Unrest on Ethiopian border “under control”

Insecurity and unrest along the Kenyan-Ethiopian border, attributed by Kenya to incursions by the Ethiopian rebel Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), are now “under control” and “anybody can travel to Moyale”, the site of armed clashes and landmine explosions in recent weeks, a Kenyan internal security spokesman told IRIN on Wednesday.

He said one of Kenya’s main concerns at a meeting on security issues between Nairobi and Addis Ababa in Ethiopia earlier this week was how to halt the insecurity, “caused by the OLF”, as well as banditry and stealing of livestock. Ethiopian incursions into Kenyan territory in pursuit of the OLF were another issue at the security talks, with Kenya seeking to “sort out respect for boundaries”, the spokesman told IRIN.

Media sources reported at least four Ethiopian soldiers killed and five wounded in a firefight between OLF and Ethiopian forces near the Kenyan border last Thursday, after which more than 100 OLF fighters fled to El-Yibo water wells, 12 miles from the Kenyan police post of Dukana. They were later reported to be roaming along the border between Forole and Illoret. Kenyan police spokesman, Peter Kimanthi, also confirmed that a home guard, Abdullahi Gira Amara, was shot dead by the OLF after confrontations at Mansille in Moyale last week, the ‘East African Standard’ reported on Wednesday.

Kenya’s concern at the planting of landmines along its border with Ethiopia was also raised at the joint security meeting by North Eastern Provincial Commissioner, Maurice Makhanu, the Ethiopian News Agency reported on Wednesday. Makhanu said it was a matter which required the urgent attention of the two countries, “as a fresh dimension to the activities of criminals to support their banditry, cattle rustling and other acts of lawlessness”.

In response to Ethiopian concern at alleged OLF attacks from inside Kenya, Makhanu said Kenya would never be a sanctuary for insurgency against sovereign states, and swift measures would be taken to flush them out whenever the government became aware of their illegal presence in Kenya. He cited, as an example, the case of 10 OLF fighters who were convicted this week after “destabilising peace inside Kenya”.