Security tightened in Nairobi ahead of Powell’s visit
NAIROBI, Oct 20, 2003 (Xinhua) — Security has been tightened in the Kenyan capital Nairobi ahead of a visit by US Secretary of State Colin Powell who is due in Kenya on Tuesday.
Powell is expected to add impetus to a peace process and push for an early conclusion to talks between the Sudanese government and southern rebels, mediators here said Monday.
Security has been beefed up at some of the leading hotels in the city with presence of plain clothes officers assessing security situation inside the hotels and their environs.
Sources said Powell will arrive in Nairobi from Bangkok, Thailand, where he was attending a meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum with US President George W. Bush.
Besides attending the Sudanese peace talks in the Kenyan town of Naivasha, about 90 km from Nairobi, on Wednesday, he will hold talks with Kenyan government officials in Nairobi.
“We are expecting Powell here (in Naivasha) after having arrived on Tuesday night,” an official from the regional Inter Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) who sought anonymity told Xinhua by telephone.
The official would not say whether they expected a deal for Sudanese peace to be struck in Powell’s presence, but hinted that both Sudanese First Vice-President Ali Osman Taha and rebel leader John Garang are expected to sign a framework agreement whose details would be worked upon later.
Representatives of the Sudan’s Islamic government and the mainly Christian southern rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army have reported progress in negotiations aimed at ending the two-decade civil war in the country.
The peace talks taking place in Naivasha have not struck any agreement on how to share power and wealth and the status of the three disputed areas of Abyei, Nuba Mountains and Southern Blue Nile.
Kenyan Minister for Foreign Affairs Kalonzo Musyoka hinted last Friday that he expected Powell’s visit either “to encourage both parties or to witness the signing of the agreement.”
The last round of Sudan peace talks ended in late September, when Taha and Garang signed a deal on security arrangements for a six-year transition period during which the rebel-controlled southwill enjoy self-rule.