The parliament has again summoned the Minister of Defense, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, as well as the governor of Kapoeta state, over Kenyan encroachment into South Sudan’s territory.
This came after some members of parliament claimed that the Kenya government launched 65-kilometer road rehabilitation project last month.
In a statement addressed to the speaker of the national parliament and seen by Eye Radio, the lawmaker who raise the motion says the road rehabilitation begins at Kalobeyei inside Kenya’s territory through Nadapal border point and ends at Nakodok, 12 kilometers inside South Sudan’s territory.
Speaking during a parliamentary session on Monday, the MP representing Kapoeta State in the TNLA, Honorable Epone Emmanuel Lolimo, said Kenyan troops that have encroached into South Sudan’s territory are restricting local community from grazing their animals freely around Nadapal.
“The local communities of Kapoeta state have been denied access to grazing land and freedom of movement -despite an MoU signed between [our] national government with the government of Kenya in 2009,” Hon. Lolimo said.
Honorable Lolimo said the 2009 Memorandum of Understanding reportedly allowed Kenya to temporary set up a control border post near Nadapal “without informing the local communities.”
The lawmaker believes the MoU did not however authorize the Kenyan government to redraw or demarcate international border between Kenya and South Sudan.