Addis denies involvement in Kenya clashes

A statement issued on Wednesday by the Ethiopian Embassy in Nairobi denied and protested against allegations that Ethiopian government forces were involved in any way in communal clashes on 30 November in Wajir District in northeastern Kenya. “The fact of the matter is that the government of Ethiopia has never violated the territorial integrity of the Republic of Kenya and has nothing to do with this clash that occurred in the territory of Kenya,” the statement said. It said the clash was between two Kenyan communities, the Ajuran and Garre, and it had not been established that members of the Garre community in Ethiopia had intervened in support of their kinsmen. Kenya media reported on 2 December that 12 people had been killed in Gurar trading centre in Wajir north in a raid by “an Ethiopian militia group”. A report on Kenya radio said a four-year-old girl missing after the attack was believed to have been abducted. The radio quoted local officials as saying that two of the dead were raiders in full Ethiopian military fatigues. The ‘East African Standard’ said on Wednesday that a diplomatic row was brewing between the two countries over the issue.