KENYA'S REPRISALS AGAINST ETHIOPIA

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta (2nd L) and visiting Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn (L) meet the media after their meeting at the State House in Nairobi, capital of Kenya, April 24, 2013. (Xinhua/Meng Chenguang)

Kenya's reprisals against Ethiopia

By AfricanIntelligence

Undermined by the incursion of the Ethiopian army into Kenyan territory in late May (at the Illeret locality, 15 km from the border), relations between Kenya and Ethiopia could deteriorate even further. The Kenyan government has decided to break the agreement signed with Ethiopia in 2012 under which Kenya undertook to import some 400 MW for a period of 30 years, after the Gilgel Gibe III dam (southwest Ethiopia) is completed next year. Nairobi justifies the termination of this contract by arguing that the country produces enough hydro-electricity. But the real reason for the withdrawal is explained by the rising tension between the two countries.

In addition to the intrusion of the Ethiopian army into Kenyan soil, President Uhuru Kenyatta found it particularly hard to swallow the Ethiopian intervention that obliged him to abandon his trip to the United States in April. Uhuru Kenyatta was in the aircraft to Dubai, where he was due to stopover on his way to California, when the Ethiopian authorities asked him to change his flight plan to avoid Yemeni airspace for security reasons. The pilot was caught off his guard and the presidential plane was forced to turn round and go back to Kenya.



=>madote