Capital FM Kenya: Kenya, Ethiopia leaders in talks after killings

1/1 President Kibaki with Ethiopian PM Zenawi/ PPS KAMPALA, Uganda, May 12 - President Mwai Kibaki on Thursday held crisis talks with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi over the recent attacks in Turkana. At the meeting held in Kampala, Uganda, the leaders agreed that a joint ministerial group of the two countries should meet and urgently resolve border issues that have emerged after the conflict pitting the Turkana and Merille peoples. "They underscored the importance of harmonious co-existence among communities living along common borders," a statement from the Presidential Press Service said. The leaders also directed that the joint ministerial meeting should seek ways of restoring any beacons that may have been destroyed along the Kenya-Ethiopia border. Militia from Ethiopia's Merille tribe last week attacked and killed 38 people in Turkana. Rift Valley Provincial Commissioner Osman Warfa said trouble started when four Merille tribesmen ambushed a group of fishermen near Lake Turkana and killed their leader. "In the commotion that ensued, unknown Turkana persons in quick retaliation shot the four Merille militiamen dead," he said. As a result, some members of the Dasenach Merille community escaped from Turkana village and ran towards the Ethiopian direction for their safety. "On their way to Ethiopia, it is alleged that they met a group of Dasenach Merille who were escorting a group of Turkana community members who had gone to Siees village to purchase food. Word reached them that their colleagues had been killed by Turkanas at the Todonyang Mission compound; that is when they turned against the Turkanas they were escorting and killed nine men, 10 women bringing the total number of Turkanas killed to 20," the Assistant Minister said. Both of the two communities from the two countries are semi nomadic who are known to co-exist but they often clash and resort to gun fights to settle their differences. Kenya has formally written a protest letter to Ethiopia over the attacks and reports of tampering with border beacons along the common border.

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At least 19 dead in Kenya, Ethiopia border clashes

ISIOLO, Kenya - Clashes between tribesmen in the remote, arid northern region of Kenya that borders Ethiopia killed at least 19 people and security has been beefed up in case of more reprisals, officials said on Tuesday.

Rift Valley Provincial Commissioner Osman Warfa told Reuters 19 Kenyans died in fighting with raiders from the Merrille tribe, also know as the Dassenech, from Ethiopia.

Cattle rustling and clashes over grazing land and access to water are relatively common in the region, though the extent of the casualties this week has concerned local officials.

"Our team has assessed the situation and established that the attackers were from the Merrille community from Ethiopia who had come inside Kenya," Osman said.

"Security has been beefed up. We have deployed more security forces and we are liaising with the Ethiopian government to restore calm and contain the situation," he said.

Another government official in northern Kenya said 21 Kenyans had died along with four Ethiopian tribesman in a series of tit-for-tat clashes along the border.

He said one Kenyan died in an initial raid into Turkana by the Merille. The Kenyan tribesman retailated, killed four Ethiopians and pursued one man who escaped. But the Kenyans came under attack again and 20 were killed, the official said.

The Ethiopian government said it was checking on the reports but did not have an immediate comment.

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YouTube - Over 40 People Feared Dead in Turkana

YouTube - Over 40 People Feared Dead in Turkana: ""

Tribal clashes continue at Kenya/Ethiopia border - storyful

Tribal clashes continue at Kenya/Ethiopia border

From: CitizenTV

Further violence has gripped the Kenyan/Ethiopian border region where more than 40 people were killed earlier in the week. Border clashes between Kenyan Turkana tribesmen and their cross-border Ethiopian Merille counterparts have left scores dead and now the number of people seeking refuge has increased dramatically. Most of those killed were Turkana. Some of their tribe had gone into the border region to trade with the Ethiopians, who now live on the Kenyan side of the border, but were ambushed on their return and apparently slaughtered in a shootout.

The border region east of Kenya’s Lake Turkana remains a hotbed of conflict, with thousands of foreign nationals resident inside Kenya’s borders, and large pockets of the native Turkana population now displaced.

The victims in the alleged recent spate of killings were people who were fleeing the area due to previous clashes, in which more than 40 people died.

At the same time, fresh information suggests five more people may have been killed by Merille bandits two days after 20 others were shot dead.

Turkana North district commissioner Jack Opuo could neither confirm nor deny the killings at Todonyang on the Kenya-Ethiopia border, saying security personnel had been dispatched to investigate the incident.

“Security personnel have been sent to verify the alleged killings,” said Mr Opuo on phone.

But residents fleeing the insecurity-hit area said among the dead were Mr Edapal Lokoyo, his two daughters, a Mr Nakonyi and another person.

“The victims were escaping from the trouble-hit area when they were shot dead,” said Ms Jacinta Ekai by telephone. She termed the killing an act of provocation.

Updated 2 days ago

The border conflict has remained in the headlines in Kenya for the last week, with the government dispatching troops and a ‘fact-finding mission’ to the region to establish what can be done. The border region has seen violence before, but with 35 Kenyan tribesmen dead, their bodies littered across the plains straddling the border, the government immediately sought a route to peace in the area.

View Kenya border violence in a larger map

Ethiopian Kenya Border killings of Turkana

Ethiopian armed men 'kill 38' at Kenya border - AFP

NAIROBI — An attack by Ethiopian armed men on a rival community in a remote region of north Kenya on their border left at least 38 people dead, a local official said Wednesday, warning the toll could rise.

"Where the incident occured is very remote and mostly not accessible," Rift Valley Provincial Commissioner Osman Warfa told AFP in an update on Tuesday's attack.

"Security forces have been combing the area since last (Tuesday) evening and the number of people killed by Merile militia men from Ethiopia is now 38," he added.

The raid had targeted fishermen and cattle herders from the Turkana community, who are normally armed in that region, he said. But several women coming home from market also got caught up in the fighting and were killed.

"By yesterday (Tuesday) only 18 bodies had been found. We had reports that more people had been killed but we had not found all the bodies.

"Based on the total number of bodies found so far, 38 people in all were killed," Warfa said, adding that the death toll might continue to rise.

"A security operation has been launched in the area and we are working with authorities from Ethiopia to help us apprehend those who committed the atrocities and help secure the border," he added.

There is a history of cross border inter-community violence between the Turkana and the Merile.

However Warfa said the two groups "have been living peacefully in recent weeks and even doing cross-border trade."

"We don't understand where the animosity came from," he said.

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Stratex finds bonanza gold grades during sampling in Blackrock licence, Ethiopia

7:27 am by Andre Lamberti

Sampling work on the company's Blackrock licence in Ethiopia's Afar region has found bonanza gold grades

Stratex International PLC (LON:STI) said it found bonanza gold grades during rock sampling at the Black Water zone within its 100 percent owned Blackrock Exclusive Exploration Licence (Blackrock EEL) in the prospective Afar epithermal gold province of eastern Ethiopia.

Surface rock-chip samples returned up to 60.4 grammes per tonne gold from the Nesbitt target and 34.6 g/t Au from the Oasis vein systems at the Blackrock EEL.

Channel-chip sampling of Theodore target returned best grades of 25 metres at 1.15 g/t Au and 15.2 metres at 1.28 g/t Au, while best values returned at Nesbitt were 6.1 metres grading 1.01 g/t Au and 0.5 metres at 38.3 g/t Au.

The work has identified wide zones of gold on the Theodore, Nesbitt and Oasis vein systems over 4.57 kilometres combined strike within the previously discovered 14 kilometres of outcropping veins over the Black Water and Magdala zones of the Blackrock EEL.

Executive director David Hall said: "These first samples of outcrop at the Black Water zone have returned bonanza grades, i.e. greater than 30 grams per tonne gold, and wide zones of gold mineralisation up to 25 metres in width, further highlighting the potential for major multiple gold mineralisation at this exciting discovery where four key zones have been identified to date.”

"With this in mind, our exploration programme at Blackrock will continue at pace as we focus on advancing the Stanley, Nesbitt, Oasis, Theodore and Baker targets to a drill ready status.  We also eagerly await the results from a 3,000 metre drill programme at our Megenta gold project in Ethiopia, where we believe there is a potential to intersect, at depth, similar multi-gram gold grades."

It is anticipated that the Blackrock prospects can be fast-tracked through to drill-ready status before the end of the year.  The regional infrastructure is being rapidly upgraded by mining majors such as BHP Billiton which are conducting significant potash programmes.  In line with this, major camps, new roads and associated infrastructure are currently being established.

In the meantime, drilling of the company's first project in the Afar, Megenta, will commence shortly, funded by the joint-venture partnership with Thani Ashanti, an AngloGold Ashanti alliance.