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Kenya summons British envoy
21/01/2008 15:37 - (SA)
Nairobi - Kenya on Monday summoned British High Commissioner Adam Wood over British criticism of President Mwai Kibaki's re-election.
Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula told reporters that he was angered at comments made last week in which Deputy Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Meg Munn said London did not recognise Kibaki's cabinet.
Responding to a question in the House of Commons, Munn said: "Our government has not recognised the government and is calling on both leaders to co-operate in a process of mediation."
Kenya's defeated opposition leader Raila Odinga charged Kibaki rigged his way to re-election in the December 27 polls and international observers had also voiced concern at evidence of flaws in the tallying process.
700 people killed
Wetangula said: "I have expressed my dissatisfaction and displeasure with what was said in the House of Commons. The High Commissioner has told me, and rightly so, that he will be seeking clarification with London and after that he will come back to me."
"The minister of her majesty's government has no business saying the things she said, particularly after her own boss said something different," the foreign minister said.
"Our elections do not need a stamp of authority from the House of Commons," he added. Britain is the former colonial power in the usually peaceful east African country.
The dispute sparked Kenya's worst security and political crisis since a 1982 coup attempt, leaving at least 700 people dead and more than a quarter of a million displaced.
While no major foreign power had come out strongly against Kibaki - a key ally of the West in restive east Africa - the international community has grown increasingly critical of the way Kibaki has handled post-electoral strife.
At least 50 people had been killed since the opposition launched a series of protests last week, many of them shot dead by police.
The violence had earned the government accusations of excessive use of force against unarmed demonstrators and European threats of a cut in aid.
- AFP
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