Muchemi Wachira
3 November 2009
Nairobi — Kenyans living along the border with Ethiopia and Somalia cannot realise meaningful development following continuous attacks by their neighbours, a forum was told Tuesday.
And unless the governments of the three countries embark on a joint security operation to end the insecurity, Kenyan delegates attending the three-day conference in the Moyale towns of Kenya and Ethiopia warned, communities living along the two common borders will remain vulnerable.
Communities living in North Eastern province, which neighbours Somalia on one side experience sporadic raids from Al Shabaab while in the Upper Eastern region, Ethiopian cattle raiders give their Kenyan counterparts sleepless nights.
"We have been trying to assist our brothers in Somalia to form peace committees to help in resolving conflicts but this been made difficult by members of Al Shabaab," a chief from the larger Mandera district, Mr Mohammed Ibrahim told the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) sponsored forum.
He said it has been difficult to recover anything stolen by followers of Al Shabaab from the Kenyan side.
"They keep on making sporadic raids on our side," Mr Ibrahim told the participants.
Al Shabab is an Islamic extremist group, which is said to have an interest in expanding its territory into Kenya.
In Moyale and Chalbi districts of the greater Marsabit cross-raids are frequent.
"Ethiopian raiders always cross the border to steal livestock but the government in Addis Ababa often returns the stolen animals and take the raiders to court," Moyale county council chairman Golicha Galgallo said.
The conference began on Monday in Kenya's Moyale town where the Kenyan delegates first held an in-house meeting. On Tuesday, they joined their Ethiopian counterparts in Moyale town across the border.
Kenya's minister for Northern Kenya Development Mr Mohammed Elmi was expected to officially open the conference.
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