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 Ethiopia:
A lawless Somalia threatens Kenya's security
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Dr.Abdullahi Mohamed (Deputy Editor Geeska Afrika
Online)
Djibouti (HAN) August 7th, 2008
 Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga
lays a wreath on the memorial 
Full Comment: write- Geeska Afrika Online at:
news@geeskaafrika.com or han@geeskaafrika.com
2007
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Ethiopia:
A lawless Somalia threatens Kenya's security
Djibouti (HAN) August 7th, 2008 - The new
Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga lays a wreath on the
memorial wall during a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of
the bombing of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, August 7, 2008
Kenyan police's anti-terrorist unit said last week that a key
suspect in the bombings, Comoran national Fazul Abdullah
Mohammed, narrowly escaped arrest during a police raid in the
Indian Ocean resort town of Malindi.
Mohammed, one of the most wanted men in Africa, is also believed
to have been involved in twin anti-Israeli attacks on a Mombasa
hotel and an airliner in 2002.
Internal Security Minister George Saitoti said: "Security
agencies are on the alert to ensure that this tragedy will not
occur again."
Islamist insurgents have waged a deadly guerrilla war in the
Somali capital Mogadishu since their movement was ousted early
last year by Ethiopian and Somali government forces.
Hardline Islamists have rejected a UN-sponsored truce between
the government and an Islamist-dominated opposition signed in
June to end the conflict that has raged since the 1991 ouster of
dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
Kenyan police have widened the hunt for Mohammed, who slipped
into the country to seek treatment for a kidney ailment, and
arrested several suspects, three of whom have been charged with
harbouring a criminal.
A Kenyan survivor, Naomi Kerongo, who addressed the ceremony in
the city centre, lamented a lack of government support for the
victims.
Peace in Somalia is essential to guarantee security in Kenya,
Prime Minister Raila Odinga said Thursday in a speech marking
the deadly 1998 US embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es
Salaam.
"A lawless Somalia threatens Kenya's security," Odinga said,
speaking at a ceremony commemorating the victims of the massive
car bomb that ripped through the US embassy in Nairobi on August
7, 1998.
"We need to build a new strategic involvement with popular
voices in Somalia," he said, warning that global terrorism would
continue if just and peaceful resolutions to the world's major
conflicts were not found.
"We have suffered three major terrorist attacks in our short
history, we will not allow a fourth one to happen," he said,
stressing that Kenya was actively hunting fugitives suspected of
involvement in the 1998 attacks.
The twin attacks 10 years ago killed 213 people in Nairobi,
including 12 Americans, and 11 in Dar es Salaam, where a
ceremony was also held Thursday. Thousands were injured in the
bombings.
Ceremonies in Kenya were held at the former site of the US
embassy in downtown Nairobi and at the new embassy on the city
outskirts.
US ambassador Michael Ranneberger said the Al-Qaeda network in
the region, blamed for the attacks, had been weakened and joint
efforts "have thwarted a number of planned attacks against
Kenyan and American targets."
In Tanzania, the US ambassador said the bombing only served to
strengthen ties between Washington and Dar es Salaam.
"If the terrorists' goal that day was to force America and
others to walk away from our commitment to Tanzania... then I
cannot think of a greater failure," Mark Green told a gathering
at the US embassy in Dar es Salaam.
US President Bush, speaking on his way to the Olympic Games in
Beijing, said the anniversary "reinforces the need to confront
the terrorists, to work with our allies to bring them to
justice, and to prevent such attacks from happening again."
"The attacks in Kenya and Tanzania remind us that Al-Qaeda and
its terrorist affiliates continue to want to attack the United
States and our allies."
The United States has carried out four air strikes against
Al-Qaeda targets in Somalia since early last year and in its
latest strike in May killed Al-Qaeda's military leader in the
Horn of Africa country.
"While progress has been made we must remain vigilant and
pro-active against continuing terrorist threat," Ranneberger
said.
"Our cries of help have fallen on deaf ears," she said.
Another survivor who attended the ceremony, Mary Nderitu, told
AFP: "Let the government support us... we no longer get
medication, most of us are suffering side effects."
The Geeska Afrika Magazine Sources: AFP,
HAN staff in Nairobi
The Note Sources expressed
in this article do not necessarily represent the
views of Geeska Afrika Online, HAN, Editorial
Board, www.geeskaafrika.com or our global
writers and reporters. The views are solely that
of the source.
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