Kenya beefs up border security

Kenyan policemen who were killed on the Ethiopian-Kenyan border were targeted because they were suspected to be members of an Ethiopian opposition group, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF).

Kenyan administration policeman Durancha Halaka Dida said the ten Kenyans who were killed on 11 January - including eight policemen - were shot dead at Kilitipe, Moyale District, because of their suspected involvement with the OLF, state-run Kenyan Broadcast Corporation (KBC) said on 3 February. Dida himself was abducted, taken to Ethiopia, and freed after 16 days in prison. He talked to Eastern Provincial Commissioner, Philomena Koech, and assistant minister of health, Guracha Galgalo, when they visited the affected area to talk to the families of those killed in the border raids, KBC said.

Meanwhile, about 600 Kenyan families who fled violence on the border, Uran Division of Moyale District in northern Kenya, have returned home. The families sought refuge at Walda division but returned home over the weekend after the government improved security, KBC television said on 4 February. Eastern Provincial Commissioner Philomena Koech said the Kenyan army had increased patrols at the border, that a police post would be established at Lataka, and an administration police post established at Madoadi and Keltipe to improve security in the border area of Moyale District. She said more home guards would be recruited from the local community. During a public rally, local MP Dr Guracha Galgalo called for compensation from the Ethiopian government for those killed in the attack, while other speakers denied the existence of OLF rebels in the area. The Ethiopian government denied being involved in the attack, but the Kenyan government has since instituted an inquiry into the border incident.