The Al Qaeda Threat in East Africa!

[Namtih58]

Kenyan Govt To Intervene In Somalia Conflict

The Kenya government has vowed to intervene in the rapidly declining Somalia crisis.

Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetang'ula made the remarks after a crisis meeting with envoys from the European Union over the growing control of insurgents, now targeting Somali government officials.

Addressing a news conference in his Nairobi office on Friday, Mr Wetang'ula said the meeting had been ordered by President Kibaki following the "security threats to Kenya's strategic interests."

Although the Foreign Affairs Minister did not divulge the specific measures being taken to end the insurgency, he hinted at possible military intervention.

He said the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) was "looking at options" to protect the Somali government from militia attacks.

Already airports in militia-controlled regions have been declared ‘no-fly zones', while the ports have been blockaded.

This, Mr Wetang'ula said, is meant to cut off supplies to the insurgents.

"It will be most inappropriate and inadvisable to do nothing when our national security and regional stability is threatened," he said. "We cannot be by-standers in a situation such as this."

Kenya's stake in the Somali conflict is hinged on the insecurity threat posed by the swelling numbers of refugees into the country.

Also, the persistent attacks in the high seas by Somali pirates is a source of concern to a government keen on protecting international trade.

The remarks come against a backdrop of warnings from the Al Shaabab militia asking Kenya to keep off the affairs of the largely unstable Somalia.

However, Mr Wetang'ula dismissed the threats as "not worth our (Kenya's) comment."

Soma zaidi hapa

Mnaona aje wakuu? Afadhali ingekuwa muungano wa EAC sababu sote tunakuwa affected.

 

[Ab-Titchaz]

Soma zaidi hapa

Mnaona aje wakuu? Afadhali ingekuwa muungano wa EAC sababu sote tunakuwa affected.

This will be the joke of the decade.Jamaa wameshindwa kuwadhibiti
wahalifu na vibaka wa kawaida mitaani sasa inakuaje wanataka
kuwakabili hawa 'materosisti' wa kisomali?

 

[Ab-Titchaz]

Soma zaidi hapa

Mnaona aje wakuu? Afadhali ingekuwa muungano wa EAC sababu sote tunakuwa affected.

Habari zaidi kuhusu hii ishu ni kua Al-Qaeda wametanda Somalia and
if Kenya so wishes to engage these folks militarily they should have
that in the back of their minds and the history attached with such
exercises.

Al-Qaeda threat to peace in East Africa​

The sky line of Kenya's capital Nairobi, East Africa's biggest metropolitan. Inset terror suspect Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan who is believed to be Al- Qaeda's kingpin in the region​

By NATION Team
Posted Sunday, June 21 2009 at 21:26


An Al-Qaeda force fighting alongside Somali extremists against the transitional government has sent ripples through regional capitals.

Commanded by a Kenyan, the group, called Al-Muhajirun, has 180 well-trained and battle-hardened fighters, some who have seen action in Afghanistan, Pakistan and possibly Iraq.

Al-Shabaab, the Somali militant group which has threatened to annex Kenyan territory, is not itself considered a serious threat to Kenya, a ministry of Internal Security official told the Nation, "not in the conventional sense" and because its main concerns are domestic.

But Al-Qaeda, whose dream is to create a Taliban-type super-state running from Mozambique to the north, has the potential to destabilise East Africa.

Al-Muhajirun has also internationalised the conflict and brought some of the most dangerous terrorists in the world to East Africa's front door, said the official, who can not be named because of government secrecy laws.

"The extent to which Kenyans are being exposed to these kinds of terrorist things is a major concern," said a senior police officer who asked not to be named so as to comment freely.

The emergence of a large and well-trained and armed group reflects a dynamic which could have disastrous consequences for Kenya's future security.

The group is headed by Kenyan Saleh Nabhan, an old Al-Qaeda hand, and many of its members are Kenyan, some of them young people who have been recruited, turned into radicals and sent to fight in the Somali "jihad", said a regional conflict and peace expert, who declined to be named because of his work with the security services.


Security and defence bosses are concerned that Somalia could become East Africa's Afghanistan, a country that attracts extremists who are trained in terrorism but who return to their own countries to set up Al-Qaeda networks.They fear that the war in Somalia will spawn a new breed of war-hardened Al-Qaeda terrorists.


The other members of Al-Muhajirun are Ugandans, Americans, Europeans and Saudis. Others are from other parts of the Middle East and Asia, said the Internal Security official, who is privy to intelligence reports.

A Mr Abu Mansur al-Meriki, a US citizen, is Nabhan's deputy in the Al-Muhajirun chain of command

On Saturday, the Speaker of the Somali Transitional Federal Parliament, Sheikh Aden Mohamed Nur, also known as Sheikh Aden Madobe, issued an urgent appeal for Yemen, Kenya, Djibouti and Ethiopia to send forces in Somalia within 24 hours to fight off an invasion by Al-Qaeda jihadists and save the fledgling government

MAELEZO ZAIDI