Event Summary:
- 2nd August 2015, the Kenya’s Chief of Defence Forces Gen. Samson Mwathethe met with King’s Military Adviser and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs-of-staff Gen. Mashal Al Zaben for bilateral talks on military cooperation between Jordan and Kenya.
- Mwathethe together with his accompanying delegation met with the Jordanian King Abdullah on Monday
Analysis:
Jordan and Kenya on Sunday August 2nd got into an agreement that provides for the two country’s military cooperation and counterterrorism.
Gen. Mwathethe held bilateral talks with the King’s Military Adviser and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs-of-staff Gen. Mashal Al Zaben. The meeting resulted to the two sides signing an agreement that allows for the exchange of expertise in defense, training, defense industries, technical cooperation and the fight against terrorists.
Conclusion:
The Royal Jordanian Air Force in the past has sold to the Kenyan Air Force a squadron of F-5 which had been upgraded. This is a clear indication that the agreement extends the relations between Kenya and Jordan beyond military equipment to training, technical support and war against terrorism.
Kenya which borders the habitat of the al Qaeda affiliated terrorist organization Harakat Al Shabaab Al Mujahideen has in the past month received a lot of backing in it counterterrorism campaign most recently from the United States.
Kenya is set to benefit significantly from the training and technical support from Jordan whose army is ranked 64th globally. Subsequently, Kenya is purportedly expected to purchase military equipment from Jordan like the Northrop F-5 fighter jet.
Jordan’s geographical location is in many ways like Kenya hence Kenya could borrow strategic counter-terrorism measures from her.
