Mudavadi: We're focused on safety of Kenyans in Middle East

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Prime CS Musalia Mudavadi during a discussion at Chatham House in London. /COURTESY

Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has said that the Kenyan government is focused on the safety and well-being of more than half a million Kenyan nationals living, working, and studying in the Middle East.

"The safety and well-being of more than half a million Kenyans living, working, and studying in the Middle East remains a key priority for the Kenyan government," Mudavadi said.

Mudavadi said Kenya remains a neutral and principled voice advocating for peace, restraint, humanitarian protection and international legality.

"During a discussion at Chatham House in London, I reaffirmed Kenya’s position as a principled and balanced voice calling for restraint, dialogue, humanitarian protection and respect for international law as tensions continue to rise in the Middle East."

Mudavadi said the longer the violence and insecurity last, the greater the harm, especially if traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains blocked.

“There will be disruptions to energy supply, air travel, and trade, which will have greater economic and security ramifications. Clearly, our region is still battling terrorism, and it must remain vigilant during this crisis. The Middle East war, like other global crises including Covid-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war,” said Mudavadi.

Mudavadi, who is the Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Cabinet Secretary, was delivering a speech at Chatham House in London on Monday.

The PCS said the violent conflict reinforces the need for African states to diversify supply chains and, more importantly, accelerate integration, including the full realisation of the objectives of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

“We must accelerate the transition to renewable energy. Let us reimagine the future. If Africa were powered by clean energy, including solar, geothermal, and hydro, the Middle East crisis would not carry the same distressing impact,” said Mudavadi.

The PCS said the overlap of the Red Sea crisis and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which handles 20 percent of global oil, signals a looming crisis and potential anarchy.

He appealed to the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to help de-escalate tensions and be mindful of the looming crisis facing African countries.

“From the impact of the Middle East war, Sudan’s dire humanitarian crisis, which was drawing international attention, now risks receding into another era of a forgotten conflict as global attention shifts to the Middle East, as was the case during the Gaza and Russia-Ukraine conflicts,” he said.

Mudavadi said Kenya was keen on its response to the changing world order, noting that international relations stand at a historic turning point.

“The global balance of power is changing. As new alliances emerge and old rivalries resurface, middle and emerging powers continue to assert influence. Apparently, we have entered a more complex, perilous, and contested global order. We are witnessing an international system increasingly marked by interest-driven alliances supplanting multilateral collective economic strategies that prioritise protectionism while constraining global supply chains, transactional calculations, and militarism,” said Mudavadi.

He said the long-standing principles of diplomacy, such as peaceful coexistence, negotiations, sovereign equality, and mutual reciprocity, as well as the foundational values of international relations, including human rights, inclusiveness, a rules-based global order, and shared prosperity, remain important.

He noted that the implications of these global changes are most felt in the Global South, particularly in Africa, where the net effect is the disruption of economic growth, escalating conflicts, a new scramble for critical resources, and a resurgence of Cold War-style geopolitics.

Mudavadi said democratic governance is increasingly coming under strain, marked by a troubling rise in unconstitutional changes of government.

“All these global trends threaten peace and security and the hard-won economic development gains of Africa. In this moment of global turbulence, African states face a two-fold strategic choice: either to transform their immense potential into strategic influence or to remain at the geopolitical periphery as passive actors and perpetual recipients of international assistance,” said Mudavadi.

He said Africa must deliberately transform its immense potential in technology, digital innovation, critical minerals, natural resources and youthful population into economic impact and a more assertive international voice.