A diplomatic row between Kenya and Tanzania may be brewing after Tanzania released seventy-four Ethiopians serving sentences in the country and dropped them off at the Kenyan border.
Kenya immigration officials blamed their Tanzanian counterparts for dumping the aliens on the Kenyan side of the Taveta border on Tuesday, instead of deporting them to their motherland.
Taita Taveta Deputy County Commissioner Henry Wafula and area Immigration Officer Lundu Kisia, confirmed that the Ethiopians were escorted to the border town in the morning after completing their jail terms.
“Tanzania authorities should have repatriated the foreigners to their country of origin instead of dumping them in Kenya. We will take them back to Tanzania,” Wafula told the Standard.
The Ethiopians were however, left stranded at the no mans land after Kenyan Police and Immigration officers were instructed to deny them entry.
“Police and Immigration officers have been directed not to allow the foreigners to enter the country. They will be taken back to Tanzania where they came from. The incident is unacceptable and not allowed in law,” he said.
By international law, Tanzania is legally required to facilitate the return of the Ethiopians to their country after completing their prison terms.
This incident comes after Kenya was accused of stirring a diplomatic upset between China and Taiwan when it deliberately deported 37 Taiwanese nationals arrested in Kenya to China.
