Interior Cabinet Secretary (CS) Kipchumba Murkomen reiterated his call for calm and patience as the search and rescue of missing Kenyan fishermen gets underway following last Saturday attack in Todonyang, Kenya Ethiopia border.
He confirmed that an autopsy was done on the two bodies and buried Thursday.
Murkomen traced the genesis of the current situation to a suspected criminal from Kenya who killed three on the Ethiopian side, triggering a retaliatory attack.
“On Saturday, in unfortunate incident, there was a rogue Kenyan who went to cause problems in the Ethiopian side from Kenya and the information we have now is that he killed three from the Ethiopian side,”stated Murkomen.
As a result, he regretted to note that in a retaliatory attack, it is reported that Kenyans were attacked from the Ethiopia side on Lake Turkana.
“We are yet to establish what really happened and the number of those injured.
We believe from the reports of missing persons filed by relatives we have more than 20 people still missing,” he affirmed.
He recounted that based on his visit to the area on Monday, the Government set up mechanisms to engage the Ethiopian authorities to facilitate access to the area.
Murkomen lauded the process that brokered a deal to allow access that has resulted in the recovery of two bodies.
“The search and rescue of the missing persons is on and I will inform the country accordingly on progress ,” said Murkomen.
He is hopeful that more progress will be made through an all-government approach with local security teams from Kenya and Ethiopia.
He said the fact that the incident occurred outside Kenya’s territory complicated the initial response.
