Wednesday, 23 October 2013 00:00
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Three weeks ahead of the Commonwealth Summit in Colombo, Kenya has commenced a quiet lobbying campaign to push other member states in the African continent to boycott the CHOGM in Colombo, a major newspaper in that country has reported.
A report in the Kenyan Star newspaper quotes diplomatic sources as saying that Kenya was pushing several other African leaders to boycott the Colombo summit over the Commonwealth’s failure to take a decisive stance against the prosecution of President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto at the International Criminal Court.
According to the report, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Nigeria, South Africa and Zambia have been “roped into the plan and may miss out in the meeting.”
The Kenyan Star said that another government source had confirmed: “It is almost a foregone conclusion by now that Kenya will not show up and with it, East Africa and other African countries. By that time, the President is supposed to be at the ICC. The Deputy President will be in charge here.”
The Commonwealth meeting would also be taking place three days after the start of the Kenyan President Uhuru’s trial on 12 November.
