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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 NAIROBI 001222 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/E 
LONDON, PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KE
SUBJECT: KENYA COAST PEACE CONFERENCE DRAWS SRO 
CROWD 
 
¶1. SUMMARY:  Mombasa American Presence Post 
Officer (APPO) based in Nairobi attended a one- 
day peace conference in Mombasa.  The conference, 
the theme of which was "Sustainable Peace and 
Development in the Coast" drew a standing-room- 
only crowd.  Guests included provincial and 
district officials, members of parliament, 
ministry representatives, and Coast religious, 
business and civic leaders, including women and 
youth.  Kenya's "Ambassador of Peace," Bethuel 
Kiplagat, stressed the importance of the link 
between peace and development.  Break-out 
sessions allowed invitees to address problems in 
their districts and to begin considering 
solutions, using the many resources available to 
them from the conference.  The conference 
organizers plan to hold a follow-on conference in 
the next several months to assess outcomes, which 
we will track as part of our peace-building 
efforts on the Coast and more generally 
throughout Kenya.  END SUMMARY. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
PWANI 4 PEACE: LOCAL SOLUTIONS FOR LOCAL PROBLEMS 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶2. On April 14, Mombasa American Presence Post 
officer (presently based in Nairobi) attended the 
one-day "Pwani 4 Peace Leaders' Conference 
2008" in Mombasa.  (Pwani is the Swahili word for 
'coast.')  Pwani 4 Peace, a Mombasa-based 
community support and development organization, 
is an initiative of local business, religious, 
women, and youth leaders formed after the 
disputed December 2007 elections to promote 
peace.  The group is credited by the Provincial 
Commissioner of Coast Province with having 
prevented violent outbreaks in the weeks 
following the elections through the various 
activities it organized. 
 
¶3. The theme of the conference was "Sustainable 
Peace and Development in the Coast."  The 350 
invitees included Members of Parliament, 
government officials at the Provincial and 
District levels, representatives of government 
ministries having offices in the province, 
religious and business leaders, and civic groups. 
(Note:  The U.S. Embassy was the only foreign 
entity attending the conference; APPO was treated 
as a special guest, with seating on the dais. End 
Note.)  Chase Bank and SafariCom (Kenya's largest 
telecommunications company) were among the 
conference's sponsors.  Attendance was standing 
room only. 
 
¶4. In his keynote speech and official opening, 
Coast Provincial Commissioner Ernest G. Munyi 
outlined several of the problems facing local 
communities: high unemployment, particularly 
among the youth; land issues, including 
squatters; drug trafficking and use; and severe 
poverty. 
 
--------------------------- 
KENYA'S AMBASSADOR OF PEACE 
--------------------------- 
 
¶5. Kenya's "Ambassador of Peace," Bethuel 
Kiplagat, was the conference's chief guest and 
main speaker (Note: Kiplagat is a career diplomat 
who served as Kenya's Ambassador to France and 
High Commissioner to Great Britain, was a former 
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs and served as special envoy to the 
Somalia Peace Talks.  Kiplagat is one of core 
members of Concerned Citizens for Peace, another 
peace initiative of prominent Kenyan leaders 
formed in the wake of the election crisis. End 
Note.) 
 
 
NAIROBI 00001222  002 OF 003 
 
 
¶6.  Kiplagat hailed Pwani4Peace as a local 
initiative that should set an example for other 
provinces.  He praised the (self-financed) group 
for bringing stakeholders from across the 
province into one room for discussions and 
focusing on the link between peace and 
development. 
 
¶7. Kiplagat emphasized the need to map different 
conflict zones and look at the underlying 
problems with brutal frankness.  He told the 
group, for example, that one cannot say that the 
recent elections were free and fair from the 
beginning.  He cited political zones which 
"belong" to a party, where other parties can't 
campaign.  He also cited a mentality of power 
instead of service to the country which must be 
overcome.  Kiplagat said that all have a 
responsibility for what happened either through 
their silence or their encouragement.  He 
counseled avoiding setting up commissions, 
stating, "We know what the problem is; let's deal 
with it!"  He also encouraged attendees to shed 
their mentality of dependence, saying, "We have 
more than enough resources in ourselves." 
 
--------------------- 
PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT 
--------------------- 
 
¶9. Seven Members of Parliament (one-third of 
elected MPs from the Coast Province) were present 
and spoke briefly.  They pledged to join together 
for economic development, to define common 
objectives, and to rectify resource imbalances. 
Provincial department heads of ministries and 
microfinance institutions later presented a 
session on entrepreneurial opportunities on the 
Coast. 
 
¶10. When asked to identify problems and 
injustices in their respective regions, response 
from attendees was overwhelming.  Given that 
their list covered everything from agriculture to 
witchcraft, it is easy to understand why people 
feel overwhelmed and powerless.  Land issues 
figured prominently among the complaints, along 
with poverty, underdevelopment, unemployment and 
lack of employee rights, unequal access to the 
benefits of natural resources (both mineral and 
wildlife), and illiteracy and school dropouts. 
But the exercise also helped them to focus on the 
role that local communities, in concert with 
local government, can play in resolving some of 
these issues. 
 
¶11. COMMENT: Pwani4Peace organizers were 
justifiably proud of the outcome of the 
conference, and the organization plans to hold a 
follow-on conference in a few months to revisit 
issues that were discussed and to assess progress 
towards resolving them at the local level.  This 
conference is important in that it is the first 
time that such an event has been conceived, 
funded and implemented by strong community 
leaders overlooking ethnic and religious 
differences and coming together for a greater 
common cause.  Their ability to attract strong 
government support (the Provincial Commissioner 
spent the full day at the conference, and most 
Members of Parliament stayed for several hours) 
gives the group additional clout in the province. 
APPO will continue to follow the organization's 
activities to see if they can continue the 
momentum and goodwill generated by the 
conference. 
 
¶12. COMMENT, CONT: The Nairobi-based APPO's 
presence at the conference and a Coastal Security 
Workshop, which is being reported septel, 
underscored the need for a permanent U.S. 
 
NAIROBI 00001222  003 OF 003 
 
 
presence in Mombasa.  We appreciate the AF 
Bureau's continued strong support for opening an 
APP in Mombasa as soon as funding becomes 
available.