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SA, Kenya talks terror
05/08/2003 19:08 - (SA)
Dina Kraft
Pretoria - Kenya and South Africa - two of Africa's most powerful countries - must co-operate more closely on counterterrorism efforts, President Thabo Mbeki said on Tuesday.
Mbeki, hosting Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki during a three-day state visit, said terrorism was everybody's problem.
"(We must) ensure we share information better and resources better, so that together we can deal with this matter. It's not just a Kenyan problem or a South African problem, it's a global problem," Mbeki told reporters.
The African continent is considered a soft target for terrorists because of its porous borders and poorly trained and overburdened law enforcement officials.
Kenya is under increasing pressure to take strong action against terrorism.
Al-Qaeda is believed to be behind two major attacks in Kenya: the November bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel last November which killed three Israelis and at least 10 Kenyans, and the 1998 car bombing of the US Embassy in Nairobi, in which 219 people, including 12 Americans, were killed.
Kibaki said his country was taking action.
"Any person who wants to ... start trouble in Kenya will find we are ready (to combat them)."
The two presidents also discussed major conflicts in Africa where they have both taken mediating holds, such as fighting in Burundi and Somalia.
On the issue of trade, Mbeki said there was much work to be done in correcting the current trade imbalance between the countries.
"We have a trade imbalance between this country and Kenya which is rather big, 1-to-20 in favour of South Africa," Mbeki said.
"More needs to be done to encourage a greater flow of Kenyan products into the South African market (and) also greater flows of investment from South Africa into Kenya," he said.
- AP
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