Kenyans Still Missing After Attack By Ethiopian Militia

Source:-The East African Standard (Nairobi)
May 25, 2006

The wherabouts of the eight Kenyans captured by suspected Ethiopian militiamen in Marsabit District is still unknown.

The missing men were herding their livestock at the Kenya Ethiopia border when the raiders attacked them last Sunday. The raiders killed three people and stole 1,018 animals during the Sunday afternoon raid at Dukana and Folole areas.

Eastern Deputy Provincial Police Officer, Gerald Oluoch, told The Standard that the eight Kenyans' whereabouts remained unknown. Oluoch said they could have been taken hostage in Ethiopia by the militiamen but added that police were pursuing the matter.

A security team led by the Provincial Police Officer (PPO), Jonathan Koskei, and the area Officer Commanding Police Division (OCPD), Francis Sang, were patrolling the area. Oluoch said security officers had been deployed to the troubled Dukana area, adding that the situation now is calm.

"The area is now calm and we are still trying to trace the eight Kenyans although we have not yet determined where they are being held," said Oluoch.

A police officer was shot in the leg as Kenyan forces repulsed the militiamen. The raiders, who were estimated to be over 100, first struck on Sunday evening and raided Folole Police Station at the border of Moyale and Marsabit districts.

They shot dead a villager near the station before they attacked the police.

It is notable that in mid April six Kenyans abducted by Ethiopian soldiers during a raid at Modhaudhi village in Moyale District in northern Kenya and have been released.

The released persons say they were taken to a military camp in Ethiopia where they were tortured by the soldiers. They say the soldiers wanted to know the location of a hide-out of the Oromo Liberation Front in the country.