The full support African leaders want to give the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia should not include armed forces from Kenya. If President Mwai Kibaki plans to send Kenya soldiers to support the Government of Sheikh Sharif then he must be opposed by all the peace loving people of Kenya even if he happens to be the Commander in Chief of the Kenya Armed Forces. No one should be allowed to send young Kenyans to their early death just to please a foreign master. African leaders meeting in Libya seem to be only concerned with pleasing American President Barack Obama whose goal is to fight Muslim fundamentalism now opposing the Sharif regime through the Al-Shabaab terrorists. We should not be used to fight a proxy war on behalf of Americans.
According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Al-Shabaab is a group of Somali Islamists, primarily acting in Somalia. The group developed in the wake of the loss of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) at the hands of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and its backers, primarily the military of Ethiopia, in the War in Somalia (2006–present). An estimated 3,000 or so members of the ICU went underground to form an insurgency and armed cells across Mogadishu and elsewhere in Somalia, and are conducting attacks against the government and the allied Ethiopian forces. The term Shabaab ("youth") is common in the Islamic world for youth groups, and the current movement should not be confused with other similarly named organizations.
There is a lot of harm done to Kenya by people from Somalia without us trying to make things worse by sending our troops to that country. The so-called Somali refugees have invaded Eastleigh area of Nairobi and made a little Mogadishu out of it. Real Kenyans feel very uncomfortable in that part of the city which is the hub of all crimes. Everything is available through clandestine deals. Millions exchange hands through corruption in that den of transgression where Kenya citizenship is purchasable through bribery, sleaze and fraud. Money is flowing everywhere and the police conveniently keep a blind eye on the area.
There must be thousands of Al-Shabaab members in hiding at Eastleigh and declaring war against them could be catastrophic to Kenya. No one would like Nairobi to be turned into a Baghdad or Islamabad. The Al-Shabaab terrorists would not hesitate to launch suicide bomb attacks against us if we are foolish enough to declare war against them.
We have already provoked the Somali pirates by allowing all the captured terrorists to be tried in Kenya. The excuse for that could be that most of the captured vessels are either on their way to or from Kenyan port of Kilindini. All the same the responsibility to try pirates should be that of the international community because the ships belong to all sorts of countries. Kenya becomes vulnerable as a terrorist target if it continues to try the pirates single handedly. It is about time an international court was established to try the Somali pirates because they actually are committing international crimes at sea.
Somalia is a lawless country that has always claimed territory from its neighbours including Kenya. The law of the jungle that makes only the warlords control various clan gangsters makes it impossible for anyone to claim the leadership of any legitimate government. The country has had no political parties as such and no election for a very long time. The claim by African leaders to support TFG would make more sense if they planned a countrywide election that is acceptable to all the warring parties. Only then would it be possible for the winner of such an election to claim legitimacy of governing Somalia. What the African leaders are doing now is to make sure no Muslim fundamentalist will establish a Government in Mogadishu. And to make matters worse that is not the original thinking of these Governments. They are only trumpeting the wishes of President Barrack Obama.
If Kenya ever went to war against Somalia, Mogadishu would begin with an upper hand as it has its people scattered in many parts of the country as Kenyan Somalis but whose loyalty is to the motherland. Kenyan Somalis know everything about the Kibaki regime as they hold extremely senior positions in it including sensitive security jobs. If Kibaki tries to fight Somali Muslim fundamentalist his plans will be known by Al-Shabaab terrorists long before they are implemented. No part of Kenya could be safe. Mogadishu could fight Kenyan Government right from within itself. And Al-Shabaab would soon win the war. At the moment Al-Shabaab is only fighting the regime in Mogadishu and it will not be surprising at all if it wins that war .
In an unlikely event of ever being a free and fair election in Somalia any political party that has the backing of religious leaders is likely to win. That organization in Somalia today is the Al-Shabaab. Kenya cannot afford to be Al-Shabaab’s enemy unless it threatens the security of this country.
So far Kibaki’s security forces have totally failed to control the illegal trade of contraband goods worth billions of shillings from Somalia. There is every evidence that the pirates’ money is being invested in Kenya under the very noses of security forces. How can the same security forces be expected to win any war against Somalis terrorists when the bandits have the loyalty of the majority of Somalis?
Somali’s political, social and economic problems can only be solved by Somali people themselves. Any foreigners, including America, who have tried to help the people at the horn of Africa, have ended up burning their fingers. The people of Somalia speak one language, have one religion and belong to one tribe. Anyone who interferes with their internal fights ends up the looser. Kibaki should be told that fact in the plainest language possible, before he sends Kenyans to their early graves and exposes the entire country to unnecessary terrorist attacks.
Rather than taking Kenya to war with Somalia, Kibaki would do this country a lot of good if he strengthened the security between the two countries. Kenyan troops should never leave the border between Kenya and Somalia; but it would be extremely foolish to make the troops invade Somalia to solve internal Somali problems. If America would like to fight Muslim fundamentalists in Mogadishu it should do so on its own the Afghanistan or Iraqi way. Kenyans must never be used to fight other people’s wars.
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