Ethiopia, Kenya discuss border insecurity

May 11, 2007 (NAIROBI) — An Ethiopian government delegation met their Kenyan counterpart to discuss security along the shared porous border, amid fears of renewed raids.

The meeting in Embu, came as the Red Cross claimed that the number of deaths during a raid in northern Kenya had risen to 11, but the police insisted they were 10, the Kenyan Standard reported today.

Ahmed Mohamed, the Red Cross disaster co-ordinator, who led his team in assisting the victims, told The Standard 11 people had been killed and 27 families displaced.

In Embu, the Ethiopian delegation, consisting of four members of the country’s provincial administration, were holed up in a meeting at the Eastern Provincial headquarters for several hours to discuss ways of curbing insecurity.

Acting Eastern PC, provincial commissioner, David Jakaiti, who hosted the Ethiopian delegation, termed the meeting normal, saying it was not prompted by the latest incident where raiders struck a manyatta in Loiyangalani division of Marsabit District.

“Our meeting was normal and it was not prompted by any crisis,” said the PC.

The security meeting came barely three days after the raiders killed 10 people in the Tuesday dawn, causing fears of fresh flare-ups.

Possibly fearing that the wave of raids might spill across the border, the Ethiopian Borana Zone administrator, an equivalent of a PC in Kenya, Mr Abdulkadil Abdi, led three of his colleagues to the meeting.

The Ethiopian administrator is in charge of 11 districts, which border Kenya along the volatile areas of Marsabit and Moyale districts, known for cross-border attacks.

But while conceding that insecurity was among the issues discussed, both teams said it was a crisis meeting.

They told The Standard they were deliberating on how security could be enhanced to promote development, in the largely underdeveloped region of both countries.

“This is not a crisis meeting as we were only discussing development and security along the border,” said Jakaiti.

He added: “We were looking at how we can restore a conducive environment for development.”

He said they agreed that communities from both countries would observe international laws on immigration, while crossing the border to avoid unnecessary friction.

He said they also deliberated on how the region could be opened to development, saying many conflicts were as a result of fighting for resources.

“The competition for resources, mainly stock, is what causes major conflicts and in the meeting we were looking at ways of opening up the region to development,” he added.

The meeting agreed that the ongoing construction of the Isiolo-Merile-Marsabit-Isiolo road was a step forward in opening up the region.

(The Standard)