Kenya and Ethiopia have pledged to conduct cross border terror operations for stability.
Both countries have reiterated strong security cooperation to fight cross-border terrorism thereby ensuring peace and stability in the area.
Police chiefs for both countries met in Addis Ababa on Tuesday and agreed to cooperate in many other ways to deal with such cross border crimes.
The assertion came at a time when Ethiopian Federal Police Commissioner General Demelash Gebremichael received Inspector General of National Police Service Hilary Mutyambai at his office and held a discussion on issues of mutual concern.
Officials and local media said the two agreed to launch a joint operation against al-Shabaab and Shene groups to stop hostile activities by the two organisations.
The two countries will sign an MoU for the joint operation within a month.
Mutyambai said Ethiopia and Kenya agreed to enhance cooperation in exchange of information, adding that the MoU will enable the countries to ensure cross-border peace and security.
“They discussed various matters, including a joint effort in the fight against regional and transnational crime and cooperation between our two police services geared towards capacity building,” a statement from his office said.
Mutyambai is also the current President of AFRIPOL.
It was the first such meeting between the two police chiefs.
Kenya and Ethiopia share a common border and have suffered several attacks by criminal gangs.
Both countries have their militaries in Somalia to fight al-Shabaab militants, who most of the time slip into the countries for attacks.
The move by Mutyambai to visit his counterpart in Ethiopia was seen as one of the many ways to contain the spread of the gangs in the region. This can be tamed through, among others, sharing of intelligence between the two agencies.
Shene has been fighting the government from its stronghold in the Oromia region of western Ethiopia even though it entered the country to pursue peaceful political struggle in mid-2018.
Image: NPS
In 2021, Ethiopia’s council of ministers approved a resolution to designate the TPLF as a “terrorist” organisation, along with the OLF-Shene, after several attacks in different parts of the country targeting civilians and public infrastructure over the past couple of years.
The Ethiopian government is also involved in operations against the OLA, a military splinter group from the Oromo Liberation Front, mostly in the Oromia region.
The government alleges that the OLA is killing civilians and is behind destruction in the Oromia region and other parts of the country. They spread to Kenya.
Source The Star