21 October 2003
Powell, Kibaki Focus on Sudan, Somalia Peace Talks, Anti-terrorism Efforts
Nairobi meeting comes shortly after Kenyan President's visit to U.S. visit
"Sudan has suffered too long, too many people have died. It is now an opportunity for them to resolve this conflict" and bring "a more hopeful life to all of the Sudanese people," said Secretary of State Powell, pointing to the opening that has been created in the peace talks currently taking place in Kenya. His remarks came October 21 after meeting with Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki in Nairobi.
Powell also congratulated President Kibaki on the anti-corruption drive taking place in Kenya and said the president had been true to his word while visiting Washington recently, taking "very important steps" on his return home to root out corruption within the judiciary.
The Kenyan President also spoke of "the progress achieved...in the Somali peace process," and said it is vital that "the few Somali groups who have pulled out" of the talks return to negotiations.
Following is the text of the State Department news release:
(begin text)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
(Nairobi, Kenya)
October 21, 2003
Remarks by Secretary of State Colin L. Powell
and President of Kenya Mwai Kibaki
State House
Nairobi, Kenya
October 21, 2003
6:45 p.m. local time
PRESIDENT KIBAKI: The Secretary of State and I have held discussions in State House, Nairobi, this evening. We exchanged views on Kenya-United States relations and reaffirmed our commitment to enhance the existing cordial relations. This is demonstrated by the visit of the Secretary of State to Kenya so soon after my State Visit to the United States.
We discussed the Sudan peace process and agreed that the IGAD initiative provides the best approach to resolve the long-standing conflict in the Sudan. We are pleased with the progress made by the Sudan leaders. In that regard, we welcomed the direct involvement of Vice-President Ali Osman Taha and John Garang, Chairman of the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement in the negotiations for peace.
We also discussed and welcomed the progress achieved so far in the Somali peace process. We noted that the involvement of all the frontier states in the negotiations for peace in Somalia is vital, and appealed to Djibouti to return to the Technical Committee. For the successful completion of the peace process, it is important that the few Somali groups who have pulled out of the talks should return to the negotiations.
Kenya is grateful to the U.S. Government for the support it continues to offer for the success of the peace process in the Sudan. We also exchanged views on the measures to counter terrorism and agreed to continue cooperating in this area.
May I now ask the Secretary of State - that he is most welcome and that he may have something to say?
SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you very much, Mr. President for your warm welcome. It's a great pleasure for me to be back in Kenya. And also to be here so soon after your very successful state visit to the United State of America, and I bring you greetings from the President and Mrs. Bush.
I'm also pleased on this occasion to have the opportunity to follow up with the President some of the items we discussed when he was in Washington, items with respect to economic reform activities in Kenya, the anti-corruption drive that is underway. And I took note of the fact that, just as he said he would, when the President returned from Washington he took very important steps with respect to rooting out corruption within the judiciary, and I congratulate him for that.
We did talk about our mutual counter-terrorism efforts. We touched on the United States' commitment to making sure that we provide a good level of assistance to Kenya in counter-terrorism activity as well as the development aid we have provided in the past. And we are also looking forward to being able to provide funding for HIV/AIDS programs and funding from the East Asia Counter-Terrorism Initiative that our Congress has funded.
We did spend some time on the discussions that are taking place among Sudanese leaders. We now have a window of opportunity -- a moment that must not be lost. And I look forward to my conversations tomorrow with Dr. John Garang and Vice President Taha to encourage them to move forward quickly and aggressively to resolve the outstanding issues that exist between the sides on the subjects of power sharing, wealth sharing and some of the other issues that have to be dealt with.
Sudan has suffered too long, too many people have died. It is now an opportunity for them to resolve this conflict, in the spirit of reconciliation and moving forward, and bringing a more hopeful life to all of the people of Sudan. President Bush has asked me to come on his behalf to encourage the parties to move as aggressively as possible, and I will be conveying President Bush's message to them tomorrow.
Mr. President, once again thank you for welcoming me and receiving me, and I look forward to our next meeting sir.
PRESIDENT KIBAKI: Thank you very much. Will you please tell President Bush and his wife how much we enjoyed our visit to the United States and we hope he'll be coming to Kenya sometime very soon.
SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you Mr. President.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
This page printed from: http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2003&m=October&x=20031021162142silles0.3669855&t=usinfo/wf-latest.html
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