By AGGREY MUTAMBO

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The European Union (EU) is sending military support worth about €20million ($21.4 million) to the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) in a boost against threats such as the Somali militant group Al Shabaab.

It means Nairobi will draw support for the first time directly from the EU Peace Facility, a fund established in 2021 by the European Union bloc to help support security initiatives in allied countries in Africa.

A dispatch from the European Council said the money will support the KDF to protect Kenyan borders and deal with internal and external threats.

“The assistance measure will also contribute to securing border areas and countering increased Al Shabaab’s operations along the border with Somalia.,” the European Council said on Monday.

Read: Kenya to keep borders with Somalia shut

Drawing from the European Peace Facility means the money will finance equipment purchases and other services such as technical training.

The Kenya army infantry combat units will also receive tactical unmanned aerial vehicles, non-lethal interceptors and jammers, systems to defeat improvised explosive devices, electronic warfare means, cross-country tactical military-type vehicles, and a mobile medical post, a dispatch indicated.

The EU has been one of the backers of the outgoing African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (Atmis) force which KDF has been a part of for the last decade. But the EU and other donors had lately cut back some budgetary allocations to the mission, citing a multiplicity of security challenges on the continent.

Since 2021, when it created the EU Peace Facility, it had targeted the Sahel region where an insurgency had held down countries such as Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso. The KDF has never directly benefited from the facility, however.

The $21.4 million also includes support for the Kenya navy’s naval marine units who will receive night vision goggles, life vests and other personal protective equipment.

EPA pact

The money is new, but it comes under an older arrangement: The EU-Kenya Strategic Dialogue pact in June 2021 where the two sides agreed to engage towards implementing bilaterally the trade and the economic and development cooperation provisions of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the East African Community.

Read: NGO wants EU-Kenya trade partnership annulled

This EPA was supposed to be a bloc-to-bloc arrangement, but countries have since agreed on variable geometric, with each stepping in at a convenient time to implement the deal.

The EU, like most Western countries, has lately been tying security issues to business and investment deals, putting the role of Kenya’s national security upgrades at the centre of pacts that would otherwise focus on economic issues only.

According to the EU, the Strategic Dialogue of 2021 was supposed to strengthen EU and Kenya's regional and multilateral cooperation, targeting issues such as democracy, governance and human rights, including gender equality; peace, security and stability; trade and investment; social development; climate change and the green transition; and the digital agenda, among others.

“By investing in the capacities and capabilities of its defence forces, the EU reaffirms its support to Kenya as a pillar of peace and stability in the region,” the Council said.

Non-Nato ally

The support could add to what Kenya is to get from the US in military upgrades. On Monday, US President Joe Biden formalised Kenya’s inclusion in the list of major non-Nato allies, becoming the first Sub-Saharan African country to be included.

Read: US expected to designate Kenya as non-Nato ally

As a non-Nato ally, Kenya will have privileged access to sophisticated military equipment, training and loans to augment defence spending. But it will not necessarily guarantee the US defence of Kenya should the latter be attacked by a third foreign country.

During President William Ruto’s State visit to Washington in May, his host said Kenya would also receive $18.2 million for counterterrorism efforts and an upgrade of the criminal justice system.

The US said it had spent some $230 million on Kenyan security agencies since 2020. Last month, it also gave Kenya some eight refurbished helicopters and agreed to expand its presence on Manda airbase. The choppers though will be serviced at a cost to Kenya.

Kenya’s military, however, could need more money for the actual upgrade of its equipment and service over the next four years.