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Hillary Mageka @hillarymageka

President Uhuru Kenyatta yesterday sent a high-powered delegation of top security chiefs to his Somalia counterpart Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Farmaajo to resolve fluid security border tensions between the two countries.

This follows a phone conversation between the two Heads of State to appoint committees to look into several matters following a week that saw the Somalia National Army battle Jubbaland forces in Bula Hawa near Mandera county.

On Sunday, Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i led the delegation to Villa Somalia, the official residence of Somalia President alongside Defence Cabinet Secretary Monica Juma and top ranking officers from the Department of Defence.

Insecurity wave

“Following the recent wave of security challenges on the Kenya-Somalia border, some senior state officers and I have been dispatched by HE President Uhuru Kenyatta to meet his counterpart, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Farmaajo, with a view to ironing out the persistent cross-border issues,”  said Matiang’i in a statement.

On Wednesday, Kenya and Somalia, which have traditionally united in the fight against al Shabaab militants, in a strongly-worded statements accused each other of territorial integrity violations.

In particular, Nairobi accused Mogadishu of an “unwarranted attack and flagrant breach” on the frontier town of Mandera, during heavy gunfight which broke out between Somalia’s forces and militia allied to a fugitive regional security minister Abdirashid Hassan also known as Janan.

In a statement by State House spokesperson Kanze Dena, Kenya  accused Somalia of breaching international law on military battles.

“The foreign soldiers, in flagrant breach and total disregard of international laws and conventions, engaged in aggressive and belligerent activities by harassing and destroying properties of Kenyan citizens living in the border town of Mandera,” Dena said.

“This action amounts to an unwarranted attack by foreign soldiers with the intention of provoking Kenya. In keeping with our long-standing and distinguished tradition in peace keeping and peace building in the region and beyond and in particular in Somalia, Kenya acted with total restraint,” she said.

 Somalia’s Ambassador to the UN Abukar Dahir Osman accused Kenya of violating Somali territory.

Though, Osman was not specific, he referred to Kenyan authorities aiding Janan, and supporting Jubbaland troops.

Flee prison

The minister escaped from a Mogadishu prison where he had been held since August 31 last year. He is said to have bribed prison officials who helped him escape to Kenya escorted by clan militia.

In the recent past, Kenya and Somalia has had rocky relations especially since Somalia refused to withdraw a maritime boundary case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ.

The ICJ will hear and decide the case in June this year but it remains uncertain whether that will close the chapter on the issue that has put the two neighbouring states at loggerheads, especially since there are political connotations to it.