton said Kenya should handle the process itself. It is “far preferable that prosecutors, judges and law enforcement officials step up to their responsibility,” she said.
“To resolve this issue internally is preferable to losing control of this.”
But she said she recognized the obstacles ahead. “I know this is not easy; I understand how complicated this is,” she said. “How do you go about prosecuting the perpetrators without engendering more violence?”
Mrs. Clinton said that the United States was not demanding that all suspects be hauled into court immediately but that “there needs to be a beginning; that’s what we are looking for.”
The address at the opening of the trade conference sometimes had a lighter tone, as Mrs. Clinton covered topics including tariffs, alternative energy, and pineapples. She made a fleeting self-referential joke about the scrutiny she has lived with as a public figure.
“This morning I had the chance to meet two women in Nairobi, to get my hair done,” she said. “My hairdos are the subject of Ph.D. theses. I’ll let everyone know I got a good one in Nairobi.”
The audience — mostly diplomats, business leaders and African ministers — chuckled politely.
The address at the trade conference touched on the broader themes of Mrs. Clinton’s visit. She cautioned the gathered African leaders that “true economic progress in Africa will depend on responsible governments that reject corruption, enforce the rule of law and deliver results for their people.
“This is not just about good governance — it’s also about good business,” she said in a speech that echoed themes raised President Obama on a visit to Ghana last month.
The new American policy for Africa would be trade, not aid, she said, declaring, “We want to be your partner, not your patron.”
She laid out plans to channel development dollars to agriculture and infrastructure, to increase support for African entrepreneurs and, at the same time, to cut back on all the overhead that often goes to American contractors.
Kenya has one of the biggest economies in Africa, driven by its safari business and exports of tea and coffee. But the country has been ailing politically since a deeply flawed election in late 2007, and it faces problems on a number of fronts.
In a video message to the conference after Mrs. Clinton spoke, Reuters reported, President Obama said, “Only Africans can unlock Africa’s potential.”
“Open markets alone are not enough,” he said. “Development requires the rule of law, transparency, accountability, and an atmosphere that welcomes investment.”
As I hold my breathe here, my biggest worries is: WILL CORRUPTION BRING ABOUT ACCOUNTABILITY IN KENYA?
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