WE NEED COUNTER- TERRORISM SOMETIMES...

Mr.Bellamy, US Ambassador to Kenya and Mr.Shaaban Ali, MP for the Mandera East at Arabia Secondary School, Kenya.


U.S. EmbassyPublic Affairs SectionUnited Nations Avenue
P.O. Box 606 Village Market00621 Nairobi, Kenya
Tel: 254-20-3636439Fax: 254-20-3636353

Press Release

US AMBASSADOR VISITS MANDERA

The US spends 7.3 million Kshs to expand Arabia school facilities

Nairobi, 21 January 2004

The U.S. Ambassador to Kenya William M. Bellamy on Tuesday this week, presided at the dedication of the Arabia Secondary School in Mandera District of Kenya's Northeastern Province. He was hosted by the area M.P., the Hon. Shabaan Isaak.

U.S. soldiers and the Kenyan military cooperated over the past several months on this project to refurbish and expand facilities at the school, located some 70 kms . south of Mandera town. The Arabia Secondary School now has a library, a new dining hall and kitchen, and an additional classroom building. As a result, the number of students attending the school will increase from 160 to 240. The U.S. committed a total of 7.3 million Kshs. to underwrite the project, using local contractors and supplies.

The Arabia Secondary School project is by far the largest of many similar "Civil Action" projects in Kenya. Over the past year U.S. military and counterparts in the Kenyan Department of Defense Projects have worked together on projects at various locations in Coast, Eastern, Central, and Rift Valley Provinces, along with others in the Northeast Province.

All these Civil Action projects are supported through the Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA), a U.S. led multi-nation group based in Djibouti, which seeks to establish a closer working relationships with local militaries in order to end the threat of terrorism in the region.

Civil Action projects - repairing schools, digging wells, running medical and veterinary clinics - help familiarize U.S. soldiers with the land and people of the Horn of Africa region. They also provide opportunities for American soldiers to learn work together with their Kenyan counterparts on locally beneficial projects, a working interaction which helps to build trust and confidence with each other.

Ambassador Bellamy noted in his dedication remarks how appropriate it was that the Arabia project, both the largest and among the most distant from Nairobi, was a school. Both Kenyan and American parents, he said, understood how vital education was for the future of their children.


All took place on Tuesday, Jan. 18 in Arabia, Mandera District, KENYA.