Kenya on High Alert Following Threats of al Shabaab Attacks
By Eric Sande
NAIROBI---Kenya – Somali border has no well-defined demarcation to distinguish the boundaries between the two countries. With no doubt, one can easily spot the limits by the characters of the residents. The only two storey buildings in Kenya’s North eastern Mandera town offers a good view of rows of puny buildings of similar pattern, low with slanting iron sheet roofs that stretch into the horizon.
Mandera is perched at the tip of a triangular intersection of three international borders – the Kenya- Somalia, Kenya-Ethiopia and Somalia-Ethiopia. On the side of the border with Ethiopia, the town is called Suftu. The Somalia side is known as Bula-Hawa.
Sounding an alarm to the country’s capital Nairobi, the intersections are volatile powder kegs that have contributed to the Kenyan North eastern region seen as a restive character over the years.
Business associations and intermarriages between Kenyans and Somalis is something common in Suftu and Bulla-Hawa. It is said that the Somalis who cross into Kenya have to leave weapons behind and return to their country before sunset. Raising eye brows, the Kenyan Government indefinitely closed the Kenya-Somali border in 2007 after Islamic Courts Union militants toppled the Ethiopian backed Somalia government, but in reality people move freely across the borders. A cash cow of guns and ammunitions exchange hands across the two war hardened neighbours in the black market.
Harsh reality dawns with the wake of the radical Islamist group al-Shabaab. It is causing sleepless nights across the region. Sending threats and terrorizing most corners, the militia group is increasingly getting out of hand.
On Sunday, Sheikh Ali Mohamoud Raghe alias Sheikh Ali Dhere, the al-Shabaab spokesman accused the Kenya Government of being behind “the trouble” in some Somali regions bordering its territory. He accused Kenya of aiding the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) forces in their attacks against al-Shabaab positions and warned of a “revenge” attack against Kenya.
“Previous warnings to Kenya were nothing compared to this one,” said the al-Shabaab official. “We are going to retaliate against it (Kenya), harshly,” he declared.
In response, Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere has issued an alert over possible attacks by the Somali’s rebel and has urged Kenyans to be extra careful. He assured the public that precautionary measures have been taken to guarantee their security.
Mohammed Ali Ameriko, Somali ambassador to Kenya on Wednesday also raised alarm to the innocent Somalis in Kenya against touring and going around the streets of Kenya without their ID Cards.
Ambassador Ameriko clearly warned the Somalis living in Kenya to be conscious and vigilant carrying with them their National Identity cards at all times during this time of mix-up.
Kenya’s Commissioner of Police Mathew Iteere called on all Kenyans to be vigilant in malls, social places and Public Service Vehicles (PSV) operators in the wake of the threats issued on grounds that Kenya was training Somali Government forces, and had allowed Ethiopian troops to operate from its border towns.
In a press statement sent to newsrooms the Police Commissioner’s issued an alert, “I want to take this opportunity to assure the public that in conjunction with other security services, we have taken measures to provide adequate security. However, we wish to advice those responsible for security in shopping malls, hotels, and all other social places where the public is admitted, to be more vigilant at this time."
About 600 Somali soldiers training in Kenya have been moved to a camp in Elwak in Mandera awaiting deployment into Somalia as war escalates between government forces and insurgents.