Calls for diplomatic action

Kenyan politicians and community leaders from North Eastern Province have demanded that the government demonstrate its displeasure with Ethiopia over recent attacks. The group called on the Kenyan government to “cut diplomatic links” with Ethiopia, the Kenyan ‘Daily Nation’ website reported on 6 December. The leaders, from Wajir District, northeastern Kenya, who visited the ‘Daily Nation’ offices, included Abdullahi Abdi Ali, national youth coordinator of the Democratic Party, and Abdullahi Galgalo, Ford-Kenya’s secretary for youth affairs. They said they were alarmed by the frequency of Ethiopian attacks in the area, describing them as “brutal, inhuman... and uncalled for”.

Last week, the Kenyan press said heavily armed militiamen attacked the border town of Gurar, killing 12 people, and wounding five others. The militiamen were reported to have come “from Ethiopia”. A four year-old girl was also abducted by the militiamen, who retreated to Ethiopia with stolen livestock, the ‘Daily Nation’ said. North Eastern Provincial Commissioner Maurice Makhanu said after visiting the area that there was “sufficient evidence linking the raid to an Ethiopia militia group”, Kenyan state radio reported on 2 December. Makhanu has made previous complaints about the Ethiopian government and attacks in the area.

The Ethiopian government blames insecurity on the presence of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), an Ethiopian armed opposition group said to be operating from Kenyan territory near the common border. Diplomatic sources told IRIN that insecurity on the border had worsened because the regional drought had exacerbated traditional conflicts at watering points and over access to pasture, as well as by being linked to the presence of the OLF.