Ruto's dilemma as dalliance with Russia, Iran unsettles the West

President William Ruto with his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi at State House, Nairobi. [PCS]

President William Ruto’s meetings with leaders from Russia and Iran has been criticised by the opposition over what they claim is his dalliance with pariah States that have appalling human rights record.

The leaders claim that police brutality and killings witnessed during the ongoing protests against the cost of living could be because of the advice from President Ebrahim Raisi who visited Kenya a few days ago.

“Look at the people we are hosting like the President of Iran who has violently stopped protests by women and other people fighting for their rights. The killings you are seeing are exactly what is happening in that country,” said Vihiga Senator Geoffrey Osotsi.

President Ruto has, since taking office, received several high-ranking leaders among them US First Lady Jill Biden,  German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Facing sanction

The President has himself made repeated visits to the US and France, meeting the latter and signing trade deals and other bilateral agreements.

He is yet to visit, the expansive East European country of Russia which has for many years been the main source of fertiliser to Kenya but which is currently facing sanctions from Western Europe because of waging war on Ukraine.

The Russia–Africa Summit which was first held in October 2019 in Sochi with former President Uhuru Kenyatta attending will be taking place this week from July 26 to 29 in St Petersburg, Russia.

Sources at State House say President will likely not be in attendance because he may be at a regional summit in Tanzania. Former President Joseph Magufuli sent Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa to the Sochi meeting that was attended by 38 presidents from Africa in 2019.

The meeting in the ancient St Petersburg city of Russia is aimed at boosting economic and political ties with Africa as Russia fights against ostracisation from the West due to its invasion of Ukraine.

Unlike the 2019 talks which took two days, the 2023 conference will span four days as Russian President Vladimir Putin entertains his guests from the African continent.

Before Lavrov’s visit, State House released a statement saying bilateral trade with Russia was still low despite the potential and the pact that was to be signed was to give businesses the necessary impetus.

The statement appeared to appease both warring sides as it also emphasized Kenya’s support for respecting the territorial integrity of all countries. “Kenya calls for a resolution of the conflict in a manner respectful to the two parties,” it said.

In 2022, Kenya was among a few African countries which condemned the invasion at the United Nations as other powerhouses on the continent such as South Africa abstained from taking the vote.

Isolate Russia

Russia has repeatedly claimed that it moved into Ukraine to protect Russian speakers from being killed and also to protect itself against Nato allies working with Ukraine’s pro-Western leadership.

Western countries have since unsuccessfully mounted pressure on African countries to isolate Russia but many say they will not take sides in the war.

Lavrov and Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba have both visited Africa, the former at least three times this year as the latter travelled to Ethiopia, Rwanda and Mozambique.

The war in Ukraine has had a devastating economic impact on Kenya and the continent, sending food prices, especially those of oil and gas, steel, wheat and corn soaring and also creating fertiliser scarcity thus diminishing production.

Western powers have also sought to deepen trade ties with the continent, along with India and China, which has been on an infrastructure spending spree in Africa.

President Ruto appears to be sticking to the same diplomatic script used by his predecessors because Kenya subscribes to the UN-sponsored Non-Aligned Movement (MAM) that has been in place since it was founded under the leadership of former Yugoslavia (now Serbia) President Josip Broz Tito in 1961.

Policy experts in the West are pushing for a new approach by NAM countries arguing that no country should be fence-sitting when the territorial integrity of another is breached as happened in Ukraine.

In May this year Andrew Cheatham, Senior Advisor, Global Policy at the United States Institute of Peace wrote that as the world moves into a multi-polar era of accelerating great power competition, the NAM States will find themselves caught between major powers.

Nuclear power

Unlike Russia, Iran has been isolated by the West for many years since the 1970s during the leadership of President Ronald Reagan in the US over issues like hostage-taking and now the development of nuclear power.

Before the visit to Kenya, Iran’s foreign ministry announced that Raisi’s Africa visit was meant to promote economic diplomacy, strengthen political relations with friendly and aligned countries and diversify export destinations.

President Raisi however went further than making a scathing attack against Western values to the chagrin of the West, although he was more restrained during his meeting with Ruto at State House 12 days ago.

In Kenya, the Iranian leader focused on priority areas of trade and development to be explored by both countries and others such as information, communication and technology; fisheries; animal health and livestock production and investment promotion.

President Ruto called Iran a “critical strategic partner” and “global innovation powerhouse while expressing interest in expanding the range of agricultural exports apart from tea. He also announced that Iran will set up a car manufacturing plant in Mombasa to create jobs.

But a day after leaving Nairobi, Raisi viciously hit at the West, heavily criticising those countries for supporting homosexuality and other LBGTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning) rights as one of the “dirtiest” episodes of human history.

Death penalty

He praised Uganda for the recently passed anti-gay law that has been condemned by US President Joe Biden, which prescribes the death penalty for aggravated homosexuality.

President Raisi claimed Western countries are attempting to portray homosexuality as an index of civilisation, while this is one of the dirtiest things which have been done in human history.

“I believe that this issue, and these strong attacks by the West against the establishment of families and against the culture of the nations, is another area of cooperation for Iran and Uganda,” said Raisi.

African countries like Kenya now find themselves in an awkward position of engaging Western nations and at the same time working with countries like Iran.

The US recently accused Iran of providing Russia with drone-making material to help Russia produce more weapons for use in the Ukraine war, a claim the Middle East country denied.