By DOMINIC WABALA @wabaladominic
Tuesday, September 27, 2016
President Uhuru Kenyatta receives His Majesty King Abdullah II of the Kingdom of Jordan at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport yesterday /PSCU
President Uhuru Kenyatta said yesterday Kenya and Jordan face similar threats and must cooperate to fight common enemies spreading hatred around the world.
He spoke during the closing ceremony of a joint Kenya Defence Forces and Royal Jordanian Armed Forces training code named ‘Exercise Swift Eagle’ at the Humanitarian Peace Support School, Embakasi.
Uhuru said the cooperation between Kenya and Jordanian military underpins the two countries’ common interest. He said the countries face assault by selfish terrorists and extreme violence who aim to rip them apart through faith.
“Terrorism is not by influenced by religious doctrines, but by hatred of those who propagate selfish interests. This is not a fight of our making. It has been brought to us. Shared threats call for shared responses and the two countries must cooperate. Iam convinced our forces are ready to deal with conventional and asymmetrical threats whenever they occur,” Uhuru said.
He said Kenya and Jordan host a huge number of refugees and face terror threats and violent extremism, which must be tackled jointly.
Uhuru said 60 Kenyan troops have been trained in Jordan on specialised techniques and another 35 will be trained by the end of February next year to further bolster military cooperation between the two armies. A senior Jordanian Air Force officer has been attached to the Kenya Air Force for the past five months.
Jordanian King Abdullah Bin Al Hussein (Abdullah II) who made his maiden visit to Kenya, said the joint training will ensure the two countries stand side by side with each other while dealing with threats.
He said he will host KDF Special Force troops in Jordan to further bolster the cooperation between the two countries. “Similarities in our situations have brought us together,” Abdullah said.
“We have started a new chapter of a good relationship and a new chapter of our lives. I am proud of the quality of training and cooperation between the two countries.”
The king said the fast-mutating threats cannot be surmounted by one country acting alone.
The Jordanian Quick Reaction Force hs been in the country since last week, when it arrived to conduct joint counter insurgency operations with KDF.
A total of 229 Quick Reaction Force commandos from the Royal Jordanian Armed Forces have been jointly training with KDF’s 249 special forces squad .
The training aims to enhance the country’s operational capability in responding swiftly to emerging threats such as terrorism, violent extremism and insurgencies.