Dr. Philip Muti, deputy Kenyan president of nuclear energy said that Saudi Arabia plays an important role in the political and security stability in Yemen and Syria, and that Nairobi seeks to enhance its strategic partnership with Riyadh in the political, economic, and security fields.

During an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Muti stressed that Africa will not allow Iran to export its thoughts and revolution to African people, and noted that their decision to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC) was for believing that the court is a political tool that serves a foreign agenda and enhances the discriminative racism against African leaders.

On the Kenyan field, Muti said that his country is about to sign a nuclear agreement with Russia to produce electricity, and that the agreement aims to produce 4 thousand Mgw using the nuclear energy by 2027.

Muti noted that the preoccupation of the black continent in maintaining peace and interior security, obstruct it from development. He sees that the magic solution for development is in promoting the domestic industry, and that African countries need to strengthen the economic, political, and trade links among them.

Below, the text of the interview:

*How do you evaluate the Kenyan-Saudi relations?

-The relations between Saudi Arabia and Kenya are excellent, and could be considered as an old close friendship. We know that the Kingdom is a developed country, with a major economy, and enjoys an important political position in the Middle East. We also know that Saudi Arabia is working on establishing a nuclear program for peaceful uses, including electricity production, which represents an important chance to discuss cooperation between Riyadh and Nairobi. The cooperation may also include the education sector and other fields in line with the Saudi Vision 2030.

*How do you see the Saudi role in the Middle East’s crises?

– Definitely, the Kingdom plays the main positive role in the Middle East, and has a leading role in the Arabic-African relations. Saudi Arabia makes major political and strategic efforts, and also fulfills security and peace in the region countries amidst threats caused by the conflicts that transformed Syria and Iraq into battlefields. It also plays a significant political role in the Yemeni crisis to retrieve legitimacy, and same for the Syrian crisis.

* Terrorism around the world…which efforts are required to confront it? How do you see the Saudi role in this field?

– Terrorism became a worldwide phenomenon and a major challenge facing the international peace and security. On the African field, the countries need to enhance their cooperation to combat this phenomenon, but should determine its reasons first. We also should promote education and ensure a sustainable growth for our people, including job opportunities and wide intellectual perspectives to eradicate any excuse or oppression that pave the road for terrorism attacking countries like Somalia. On the Saudi field, the Kingdom maintains its efforts to combat terrorism, and has a remarkable experience that the world should benefit from. Saudi Arabia is a country that spread its thoughts and experiences to ensure stability and security in the region.

*Iran adopts a policy to export its revolutionary thoughts to the African people…How do you see this issue?

– I believe that African countries know how to choose their friends, and they will never hesitate in taking deterrent measures against any country that aims to spread discord among its people by exporting invasive ideas to fulfill their cupidity on the expenses of the African people. Yet, actually I don’t see any clear Iranian efforts in our countries, and we won’t allow any, as relations among the countries should be based on respect of interior affairs.

*For the first time, the world leaders have agreed on opposing the ICC. What do you think about the court’s decision concerning Omar Al Bashir?

The International Criminal Court has made clear efforts to take revenge from the African leaders. Therefore, they had to take a unified decision that opposes the ICC based on the lack of credibility and neutrality. The practices proved that the court was assigned to pursuit the African leaders and oppress them, while it totally ignores international crimes committed by other leaders around the world. Till this day, the court didn’t take proceedings against any of western leaders who committed the worst non-humanitarian crimes. All Africans agreed on the withdrawal from ICC, and consider that the court is a racist, discriminating body that lacks for justice, and serves as an oppressive political tool, which implements the policies of powerful countries in the black continent.

Concerning its appeal for President Omar Al Bashir, we see that it is another racist decision that’s not related to any legal procedure.

*What are the reasons behind the obstruction of the African development? How would the continent overtake them in the future?

-The main reason in many African countries is the need and preoccupation in ensuring their national peace and security. Many other reasons include the bad development and distribution of wealth, which badly affected the people’s life in the fields of education, health, and others. Yet, the African countries started to nationalize industries and to export their high-quality domestic products which will lead to gain high revenues like in Kenya and Sudan, which prosper in new industries including mining, nuclear, and infrastructure development.

*As you participated in the ATOMEXPO 2016 recently held in Moscow. How Kenya aims to benefit from its relations with Russia?

– We participated in the ATOMEXPO 2016 held in the Russian capital, and we signed an agreement with Rosatom to promote investments in the nuclear industries, and to benefit from the facilities provided by Russia to the Kenyan nuclear program, by expanding the cooperation between both countries. This agreement aims to achieve our countries goal in producing 4000 MGW of electricity, using nuclear energy by 2027.