CIAO DATE: 08/04

Kenya

Victoria Garcia

Center for Defense Information

October 2003

Background

After 24 years of rule by President Daniel Arap Moi, which became increasingly authoritarian and corrupt, with elections marred by violence and accusations of fraud, Kenyans elected a new president in what was deemed to be a peaceful election in December 2002. New president Mwai Kibaki also heads the government armed forces. Kenya is a republic in the heart of East Africa that due to its relatively peaceful situation has served as the main host to Somali, Sudanese, and Ethiopian refugees. However, over the past decade, several thousand people have been killed in Kenya due to ethnic clashes that are often incited by political competition. Other factors that have contributed to interethnic conflicts include the proliferation of small arms, cattle rustling, shrinking economic prospects, drought, and a growing bandit culture.

According to the 2002 U.S. State Department Human Rights Report, Kenya’s human rights record was very poor. The report noted the government was responsible for numerous serious abuses, including discrimination against some ethnic groups while supporting others, thus creating interethnic tensions that many times end in violent conflict. Security forces, particularly the police, commit serious human rights abuses including extrajudicial killings, torture, and rape, as well as beating detainees, using excessive force, and arbitrary detentions. Police impunity is a major problem, although the government did arrest and prosecute a limited number of police officers for abuses in 2002. The judiciary is corrupt and under the influence of the executive branch. The government restricts freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly and association, and worker’s rights. Violence and discrimination against women, children, and the disabled, are serious problems, as are female genital mutilation, child prostitution and child labor.

U. S. Military Assistance Prior to Sept. 11, 2001

Kenya’s armed forces are estimated at 22,200 personnel. Kenya maintained a military expenditure of approximately $179.2 million in 2001, 1.8 percent of Gross Domestic Product. According to SIPRI and the UN Register of Conventional Arms, in the last 10 years Kenya has not received any major U.S. conventional weapons. According to U.S. government data, however, between 1990 and 2001 Kenya was granted approximately $25 million in Direct Commercial Sales (DCS) licenses and agreements and approximately $83.6 million in Foreign Military Sales (FMS) licenses and agreements, although Kenya only received $2 million in DCS deliveries and $71 million in FMS deliveries. In that same period, Kenya received a total of about $6 million in International Military Education and Training (IMET) funding and approximately $1.4 million in Foreign Military Financing (FMF). The FMF, however, was distributed only in 1990 and 2001.

U. S. Military Assistance Since Sept. 11, 2001

The United States has greatly increased its support for Kenya since September 11, 2001, despite the country’s grave human rights record, as Kenya has been identified as a strategic ally in the war against terrorism. Kenya itself is no stranger to terrorism. Kenya was home to the 1998 U.S. embassy bombing and the November 2002 attempted attack on an Israeli passenger aircraft by al Qaeda.

Although it received no FMF from 1991 to 2001, in Fiscal Year 2002 (FY 02) $15 million was allocated for Kenya in FMF. In FY 03 Kenya was granted $1.5 million in FMF and $600,000 in IMET. For FY 04 Kenya has been pledged $6.5 million in FMF, $600,000 in IMET and $8 million through the Emergency Support Fund (ESF). For FY 04 Kenya has also been promised a portion of the $15 million designated for a new regional counterterrorism program known as the African Contingency Operations Training and Assistance Program (ACOTA). This program, a modified version of the African Crisis Response Initiative (ACRI) that limited training to non–lethal peacekeeping, will now provide offensive training and equipment for peacekeeping operations.

Case Study Profile

Country	Kenya
Government Type	Republic
Infant Mortality Rate (per 1,000 live births–2001 estimate)	77
Total Armed Forces (2000 estimate)	22,000
Military Expenditure (U.S.$, millions)	$179.2 (FY 01)
Military Expenditure % GDP	1.8% (FY 01)
Imports/Conventional Arms Transfers (U.S. $, millions – 2001 estimate)	0
Human Rights Record 2002	poor, continued to committ numerous abuses

Kenya’s Submission to the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms
1993	0
1994	0
1995	0
1996	0
1997	0
1998	0
1999	0
2000	0
2001	0

Fiscal Year	IMET	FMF	FSA	ESF	Total
1990	$1,032,000	$379,000	$0	$0	$1,411,000
1991	$718,000	$0	$0	$0	$718,000
1992	$775,000	$0	$0	$0	$775,000
1993	$652,000	$0	$0	$0	$652,000
1994	$288,000	$0	$0	$0	$288,000
1995	$283,000	$0	$0	$0	$283,000
1996	$297,000	$0	$0	$0	$297,000
1997	$304,000	$0	$0	$0	$304,000
1998	$443,000	$0	$0	$0	$443,000
1999	$462,000	$0	$0	$0	$462,000
2000	$422,000	$0	$0	$0	$422,000
2001	$443,000	$1,000,000	$0	$0	$1,443,000
2002	$486,000	$0	$0	$0	$486,000
2002 ERF	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0
2002 SUP	$0	$15,000,000	$0	$0	$15,000,000
2003 (request)	$600,000	$1,500,000	$0	$8,000,000	$2,100,000
2004 (request)	$600,000	$6,500,000	$0	$8,000,000	$15,100,000
Total	$7,805,000	$23,379,000	$0	$8,000,000	$39,184,000

Sources

CIA Factbook 2001

Human Development Report 2002

“Stockholm International Peace Research Institute Yearbook,” Appendix 5C, Register of the transfer and licensed production of major conventional weapons, 2001.

United Nations Register of Conventional Arms

U.S. Department of State Human Rights Report 2001–Released March 4, 2002