APRM • SECOND COUNTRY REVIEW REPORT OF THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA 3.5 OBJECTIVE 3: PREVENTION AND REDUCTION OF INTRA-STATE AND INTER STATE CONFLICTS 3.5.1 Summary of the Country Self-Assessment 108. In 2006, Kenya’s first Country Report under the APRM described it as “a bastion of stability” and a “peace loving nation”, in comparison to its neighbours that were then “often plagued by civil unrest and insurrections.” Barely a year later, the country was wracked by posyelection crisis that degenerated into violence. Almost ten years on, in 2015, its Second Self-Assessment Report under the same APRM described the country as one that had “experienced both internal and cross border conflicts”. The Report acknowledges Kenya’s recent status in three senses. One is as a country prone to intra-state and inter-state conflict arising from competition for scarce resources, economic inequality, political competition and rivalry for power, and environmental degradation. The second is as host to refugees generated by conflict in East Africa while the third is in regard of its role as facilitator of negotiations to end conflicts in neighbouring states. Against this unique background, the Report highlights how, in the period leading to and beyond the last Country Review in 2006, Kenya has put in place mechanisms to prevent and respond to conflict with neighbouring states and within its own borders, including: 109. 110. • Membership in regional institutions such as the African Union, IGAD, EAC and the ICGLR . • Ratification and domestication of regional instruments on peace and stability. • Diplomatic engagements to resolve regional conflicts. • Participation in the Great Lakes Parliamentary Forum on Peace (AMANI Forum) that works to promote peace and democracy, and to mitigate conflict in the region. At the national level, it established in 2001 a National Steering Committee on Peace Building and Conflict Management (NSC) as an umbrella interagency for government Ministries and Departments, civil society organisations, development partners and UN agencies to manage the following activities: • Conflict early Warning Systems; • Capacity Building and Training, and • Peace coordination. In addition, government went ahead in 2010 to draft a national policy on peace-building and conflict management to drive a peace architecture and vision for promoting peace through collaboration between state and non-state actors. Following the events of 2007-2008, the government disarmed and disbanded armed communities stepped up police patrols in affected areas, to prevent intra and cross border incursions, and enacted the Prevention of | 86 |