Kenya: EU Council Working Group Calls for Free and Fair Poll
By NewsfromAfrica
NAIROBI---The European Union's Council Working Group on Africa (COAFR), the expert policy-making body regarding the EU’s political relations with Africa, comprising representatives of the 27 EU Member States, calls upon Kenya to implement the outstanding issues of the electoral process in the letter and spirit of the Kenyan Constitution in order to ensure peaceful, free and fair elections. This is the key message the EU Working Group has passed to the Kenyan authorities during their visit to Nairobi from June 27th to 29th.
The EU delegates met with the Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs. They had also meetings with a variety of representatives from crucial stakeholders, including the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), the National Cohesion & Integration Commission (NCIC), the African Union Panel of Eminent African Personalities and with members of civil society. Some of the delegates also visited Mogadishu.
The EU's Africa Working Group also discussed the political and security situation in Somalia. Some EU delegates paid a visit to Mogadishu. The Group met with representatives of the United Nations Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS), the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and with Somali civil society and discussed the need for a transition to a new, more representative and legitimate government structure, the strengthening of the Somali security sector and urgent stabilization of the new areas recovered from Al Shabaab. The group also attended a seminar on the Horn of Africa and piracy.
The Working Group's visit to Kenya is its first ever field visit. This shows how much importance the EU gives to its political dialogue with Kenya. The group formulates EU policy towards countries and regions in Africa, with particular focus on strategic regions and regional actors such as Horn of Africa and Kenya. It has developed the EU Strategic Framework on the Horn of Africa with a focus on Somalia and piracy, to support greater peace, stability and prosperity in the region.
The Group prepares the EU’s common positions and joint actions, it provides strategic political direction to the EU Delegations and the EU Member States and it ultimately defines the EU’s external policy towards Africa through the Council of Ministers, as a part of the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy.