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The Nairobian

President Uhuru Kenyatta and two presidents to honour soldiers

Counties

By Standard Team | Jan 27, 2016

President Uhuru Kenyatta will today lead his Nigerian and Somali counterparts Muhammadu Buhari and Hassan Sheikh Mohamud to honour the fallen soldiers in Eldoret. Speaking yesterday in Nairobi, State House Spokesman Manoah Esipisu said the trio would attend a special inter-denominational prayer meeting at the Kenya Defence Forces 9^th Kenya Rifles (KR) at Moi Barracks.

Majority of the soldiers killed in the Al Shabaab attack at El-Adde camp in Somalia were from the 9KR.

“President Buhari will arrive today at Eldoret International Airport where he will be received by his host, President Uhuru Kenyatta. He will get a full State reception including a 21-gun salute,” Esipisu told journalists at a press briefing in State House.

“Thereafter, the two presidents will proceed to the 9th Kenya Rifles, Moi Barracks, Eldoret where they will be joined by Somalia’s President Mohamud for a special service to celebrate the lives of our gallant soldiers who died in Somalia,” he explained.

*President Uhuru Kenyatta with Alexander Rondos, the European Union Special Representative for the Horn of Africa who paid him a courtesy call at State House, Nairobi.* (PHOTO: COURTESY)

According to Mr Esipisu, after the prayer service, President Buhari who is on a three-day visit in the country will hold private talks tomorrow, before a bilateral meeting at State House, Nairobi. On Friday they will leave for an African Union Heads of State and Government Summit meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

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Today’s prayer meeting will be the second that Kenyatta will be attending in a fortnight. Last week, he led other political leaders and Government officials at a similar meeting at the Armed Forces Memorial Hospital in Nairobi.

The development comes at a time when KDF vacated El-Adde camp in what the military described as a ‘technical retreat’. Officials at Department of Defence said moving of troops from El Adde was a “normal operational manoeuvre” and not a withdrawal.

Missing soldiers

Meanwhile Chief of Defence Forces Samson Mwathethe said not all the soldiers who were at the camp during the attack have been accounted for. Gen Mwathethe said they are yet to know the exact number of those missing in action, injured or dead even as the search and rescue mission came to an end. He said some bodies were badly injured and had gone bad and would require DNA tests to identify.

Counselling sessions

The wait is, however, taking toll on the family members of the soldiers. They are not certain whether their relatives are alive or not. Kipkemoi Kisorio, an elder brother to Wesley Kimeli, who was a private officer in El Adde told The Standard they were told of today’s mass at Moi Barracks after they had given DNA samples.

“We are uncertain on attending the mass because we don’t know if our brother passed on or was kidnapped by the Al Shabaab militants. The Department of Defence told us that the DNA test results are expected to be out after two weeks,” said Kisorio.

Rhoda Manyange, the wife of Major Geoffrey Obwoge, who was the commander of the El Adde camp, is still in the dark on the whereabouts of her husband.

“I have made regular visits to Moi Barracks, but there is no information on him,” she said.

And now Reverend Wilson Kurui of Uasin Gishu Pastors’ fellowship wants the State to take the families through comprehensive counselling to reduce anxiety and trauma.

“The families have not been considered for counselling at the moment despite being in a very difficult situation. It will help ease the pain following the loss of their loved ones,” he said.

Story by Cyrus Ombati, Daniel Psirmoi, Michael Ollinga and Silah Koskei