Ruto set for Ethiopia trip as fighting intensifies in Tigray

NAIROBI, Kenya- A few days after expressing concerns about the current turmoil in Ethiopia, Kenya's President William Ruto is set to visit the troubled nation on Thursday, multiple sources have confirmed, in what would be his first ever outing in Africa since his election victory in September.

Sources say, Dr. Ruto, who recently said Kenya would be "directly involved" in Ethiopia's conflict in Tigray, will be opening a Safaricom outlet in the Horn of Africa nation. Safaricom is the telecommunication giant in Kenya whose parent company, Vodacom, controls the South African market.

The start of commercial operations in Ethiopia will be part of the company's regional expansion efforts to provide world-class telecommunication services to over 112 million Ethiopians. State-owned Ethio Telecom currently dominates the country.

According to Safaricom, the business has onboarded distributors, secured four retail shop locations, and set up the first outsourced call center in Addis Ababa. In May, Safaricom CEO PeterNdegwa said Safaricom Ethiopia plans to bring mobile financial services to Ethiopia. 

Ethiopia has one of the region’s lowest mobile phone penetration rates, the legacy of a sector dominated by a single state monopoly. Safaricom’s entry into the market is expected to bring down prices, but it has not yet received permission to launch its mobile-money service.

But Ruto's trip comes when the country struggles with the conflict in Tigray, which has seen Ethiopian troops with their Eritrean counterparts bomb most parts of Tigray in pursuit of Tigray People's Liberation Front [TPLF] fighters.

Thousands of people have died, millions displaced with the humanitarian teams struggling to access the region.

On Wednesday, the Ethiopian government confirmed that it would honor peace talks with TPLF set to be held in South Africa "without preconditions." The TPLF had also expressed willingness to participate in the African Union-led mediation that is due to kick off. 

Ruto, who ruled out any intentions to pressure Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to resign, terming him "important" in the peace process, has already picked his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta to represent Kenya in the talks. Unfortunately, Uhuru is yet to express commitments in the said talks. 

So loud has been Uhuru's silence that even senior security analyst Rashid Abdi asks the former leader to come out open to unlock the "confusion." 

"I would urge him to clarify his position regarding his appointment as a mediator by Kenya and how he sees contributing to peace in Ethiopia as co-mediator working under Obasanjo, " Abdi said about Uhuru's differences with Ruto during Kenya's closely contested poll.

During the electoral campaigns, Uhuru endorsed opposition leader Raila Odinga who lost the election that saw Abiy Ahmed quickly congratulate Ruto.

GAROWE ONLINE