An Ethio-Kenya Joint Border Commission meeting opened in Adama City, Ethiopia, on Tuesday (February 12). The meeting reviewed the progress of implementation of the decisions and recommendations of the 31st Joint Border Commission meeting. The three-day meeting discussed political, socio-economic, peace and security issues across the shared border, and focused on intra-border security, stemming illegal weapons flow and human trafficking, enhancing border trade for the benefit of the border communities, and cooperation on health and education as well as strengthening people-to-people ties between the communities on both sides of the border. The meeting was concluded by the adoption of resolutions that enable them strengthen relations and resolve future conflicts. With a view to dealing with peace and security concerns, the two sides agreed to strengthen a “Peace Committee”, made up of officials of the relevant government institutions, local administrators of border communities and elders from both countries.
Mrs. Teyiba Hassen, the Deputy Chief Administrator of Ethiopia’s Oromia Regional State, noted that the relationship between Ethiopia and Kenya was longstanding and one based on solid foundations. The peoples of the two countries, she emphasized, were tied together by blood, culture and tradition. She also underlined the importance of their joint efforts to ensure security along the border as well as improve the socio-economic wellbeing of border communities. Moffat Kangi, leading the Kenyan delegation, said the bilateral ties and longstanding cooperation between Ethiopia and Kenya was exemplary for the countries in the region. The two countries, were working together to ensure that their common borders were corridors of peace and prosperity.
Following a plenary session, discussions took place in two clusters, focusing on political and security cooperation, and on economic and social matters. Each cluster reviewed the progress on the implementation of the recommendations made at the previous session in Mombasa in November 2016 and reached a series of agreements and recommendations.
On political and security matters, the two sides agreed on dealing with the inspection and maintenance of boundary pillars; on immigration and human trafficking, security issues along the common border and terrorism. Both sides expressed concerns over the slow pace of implementation and recommended that the Joint Border Commission should devise better methods of fast-tracking its work in compliance with Schedule II and Article XII of the 1970 Boundary Treaty in an efficient and expeditious way. The two countries further emphasized the need for Border Commission and the local administrators to sensitize border communities before commencement of the boundary inspection and maintenance.
To address the problem of irregular migration, the meeting recommended the immigration authorities of both countries should establish five additional Points of Entry/Exit along the common border, phase by phase. The meeting also recommended that local administrators and community leaders from the two countries should convene regular consultative meetings and keep in communication to address issues affecting their communities.
On the cluster covering economic and social matters, covering issues of border trade, customs, health, agriculture, livestock and fisheries and education, the two sides noted the exchange of various draft Memoranda of Understanding. They agreed to speed up the feedback from relevant and concerned institutions for implementation. They also agreed that their border agencies should conduct joint patrols, share information and manage risks related to smuggling and diversion of goods. On the harmonization of working hours, they agreed that this should take place at the Moyale One-Stop-Border-Post. Both sides further agreed that the two customs authorities should continue with monthly meetings to address cross-border challenges.
They acknowledged the existence of strong cooperation on health matters across the border. The meeting recommended the establishment of a Joint Technical Committee on Health to be set up by April, to oversee the implementation of the MoU on health cooperation. Both sides urged the health officials at Moyale to continue convening cross-border meetings on health every quarter. They further agreed to address illegal cross-border movement of human pharmaceuticals and related products.
The two countries also agreed to convene meetings of Joint Border Administrations annually, as stipulated in the Boundary Agreement, as well as unilateral consultative meeting every six months to review the status of implementation of the decisions and recommendations of the Joint Border Administrators/Commissioners’ meetings and the regular meetings of adjacent zonal/sub-county administrators at least every three months with the participation of the Peace Committees of both sides. They urged the Peace Committees to conduct their meetings on monthly basis as agreed. They also decided to exchange information on the outcome of the consultative meetings through their respective embassies in Addis Ababa and Nairobi.
