Unpacking the Mystery of Mediation in African Peace ... - Swisspeace

Unpacking the Mystery of Mediation in African Peace Processes
macy of the process, and technical advisors in the
background, seems to have been vital to the success
of the process. The panel was the only mediation
team, and the Kenya National Dialogue and
Reconciliation that it led was the only negotiation
process between Kibaki and Odinga’s parties.
Kofi Annan insisted that there must not be any
other parallel processes, because that would enable
the parties to “look elsewhere if they don’t
like what you’re offering”. 122 Another interesting
feature of the panel was that it specifically included
only African personalities. Persons from
other continents were not considered. However,
none of the panel members were Kenyans. Therefore,
although they were external mediators with
a certain distance to the conflict, their African
origin was beneficial to their acceptance by the
parties.
Negotiation Setup and Process
The panel members arrived in Kenya on 24 January
2008 and initiated the Kenya National Dialogue
and Reconciliation process. The first step to
initiating a constructive dialog was the formation
of two negotiating teams including five representatives
of either political party involved in the
conflict. 123 The panel arranged meetings between
the negotiating teams on a regular basis. The
teams worked out an agenda for the process and
proceeded to address the identified issues in turn.
On 13 February, the panel and the negotiating
teams withdrew to a secret location outside Nairobi
(a game reserve lodge) to continue the negotiations
on agenda item 3, the political crisis.
During the discussions, a number of options were
considered with respect to addressing the disputed
electoral results, including a complete, nationwide
recount, a re-tally, a re-run, a judicial
process, and a forensic audit. No agreement was
reached over any of these options. At this point,
the crucial issue of the governance structure was
not yet addressed either. 124
On 18 February, US Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice met with Kofi Annan, as well as with
122 Cohen (2008): op. cit., p. 6.
123 The Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation:
(http://www.dialoguekenya.org/default.aspx).
124 Kenyan National Dialogue and Reconciliation: “Agenda Item
Three: How to Resolve the Political Crisis“ (14 February 2008),
(http://www.dialoguekenya.org/agreements.aspx).
50
Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga, on separate occasions.
She affirmed the support of the US and the
international community for the peace process in
Kenya in a public statement. 125 On 26 February,
Kofi Annan announced the suspension of the negotiations
between the negotiating teams, and
that he would instead engage with both leaders of
the parties, Kibaki and Odinga, in face-to-face
talks. The negotiations had been unproductive
over several sessions – the PNU had an interest in
slowing down the negotiations as much as possible
(the longer Kibaki stayed in office, the harder
it would become for the opposition to revert the
electoral result). This dragging out of the peace
process again increased the risk of the country falling
back into violence as ODM supporters came
to see this as their only option. 126 “I couldn’t let
them hide behind the mediators anymore,” 127
Annan said. The direct talks included five African
leaders: Annan, Kibaki, Odinga, Mkapa, and Jakaya
Kikwete, the president of Tanzania. The
talks between the two leaders proved fruitful; after
only two days, on 28 February 2008, Kofi
Annan announced to the press that a powersharing
agreement had been reached. Kibaki and
Odinga had both signed the Kenya National Accord
and Reconciliation Act 2008.
Key issues during Negotiations
On 1 February 2008, in the fourth session organized
by the panel, the PNU and ODM negotiation
teams agreed on a dialog agenda, which included
the following four points: Stopping the
violence; addressing the humanitarian crisis; overcoming
the political crisis; and finding solutions
to long-term issues and root causes of the conflict.
With respect to agenda item one, ending the
violence, the panel issued a public statement on 1
February with a number of recommendations,
signed by the parties’ representatives in the negotiation
teams. Item two was addressed by a corresponding
statement on 4 February recommending
a number of immediate measures to address
125 “Transcript of statement of US Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice with former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan” (18 February
2008), (http://www.dialoguekenya.org/docs/Rice%20
with%20Annan%20PC%20%2002%2018%2008.pdf).
126 International Crisis Group (2008): op. cit., p. 26.
127 Cohen (2008): op. cit., p. 8.