Story by MUCHEMI WACHIRA and MUGO NJERU
Publication Date: 4/23/2006
When two Kenyan herders from Marsabit district were reported killed by Ethiopian raiders, members of the Oromo Liberation Front were blamed for the execution.
The OLF was behind the mayhem that rocked Dukana location of Marsabit district where herders lost 3,000 animals to Ethiopian raiders, Mr Ajebe Ligaba Wolde, Minister Counsellor at the Ethiopian Embassy in Nairobi, told the press in his office early in the week.
Tension has been high in Dukana since April 11 after a group of herders from the location were rounded up by raiders in jungle jackets like those worn by the Ethiopian army.
They had gone to Ethiopia to graze their livestock following persistent drought on the Kenyan side, when the "security forces" arrested them. Besides impounding their livestock, the soldiers kidnapped some of the herders but freed them later. All this happened on Ethiopian soil.
Then last Sunday, three herders who were in the group that lost their animals on April 11 decided to go back to Ethiopia to persuade the "soldiers" to return their animals. On their way, two of them, Adano Bumbi Jillo and Guyo Charfano, were killed by people said to be bandits.
Heightened tension
This has heightened tension along the common border. It is the mounting tension that prompted the Kenyan authorities to deploy a contingent of Kenya Army, the General Service Unit as well as Regular and Administration Police officers to patrol the border.
How was the OLF linked to this incident? And how would the Ethiopian Government exonerate itself from blame? Mr Wolde, who is also Ethiopia's acting ambassador to Kenya, insists that the OLF people always provoke and incite people, particularly along the border with Kenya.
"They (the OLF) put on Ethiopian soldiers' uniforms to defame Ethiopia,"the envoy was quoted as saying. Kenya and Ethiopia, Mr Wolde maintained, were in good terms, adding that the Kenya Government was also aware the Ethiopian Government was not involved in the attacks.
He said there was need for the two countries to hold joint operations to resolve the OLF problem once and for all. "OLF is not only a threat to peace in Ethiopia, but also to Kenya and the whole region. They want to destabilise the region," said Mr Wolde.
When Turbi was raided last July and 90 people killed, fingers were pointed at the OLF.
Mr Wolde said in an exclusive interview with the Sunday Nation early in the week that the ragtag rebel group is a thorn in the flesh of both the Kenyan and Ethiopian governments which should be rooted out.
"Our two countries have enjoyed good relations over the years and our country contributed immensely towards the liberation of Kenya. That is why even this embassy here is a free gift from your Government," Mr Wolde said. Ethiopia has a federal system of government, with regional governments answerable to the central government in Addis Ababa.
It happens that the Oromian government in the southern part of the country is at the command of members of the Borana community, a sub-community of the Oromo.
Often, when Boranas of Kenya are threatened by any community, they naturally seek assistance from their brothers across the border.
They have been at war with the Gabra. Traditionally Gabras have been migrating to Ethiopia to graze their livestock during the dry season.
Right from the beginning, the problem in Dukana was undoubtedly an extension of the Gabra-Borana conflict. Gabras saw it as a revenge mission to avenge an attack they had launched last month on the Borana.
The Gabra had previously raided Did Sala grazing land at the Marsabit-Moyale border in the second week of March near Turbi trading centre. The areas has been at the centre of conflicts between the two communities as each group claims to own the centre.
Three killed
During the raid, at least three herders from the Borana community were killed and one was injured. A herd of 1,563 cattle was driven away.
There were protests from the Oromian government in Ethiopia claiming that the livestock belonged to Ethiopian pastoralists.
The Yabalo provincial commissioner in Ethiopia, Mr Abdilkadir Abdi Nura, claimed the livestock belonged to Ethiopians and demanded that they be returned to them.
Yabalo is a province in the southern part of Ethiopia. However, the Moyale district commissioner, Mr Peter King'ola, who perished in a plane crash with Members of Parliament from the area on Monday April 10, said that the stolen livestock were jointly owned by the Moyale pastoralists and their Ethiopian neighbours from the Borana community.
A lorry transporting 21 head of cattle suspected to have been part of the herd stolen from the Borana people was impounded in Thika. It was found by police officers parked off a road near Thika town.
Peace meetings
Five people on board were arrested and charged in a Machakos court. Immediately after the raid, two peace meetings were organised. The first one, organised by Marsabit DC Mutea Iringo, took place at Forole trading centre in Marsabit district.
Then the two DCs jointly organised a second peace meeting at Sololo trading centre in Moyale, which is also at the border and invited their Ethiopian counterparts.
However, the meeting did not resolve the problem as the two DCs could not agree with their Ethiopian counterparts who included the PC, Mr Nuran and Miyoo DC, Bacanna Bayanna.
The Ethiopian administrators accused Kenyan security forces of laxity. They argued that the Did Sala raid must have been a well coordinated move if Kenyan security forces could not identify lorries transporting the stolen livestock.
According to the late King'ola, the stolen animals were first taken to Huri Hills area in Marsabit district before being transported to the city. But he could not explain how the same animals left Marsabit for Nairobi through all the police roadblocks.
By then, Gabra herders from Forole, Dukana and El-hadi areas had migrated to Ethiopia with at least 5,000 head of cattle in search of grazing pasture.
Their relatives who were left behind had raised fears of a possible attack on their kin who had crossed the border. But Mr Nura, whose province borders Moyale and Marsabit districts, had, during the Sololo meeting, assured the Gabra community of total protection for their people grazing their livestock in his territory.
Additional reporting by Abdi Ali in Moyale
http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=39&newsid=71608
