Piracy: What do these people know?
Updated 2 hr(s) 33 min(s) ago
By Cyrus Ombati and Agencies
Kenya is in the eye of global scrutiny over the real destination of the arms seized by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean.
Questions are being raised on what exactly President Kibakis Government knows about the weapons that experts have insisted were destined for Southern Sudan in "an arms race with the North".
Kenya, whose role as mediator in the two-decade long Sudan civil war won global plaudits, has all along maintained the weaponry that includes 33 T-72 tanks and artillery belongs to its military.
But on Thursday, experts were questioning the actual role, if any, of the top military brass led by Chief of General Staff General Jeremiah Kianga in the controversial procurement.
They also sought to find out what Defence Minister Yusuf Haji and his predecessor, Njenga Karume, knew of the potentially embarrassing saga.
Just to underline the seriousness of the situation that the country finds itself in, a section of the international press was drawing parallels between Kenyas perceived role in Southern Sudan and that of communist Cuba during the Angolan civil war when they backed the MPLA.
Sources told The Standard that they had information on the involvement of two former Cabinet ministers last year in the procurement of the arms that the United States says were headed for Southern Sudan.
And as matters appeared to spiral out of control, top military officers held a meeting at the Department of Defence (DoD) headquarters to discuss the issue that has the potential of denting Kenyas image abroad.
As we went to press, details of the meeting remained scanty.
The Nairobi Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement/Army Spokesman Jervasia Okot said his Government imported "everything through the Mombasa Port, including heavy vehicles but not weapons".
The declaration appeared to contradict another that was made at the weekend in Khartoum by SPLM spokesman Byor Ajang, who was quoted by the Financial Times as saying the former rebels have "a right to import weapons without the consent of the North". He was referring to the National Congress Party partner in the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended two decades of war.
Under the terms of the peace treaty, Southern Sudan is permitted to operate and fund its own military, separate from the national army. There have been reports that the South has plans to build its own air force, ahead a referendum in 2011, that could see its severance from Khartoum.
On Thursday, sources told The Standard that a Cabinet sub-committee on Defence, which President Kibaki chairs, could be planning a meeting to discuss the issue.
As this was happening, pertinent questions emerged.
One, when did the Department of Defences Tendering Board sit to decide on the procurement of the tanks and other ammunition?
Were trials for the tankers carried out before the DoD decided to buy the tanks? And if so, when was this done?
End-User Certificate
Were there soldiers sent to Ukraine to learn the operations and maintenance of the hardware? Who are they and their travel details?
Further, were procurement procedures followed? If so, were they documented? And who paid for the consignment?
Also, queries were being asked on the whereabouts of a mandatory Arms End-User Certificate to prove the Kenyan Governments ownership of the weapons. The Government has, so far, only made public the bill of lading and other documents.
The End-User Certificate would have been required by Ukraine to sell the weapons to the Government and its production would clear all doubts of ownership.
Yet back in Kiev, the Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was calling for an investigation into the destination of the weapons.
On Thursday, DoD Spokesman Bogita Ongeri asked for more time to answer the questions posed by The Standard. He later called back to refer us to Government Spokesman Alfred Mutua, who declined to answer any of them.
Internal Security PS Francis Kimemia and his Defence colleague, Nancy Kirui, asked not to be dragged into the debate.
"If the weapons belong to Kenya, would we not be interested in talking to the pirates to secure our weapons? Press reports show that foreign militaries and the international Press are in active contact with the pirates, why are foreigners showing more concern for the cargo of the Mv Faina than the Government of Kenya, which claims to have used tax-payers funds to acquire the cargo?" posed a governance lobby on Thursday. Sudans Ambassador to Kenya, Majok Guandong, said Khartoum and Sudan "has nothing to do with these weapons," and termed the US claims as baseless.
Sources have indicated that this was not the first consignment of arms for the Sudan previous deliveries took place in November last year and January.
A senior military officer said he had information that more than 100 T-72 and T-55 Russian tanks had been received by Southern Sudan in the past year alone.
Other sources were quoted as saying authorities in Khartoum were re-equipping their armed forces with equipment from Malaysia, China and North Korea.
Southern Sudan has been buying Russian-made tanks over the last year, officials said, including nearly 50 T-54 battle tanks.
Attention was drawn to this in February when one shipment was briefly held up at Mombasa amid the post-election turmoil, agencies reported.
A former Cabinet minister, now an MP, has also been cited as part of the local syndicate that brokered the deal.
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