Post Conflict Interventions in Africa: Assessing the Consolidating Peace Process and Setting the Foundation for a Peaceful Transition in Kenya 2010- 2013

During the clamour for multi-party politics in the late 1980s and early 1990s due cynicism with the Moi government, the President responded by predicting that the introduction of multi-partyism would lead to increased tribalism and violence. This self-fulfilling prophesy of the danger of inter-ethnic strife has come to pass as the country has had cycles of violent electoral conflicts since the introduction of multiparty politics in 19991 starting with the General elections in 1992, 1997 and 2007. Only in 2002 was there no violent electoral conflict. With the political transition that ushered in NARC 2002, UNDP begun to provide support to the government of Kenya to establish and/or strengthen institutions to develop and sustain national capacity to anticipate and manage violence and conflict; to respond more pro-actively to incidents of crime and violence occasioned by the use of small arms and light weapons, and to develop capacity to respond to the structural issues behind the violence. In the run-up to the 2007 general elections, UNDP provided support for training programmes and other capacity development activities that supported the political parties, parliamentarians, women’s and youth groups, the media, community and civil society organisations, among others, to develop rules of conduct for political party campaigning and mobilisation; strengthened media capacity in conflict and elections reporting; led to the establishment of a civil society network, the “partnership for Peace” which became the umbrella coordinating framework for CSO activities towards peaceful election; organised training programmes and briefings for women groups and strengthened their role in the resolution of conflict around the elections at the community level, and supported the government to establish/strengthen district peace committees in key areas.

The general and presidential elections of 2007 in Kenya were the triggers for unleashing hitherto suppressed anger and animosities that resulted in violence targeted at ethnic groups across many parts of the country. This resulted in the deaths of 1,500 people and the displacement of more than 500,000 others. However, according to the Kenya Government/UNDP Analysis (2010), the 2007/8 PEV merely demonstrated the deep-seated structural and other contexts and problems that had shaped and defined the state and nature of its interactions with the citizens. There was a historicity of violence, displacement, poor governance and insecurity that was largely unaddressed and which remained the biggest challenges facing the Kenya state. Peace consolidation will therefore required policies and strategies that would address these factors that have lead to a recurrence of violent electoral conflicts since 1992 and build the conditions for peaceful transitions during elections. It is useful to make a distinction between activities that have a direct impact on the recurrence or non-recurrence of violent electoral conflicts and activities that have general and longer-term peace-supportive effects. In the face of scarce resources, however, activities that prevent the recurrence of violent electoral conflicts should be given priority because they provide the space and time needed for the country to recover and build a more peaceful society. These activities specifically seek to address the key causes and sources of violent electoral conflicts as well as critical conflict opportunities. In contrast, peace-supportive activities have wider objectives and may include the building or rebuilding of physical and social structures and economic and political governance systems in order to place the country on the path of peace and development. Despite the importance of prioritization, some activities will need to be carried out simultaneously rather than sequentially. Finding the right balance between the two is the recipe for success. The paper has two between related postulations. The first is that universal peacebuilding has a few inborn shortcomings that don't loan themselves to simple arrangements. One of these, which likewise is the center worry of the WSP International/IPA Peacebuilding Forum Conference, is the perpetual trouble confronted by outer performing artists in adjusting their endeavors and hobbies to the residential political substances of the war-torn social orders they try to bolster. The second postulation is that while peacebuilding arrangements and practices have progressed altogether in the most recent decade, the earth inside which peacebuilding prospered in the 1990s has significantly changed after 9/11. Along these lines, the advances that were accomplished amid a brief and test decade did not have an opportunity to be united adequately before they were surpassed by other worldwide needs. As the paper illustrates, tending to complex political, institutional, arrangement or operational difficulties in a global situation ideal to post-struggle peacebuilding is sufficiently troublesome. Tending to them in a universal domain described by profound cleavages, absence of agreement on the dangers to worldwide peace and security, and continuous wars including real states presents overpowering difficulties to the whole peacebuilding venture. The paper contends that there is extensive space for the United Nations and the worldwide group everywhere to enhance peacebuilding arrangement and practice. Nonetheless, it additionally cautions that the post-struggle peacebuilding venture is at danger of being overwhelmed by different motivation which have developed in the post 9/11 environment, including the endeavor to conflate peacebuilding with the barely cast national security plans of capable part states