NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 25 — Kenya has enhanced security along its borders in the wake of increased terrorism threats and instability in the region.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i said Monday that the government had upscaled security in some parts of the country to manage the current situation.
“These challenges we have in the region are not only affecting us, they are affecting us and also our policing in the region,” Matiang’i said.
He was making reference to the war in Ethiopia’s Tigray region pitting the Tigray Peoples’ Liberation Front (TPLF) against the central government and the anti-coup protests in Sudan.
Matiangi added that he held talks with the Ugandan Defence minister to discuss the challenges of terrorism and ways to address it.
The Interior CS called on Kenyans to exercise caution and work with security agencies to ensure peace in the region.
“When we tell our people that this is not the time to drop the guard, we mean it. Terror takes different forms as we go by. We are working very hard including heightened deployment on the border with Somalia and increased security activities we are having all the way from Lamu to Takaba in Mandera,” he added.
He called on Kenyans to beware of their surroundings saying terrorism can only be defeated through a collective responsibility.
Matiang’i further thanked patriotic Kenyans for coming forward and offering crucial information to the security agencies a move he says has played a part in disrupting the terror activities.
Kenya has suffered a brunt of attacks from the Al-Shabaab militants who have staged a series of raids in the Northern and Coastal region because of the vast border with Somalia.
The Al-Qaeda-linked Jihadist group has continued to target Kenya since it launched a military offensive against them in 2011 in an exercise dubbed “operation Linda Nchi”.
In a recent attack, at least eight construction vehicles and equipment belonging to a Chinese Construction Company were set ablaze by suspected al-Shabab militants in Lamu on Sunday.
Lamu County Commissioner Irungu Macharia said the trucks were part of a fleet of vehicles owned by the China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), involved in the construction of the access road for the Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) corridor project.
On January 7, four police officers were ambushed and killed following another attack in Lamu.
