President Uhuru Kenyatta, Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria and Hassan
Sheikh Mohamoud of Somalia Wednesday attended a requiem service in
Eldoret for Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) soldiers killed in an attack in
El-Adde, Somalia by Al-Shabaab militia.
President
Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto welcomed Nigeria's Buhari at the
Eldoret International Airport early afternoon, shortly after Somalia’s
Sheikh Mohamoud had landed at the same airport.
The
Somalia president was received by Mr Ruto and travelled by road to the
Moi Barracks, where the inter-denominational prayers for the Kenyan
troops killed in the January 15 attack were being held, while Presidents
Kenyatta and Buhari flew from the airport to the barracks.
President
Kenyatta arrived at 12:30pm with President Buhari landing at 2:35pm
with his advance delegation having arrived an hour earlier in another
aircraft.
President Mohamoud, who landed at the Eldoret
airport at 11:10am, just 10 minutes after Mr Ruto’s arrival, briefly
held talks with members of the Parliamentary Committee on Defence and
Foreign Relations before meeting potential investors at Eldoret’s Boma
Inn hotel.
At the Moi Barracks, security was tight with
journalists being asked to assemble at the Sirikwa Hotel in Eldoret at
11am before being taken to the barracks, about 25 kilometres away, by
uniformed soldiers.
The government is yet to reveal the exact number of casualties in the January 15 attack.
Once
identified, their names will be etched in a plaque at the Moi Barracks’
main gate alongside the names of Eldoret’s 9th Kenya Rifles soldiers
killed in action in 2011 and 2012.
THOROUGH SECURITY CHECKS
Journalists, clergy and family members all underwent through security checks at the main gate.
And once inside the barracks, journalists were not allowed to access the survivors of the Shabaab attack.
KDF flags were flown at half-mast all around the barracks with Kenya, Nigeria and Somalia flags at full mast.
Armed
soldiers, including those in armoured vehicles, were stationed at
strategic positions inside and outside the barracks as snipers kept
vigil atop surrounding buildings and along the busy Eldoret-Kitale
highway.
A team of choirs, including one from the Moi
Barracks Primary School, along with children of some of the slain
soldiers consoled the mourners with their well-rehearsed hymns, while
other recited poems in praise of the gallant soldiers.
The
prayers were led by, among others, Bishop Philip Anyolo, the chairman
of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops, who represented John
Cardinal Njue.
A group of retired soldiers, including Major (Rtd) John Seii, were also present.
Presidents
Kenyatta and Buhari along with Kenya’s Chief of Defence Forces Gen
Samson Mwathethe landed at the barracks in three helicopters at around
4:10pm for the start of the formal part of the programme.
The
affected families who spoke to the Nation said that some of them were
yet to hear from their kin who were in Somalia and feared for their
fate. The families of the missing soldiers have since submitted their
DNA samples.
President Buhari is on a three-day State
visit to Kenya and will on Thursday hold private talks with President
Kenyatta, before a bilateral meeting at State House, Nairobi.
Members
of affected families who spoke to the Nation said some of them were yet
to hear from their kin who were in Somalia and feared for their fate.
The families of the missing officers have since submitted their DNA
samples.
Lorna Kosgei from Kapseret in Uasin Gishu
County said she last spoke with her husband of 11 years Abraham Kimeli
Kosgei, a KDF sergeant on January 6, but was yet to hear from him since
then.
His phone has since gone off.
“I
only hope he is safe wherever he is. The children have been asking me
where their father is and I don’t have the answers,” said the mother of
three while fighting back tears.
Reported by Elias Makori, Wycliffe Kipsang, Stanley Kimuge, Barnabas Bii, Dennis Lubanga, Gerald Bwisa and PSCU.
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