Somalia: Kenyan opposition, "Troops Must withdrawal from Kismayo"

Addis Ababa (HAN) May 5, 2014 – According to HAN & Geeska Afrika Online reporter in Nairobi, the situation along the Somalia-kenyan border are becoming increasingly critical, because Dadaab, the world’s largest refugee camp, it now houses nearly 500,000 refugees from Somalia, making it the third-largest city in Kenya.
Kenyan ODM spokesman said “So far, al Shabaab has not launched major bomb attacks in Nairobi and other cities, although it has the capacity to do so.”

In a press statement Update, Prof Nyong’o said Kenya had done its bit in Somalia and had suffered enough for it. He said Kenyans needed to be given a game plan for the troops’ exit and the roadmap for a secure Kenya and a stable Somalia. “We seem to be staying in Somalia without realising the full costs and we are now paying for it,” he said.

“Families have lost bread winners and loved ones and KDF is not coming to their aid.”

Amid the insecurity, the Jubilee government remained tight-lipped as the crisis gets from bad to worse, according to the Opposition official. The Somalia intervention, Operation Linda Nchi, was no longer tenable, he said.

“How can we justifiably talk of Linda Nchi when we are under attack day in day out because of our very presence in Somalia?”

Today, Bus Bombings In Kenyan Capital: Deadly explosions ripped through two passenger buses in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital,  killing at least three people and injuring a number of others.
Kenyan police reported three people were killed and seven injured in one bus explosion, but they have not yet confirmed the second blast. Police are treating the incident as a terrorist attack, but there were no immediate suspects, spokeswoman Zipporah Mboroki said today.

The Editorial note of Kenyan standard said, Quate “Kenyan terrorists have struck again in Mombasa, improvised explosive devices were hurled at a hotel and a bus, killing four people and injuring many more.  Another strike was one too many and confirms the universal fear that no matter what the police and security agencies do, they cannot entirely contain terrorists. So what to do?  we exhort the public to embrace the Nyumba Kumi Initiative as the first step towards a secure country.”

But the Kenyan oppositin party has a different view: Orange party demands Kenyan defense forces (KDF) troops withdrawal from Somalia to save Kenyan family and soldiers lives.

RAWLINGS OTIENO, of Standard in Kenya reported: The Orange Democratic Movement ( ODM) wants the Government to present the country with a road map for the withdrawal of Kenyan soldiers from Somalia.

ODM said in the aftermath of the second terror attack since the Government launched the war on terror, hundreds of Kenyans have continued to lose their lives, a situation the party said is getting out of hand. ODM acting leader Anyang’ Nyong’o demanded that the Government should table a road map for a secure Kenya and a stable Somalia. The Opposition party also demanded a plan which expedites the training of Somali forces to take charge of their country and for accelerating Somalia’s economic development, particularly through infrastructure that gives Somalis a stake in achieving a better future.

“We are forced to ask again: When are our troops getting out of Somalia? What is the game plan for our exit? Where is the road map for a secure Kenya and a stable Somalia?” posed Prof Nyong’o in a statement sent to newsrooms yesterday. The party asked why Kenya was still unable to rally development partners to stabilise Somalia claiming that it was part of the plan when the Kenyan troops moved in to the war-torn country. “It is our position as a party that as a country, Kenya has done its bit in Somalia and we have suffered enough for it. We are forced to demand once again that the Government presents us with a road map for withdrawal of our troops from Somalia,” said Nyong’o. The Orange party said Kenyan troops seem to be staying in Somalia without realising the full costs and are now paying for it, noting that families have lost bread winners and loved ones and the Kenya Defence Forces is not coming to their aid. Nyong’o claimed that despite losing loved ones in the terror attacks, the Jubilee regime has remained tight-lipped as the crisis gets worse. He questioned what the top brass in the military and Government were getting out of Operation Linda Nchi when the country is under attack day in day out because of its presence in Somalia.

Kenya intervened for a series of reasons, according to Kenyan ODM member:

Reason One, Several years, the American-backed Kenyn troops, with elements of Somalia warlords has been secretly arming and training clan-based militias inside Somalia (ras-kanbooni) to safeguard Kenya’s borders and economic interests, especially a huge port to be built just 60 miles south of Somalia.

But now many diplomats, analysts and Kenyans fear that the country, by essentially invaded southern Somalia, has bitten off far more than it can chew, opening itself up to Al-shabaab terrorist reprisals and impeding the stressed relief efforts to save hundreds of thousands of Somali refugees in Southern Somalia or IDPs.
Second Reason: Personal and sub-clan benefits reinforced Kenya’s national interests. President Mwai Kibaki and other Kenyan leaders have been determined to restore order in the country’s northern marches, where security had deteriorated.  Kenyan and its strategic allies in the region (energy Companies)  are eager to begin construction of a deep-water port at Lamu, near the Somalia border, to serve as the terminus of new oil pipelines from Uganda and Southern Sudan. The Regional partners has grandiose plans, costing an estimated $30 billion, to open up northern Kenya over the next 30 years. Such vast investment requires much tighter control over the Southern Somalia  regions, including Kismayo, Merca, Baydao and Hiiraan zones.

Third Reason: Elements in the army, led by senior Kenyan Somali officers and politicians, including Minister of State for Defense Yusuf Haji, had long desired to intervene. They were eager to test Kenya’s well-equipped but little-used army in war conditions, to advance the interests of their own Ogadeni sub-clans in Jubaland.
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2 Responses to “Somalia: Kenyan opposition, "Troops Must withdrawal from Kismayo"”

  1. ouma geophrey

    proffesor i thought these people we do called al-shabab are not existing in kenya,their are some people who are taking this advantage.so government should use another tacktings to secure our people,they were planing ,but their planing fail so let them bring back our armed force back so that we may have peace in the country

  2. Abdi Ismail

    We welcome Kenyan departure and I am sure we can handle Alshabab putting all the cards on the table.

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