Speech by Kenya ambassador to UN condemning Russian actions agains Ukraine

https://youtu.be/fyOpp-rVv6A

“Mr President, this situation echoes our history. Kenya and almost every African country was birthed by the ending of an empire. Our borders are not of our own drawings. They were drawn in the distant colonial metropoles of London, Paris and Lisbon with no regard for the ancient nations that they cleaved apart.

At independence, had we chosen to pursue on the basis of ethnic, racial or religious homogeneity, we would still be waging bloody wars these many decades later. Instead, we agreed that we would settle for the borders that we inherited, but we would still pursue continental political, economic and legal integration rather than form nations that looked ever backwards into history with a dangerous nostalgia.

Kenya is not only concerned by Russia's move, but also by the trend in the last few decades of powerful states, including members of this Security Council, breaching international law with little regard. Multilateralism, the process of organising relations between groups of states, is lying on its deathbed. It has been assaulted today, as it has been by other powerful states in the recent past.

We urge against dangerous nostalgia for past borders, and Russia's moves breaches the territorial integrity of Ukraine.

We must complete our recovery from the embers of dead empires in a way that does not plunge us back into new forms of domination and oppression.”

~ UN ambassador for Kenya, Martin Kimani, in speech at emergency UN Security Council session. (Paraphrased)

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