Muchemi Wachira And Philip Wahome
8 October 2008
Nairobi — A project to open up all four corridors linking Kenya and other countries in the East African region is in progress.
East African Community minister Kingi Jeffah said on Wednesday that the project would help avoid difficulties like those experienced during the post-election violence.
Transporting goods from the port of Mombasa to the landlocked countries was hampered during the period.
"During the post-election violence, we were relying only on the Mombasa-Malaba corridor," Mr Jeffah told a news conference in Nairobi on Wednesday.
Landlocked
He announced that the project would be funded by the European Union. It includes opening up the Mombasa-Namanga-Arusha corridor.
Goods from the port can reach Burundi, Rwanda and even Uganda through this route. Like Burundi, Uganda and Rwanda are landlocked and rely on the port of Mombasa for their exports and imports.
When Kenya was hit by the post-election violence at the beginning of the year, Mr Jeffah said, movement of goods on the Mombasa-Malaba route was nearly impossible.
Scores of Ugandan-registered trucks were burned by rioting mobs. Another corridor will link up Kenya and Ethiopia through Isiolo and Moyale.
This will provide a lifeline for Ethiopia.
The fourth corridor is the Nairobi-Lokichogio route through Kitale. It links up Kenya and Southern Sudan.
Mr Jeffah had joined the French ambassador to Kenya Elisabeth Barbier and head of the European Commission Eric Van Der Linden at the press conference yesterday following a workshop at the same venue.
Mr Linden said the EU had given out 650 million euros to help in the regional integration efforts of the country.
The workshop focused on intellectual property and regional integration.
Mrs Barbier opened the workshop, which was attended by regional entrepreneurs. She said protecting intellectual property rights and fighting counterfeits had become a major concern.
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