Kenyatta Era Relations with Major Powers
Because of its moderation and the independence of its positions from outside influence, Kenya became a recognized force within the Commonwealth. Kenya in turn made use of its Commonwealth connections to gain additional technical assistance and to bring collective diplomatic pressure to bear on Britain to require a settlement based on black majority rule in Southern Rhodesia. The implementation of the Kenyanization program put Kenya at loggerheads with Commonwealth members Britain and India. British legislation restricting the flow of Asians into Britain and India's refusal to admit Asians holding British passports brought loud charges from Nairobi that those countries were attempting to sabotage the program.
The breach in Anglo-Kenyan relations was closed when a bilateral agreement was reached, limiting the rate at which Asians would be forced to leave Kenya. A subsequent Anglo-Indian agreement on the passport issue that allowed temporary admission into India of expelled Asians claiming British nationality served also to relieve the acute tensions that had developed between Kenya and India. The well-being of Asians in Kenya remained, how- ever, a sensitive issue in Kenya's relations with India.
Despite the continuing friction with Britain over what Kenya contended was London's responsibility for events in Southern Rhodesia, the two countries retained their special relationship and, although Kenyan spokesmen were regularly critical of the British position on southern Africa, their attitude appeared to be governed by the same practical approach followed in other matters. Britain was Kenya's most important trading partner and its largest source of private investment. Britain was the primary donor of technical assistance and economic aid and also supplied most of Kenya's military equipment and training. In exchange, British military units were permitted to conduct exercises on Kenyan territory, often in conjunction with Kenyan forces.
Kenya's first contacts with the United States came through the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), which had contributed financial support to Mboya's union in the days before independence. Mboya's American ties were valuable for relations between the two countries when he later became a cabinet minister and secretary general of KANU. After independence Kenya's government was particularly sensitive to American activity in Africa, and in 1965 it condemned United States involvement in the Congo (later Zaire). Odinga and others associated with him sought to portray the United States as an imperialist power in order to encourage a tilt in Kenya's foreign policy in favor of the Soviet Union.
After Odinga's fall from power in 1966, most prominent Kenyan political figures maintained an openly friendly attitude toward the United States. Relations between the two countries continued to develop along cordial lines in the 1970s, a major impetus to this course stemming from Kenya's basic economic policy encouraging free enterprise and foreign investment.
Kenyatta demonstrated repeatedly his distaste for communism and his sensitivity to attempts by foreign powers to influence Kenyan international affairs. Relations with the Soviet Union were complicated from the start by Odinga's enthusiasm for closer ties with communist countries. In part to counter the effect of aid received from the United States by Mboya, Odinga before independence had sought financial aid and scholarships from the Soviet Union. As vice president in 1964 he led a mission to Beijing (Peking) and Moscow, where he signed aid and technical assistance agreements without the approval or prior knowledge of the cabinet. China offered an interest-free development loan and a smaller direct grant.
Initial Soviet aid consisted of a shipment of obsolete weapons that the government ordered returned because of their unsuitability. This incident, combined with evidence that arms were reaching dissidents in North-Eastern Province from Soviet-equipped Somalia, started Soviet-Kenyan relations off badly.
The Soviet aid procured by Odinga had also included assistance for health care and education. A modern hospital, for instance, was constructed and equipped with Soviet aid at Kisumu, Odinga's hometown. The Soviets also agreed to Odinga's request to build and provide instructors for the Lumumba Institute, where ideological training could be given to KANU activists. Although plans for the hospital and school were allowed to proceed, the government announced that it would not accept into the armed forces the several groups of Kenyans that had been sent under Odinga's patronage to East European countries for military training, particularly as pilots. While some Kenyan students who had gone to the Soviet Union for academic training returned voicing pro-Marxist sentiments, others came back loudly denouncing Soviet racism. Both reactions were disturbing to the Kenyan government and further prejudiced relations with the Soviet Union.
The government had also grown concerned about the involvement of the embassies of communist countries in Kenya's internal politics, which generally took the form of bankrolling Odinga's activities, and 10 communist diplomats were expelled in March 1966. The Soviet Union lost its only significant level of influence in Kenya when Odinga's fall from power was confirmed by his resignation as vice president and by the defeat of his faction at the polls in 1966. Despite the animosity toward the Soviet Union generated by these events and by Soviet military assistance to Somalia, Nairobi retained proper diplomatic relations with Moscow, but the Soviets thereafter adopted a much lower profile in Kenya.
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