Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) – Kenya has summoned Belgian Ambassador Bart Ouvry after a visa row nearly derailed President Uhuru Kenyatta’s plan to attend a Summit of European and African leaders, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
President Kenyatta was preparing to attend the Fourth Summit of the African-European Union (EU) scheduled for Brussels 2-3 April when the visa application of his security chief was declined.
The circumstances of the visa refusal were still unclear but the Kenyan foreign ministry said “last-minute” interventions by the Kenyan and the Belgian officials helped to reverse the refusal.
“The Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium has been called to the ministry to receive a formal protest Note,” said Karanja Kibicho, the foreign ministry Principal Secretary in a statement.
President Kenyatta reversed his cancellation of the plan to attend the Summit but the foreign ministry said Kenya government regretted the “pattern of negative actions” directed at African delegates.
State House cancelled the trip after the Presidential Security Chief failed to get an EU travel visa.
“The membership of the Kenyan delegations, particularly where it impacts procedurally correct Presidential security arrangements, is the sole prerogative of the Kenyan authorities as is normal practice internationally,” Kibicho said.
Zimbabwean President, Robert Mugabe declined to attend the Summit after a visa request for the Zimbabwean First Lady was declined.
South African President Jacob Zuma has also aborted plans to attend the EU-Africa Summit.
In Addis Ababa, AU Commission Deputy Chairperson Erastus Mwencha said the hosting arrangements for the Summit were concluded earlier, but that negotiations were continuing on the exclusion of certain African leaders.
African leaders with bad human rights records at home, including Eritrea and Sudan, have been denied invitations.
AU officials insist it was wrong for the EU to determine who to invite to the Summit about the trade and economic relations between the two regions.
Kenyan officials said the EU-Africa Summit was intended to advance mutual interests. As such, the EU must recognize that both sides were meeting as equal partners.
“It is unfortunate that this Summit has been marked by several unfortunate actions by the EU to shape the members of the African delegation, even extending to a refusal to extend invitation to some serving African heads of state,” Kibicho said.
Kenya is accusing the EU of trying to dictate the security arrangements of the African heads of state attending the Summit.
“These actions, in their totality, make unfortunate precedents in the proper running of international relations,” the foreign ministry official said.
Kenya expects to brief the AU Commission Chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma on how future summits could be organised.
