By Boniface Ongeri
Two Somalia assistant ministers have been arrested in Wajir Town for flouting immigration rules.
Abdikasi Maalim Hassan (Ministry of Telecommunication) and Esmail Abdi Mohammed (Agriculture) were intercepted at a police roadblock on Wednesday. They were travelling to Nairobi in a Somalia registered vehicle.
Police said the MPs, together with a driver and two bodyguards, entered the country illegally. The MPs were from a peace meeting between warring clans on the Kenya/Somalia border.
The arrest comes barely a fortnight after a leader from Somalia was arrested in Nairobi and deported. The two, however, denied claims that they entered the country illegally.
“We entered Kenya through Wilson Airport in Nairobi and proceeded to Elwak in Mandera to reconcile the Garre clan of Kenya and the Marihan clan of Somalia,” Hassan said.
He said the meeting, which was scheduled to take place at Elwak, was moved to Burhache — a tiny town in Somalia.
Police said although their documents appeared genuine, they bore no exit and entry stamps.
The Kenyan ambassador to Somalia, Mohammed Abdi Affey, confirmed that there was a meeting to reconcile the clans that was held at Burhache.
Speaking on the telephone, the envoy said the two were in the country legally.
By Wednesday evening, their release was still uncertain as sources indicated that police officers have been instructed to deport the MPs and their aides.
The northern frontier districts have often borne the brunt of insecurity with militia from neighbouring Somalia and Ethiopia carrying out raids on Kenyan villages.
Most of these raids have been attributed to clan disputes. Ali Mohamed Ghedi was elected Somalia Prime Minister in 2004.
Source: The Standard, June 22, 2006
