Kenya sends protest note to Ethiopia over Turkana killings

Last week, Mr Francis Kimemia, permanent secretary in the ministry of Internal Security suspended all land transactions in Athi River in what it termed as a crackdown on fake dealers and threatened to repossess the land. PHOTO / FILE

Kenya has sent yet another protest letter to Ethiopia following last week’s border attacks that left 13 members of the Turkana community dead.

Internal Security Permanent Secretary Francis Kimemia said the government was unhappy with the attacks unleashed against innocent Kenyans in the Todonyang area and asked their Ethiopian counterparts to ‘tame’ the militia’s on their side.

At a news conference Tuesday, the PS said the country’s military had already been deployed along the border between the two countries to help drive out the Merrille raiders, who are said to have moved almost 30 kilometres into Kenya.

They will complement the work already being done by the General Service Unit (GSU) personnel and Administration Police who are already in the area following the renewed attacks.

A full fledged police station has also been set up in the Todonyang area to deal with Merrile and Nyanga’tom militias from Ethiopia.

“We have since moved our soldiers to the border to help beef up our border...we now have more than 300 security officers, well equipped to secure our border,” said Mr Kimemia.

“It is unfortunate that the militia from Ethiopia shot at innocent women as they went about their business fetching water.

We are not happy with this and we are carrying out our own investigations,” added the PS.

“We have held discussions as a government and sent a protest letter to Ethiopian government asking them to tame the militia on their side of the border."

This is the second time in four months that the government is sending a protest note over attacks by the Merille and Nyanga’tom militias from Ethiopia against Kenyans in Todonyang.

In May this year, attacks by the same raiders that left more than 30 members of the Turkana community dead.