President Uhuru Kenyatta and Ethiopia Prime Minister Hailemariam
Desalegn in Moyale, Marsabit County, after unveiling a plaque during the
launch of the cross-border integrated programme on December 7, 2015.
PHOTO | PHOEBE OKALL | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Kenya and Ethiopia on Monday signed a Sh20 billion five year
deal that will spur development and end conflict along border of the two
countries.
President Uhuru Kenyatta and Ethiopian
Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn witnessed Kenya’s Foreign Affairs
Minister Amina Mohamed and her Ethiopian counterpart Tedros Adhanom ink
the agreement.
“This is a historic a function. The
presence of the Prime Minister is a reminder of Ethiopia’s commitment to
deeper relationship between the countries and the people,” President
Kenyatta said.
Communities living along the border will
be helped to improve their living standards through trade under the
deal dubbed “Marsabit County/Kenya-Borana Zone/Ethiopia Integrated
Cross-border and Area-based Programme”.
The programme,
sponsored by United Nations agencies, is focused on developing the
area’s untapped energy and mining resources and meat and livestock trade
to create jobs for the youth.
It also seeks to improve access to health, education, build social cohesion and trust between the communities.
President
Kenyatta was also accompanied by Cabinet secretaries Hassan Wario and
Joseph Nkaissery, and Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua. They landed
at the border town of Moyale shortly after 11am.
The
President later received Mr Desalegn before the two unveiled a
commemorative plague marking a peace declaration between Marsabit County
and Ethiopia’s Borana region.
SECURITY
There
was tight security in the unoccupied territory on the Kenya-Ethiopia
border near Moyale Town, where the ceremony was held.
Part of the cross-border conflicts between communities living along the border occurred in the unoccupied territory.
In the 2013 Turbi massacre, 200 people were killed, 100 houses torched and 54,000 people displaced from their homes.
The persistent insecurity in the region has hindered development, with the situation worsened by years of marginalisation.
Mr Desalegn said there was hope for peace in the area as the two governments are committed to developing the region.
“My
government is committed to (addressing) historical marginalisation of
this region and steer it from poverty and support cross-border
programmes for sustainable peace,” he said.
He supports the idea of making the region a special zone for industrialisation.
The Lamu-Port South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (Lapsset) corridor, he added, would further open up the area.
OROMO
He
cited poverty, underdevelopment and gender discrimination as the
challenges facing the region with more than one million people.
President Kenyatta said the new initiative would help transform the region.
“The programme will see Moyale being turned into the Dubai of Africa,” he said.
Apart from insecurity, Moyale is currently seen as a human and arms trafficking town.
President
Kenyatta said the construction of the Merille-Marsabit-Moyale highway
would be completed in September 2016. The road is part of a highway from
Cape Town in South Africa to Cairo, Egypt.
He said the
signing of the peace initiative spearheaded by the UN agencies and
other development partners showed African countries can cooperate for
mutual good.
“It also shows that Kenya is not a country of two classes of people — the
forgotten and marginalised and the others as claimed by some people. We
are one nation and we will develop all areas equally,” he said.
Despite
the recent threats to the relationship between Kenya and Ethiopia
following the crossing of the latter’s soldiers into Marsabit in search
of Oromo Liberation Movement members, President Kenyatta said the two
nations enjoyed good friendly relations.
“Our bond is
strong…. We are working together to bring peace in Somalia… Together we
will end conflicts in our borders. We will work together to build
infrastructure that our people need,” he said.
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