Kibaki meets top security organ over Somalia anarchy

http://www.eastandard.net/ | June 25, 2009

By Standard Team

The National Defence and Security Council met under President Kibaki to assess the situation in war-torn Somalia and possible danger it may portend for the country.

Later yesterday, Internal Security Minister George Saitoti repeated the Government’s official position it would neither attack Somalia nor deploy troops across the common border.

But senior field security officers were separately instructed to strengthen vigilance along national boundaries and at border-points. Instructions also trickled to police outposts vetting at border points must be more rigorous.

"We are very vigilant as neighbours and all measures are in place to avoid an overflow of their insecurity into ours," Prof Saitoti said.

"We have a policy of non-interference and we always hope other countries can reciprocate. This is the same policy we will uphold on Somalia as we do not want Kenyans to go fighting with people in those countries," he said.

The minister was speaking in Nyeri after meeting with members of the Provincial Administration from Central Province.

The National Defence and Security Council meeting, whose proceedings are highly guarded because of the sensitivity of issues, progressed ahead of the Cabinet meeting today, where the Somalia situation could also feature.

There were reports banks could be asked to stringently monitor money transfers and Foreign Exchange Bureaus to check substantial transactions, involving foreign currencies, especially the US dollar.

Threats to Kenya

The rag-tag militia in Somalia does not pose a threat to Kenya and yesterday’s meeting was seen as crucial in putting in place measures to minimise the knock-on effects of the fighting in the country that has not had an effective government since 1991. Kenya has previously borne the brunt of lawlessness in Somalia.

At the meeting estimated to have taken three hours were Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, Chief of General Staff General Jeremiah Kianga, Police Commissioner Major-General Hussein Ali and National Security Intelligence Service Director General Michael Gichangi.

Also in line with its security regulations, Defence Minister Yusuf Haji and Saitoti were also present.

Government spokesman Alfred Mutua said the discussions were sensitive and said the PM would issue a statement later yesterday or today. But there was no word from his end by nightfall.

The meeting appeared to signal the country’s rising interest on the tribulations of Somalia’s transition government and its losses to Islamic movements, and what this portends for Kenya.

border points

At the border points in Mandera, Elwak, Biis, Liboi and Hulogho, police remained on high alert while intensifying mobile patrols along panya (unofficial) routes, as the United Nations High Commission for Refugees confirmed at least 200 refugees were crossing into Kenya daily.

In Mogadishu, the seat of the Transitional Federal Government’s tattered administration, parliament could not secure a quorum as most Members of Parliament have fled to other African countries, Europe, and the United States, to escape Islamist militias that threaten to overrun the capital, Mogadishu.

Others in attendance were Permanent Secretaries Francis Kimemia (Internal Security), Nancy Kirui (Defence), Thuita Mwangi (Foreign Affairs), and Emmanuel Kisombe (Immigration).

Attorney General Amos Wako also attended.

The meeting reportedly maintained Kenya’s stand that no troops would be deployed in Somalia, but said security presence along the porous Somalia-Kenyan border should continued as a deterrent.

Raila on Monday called on the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development that incorporates seven countries in the region to consider sending troops to Somalia.

Last Sunday, the al-Shabaab militia group gave a chilling warning to Kenya, saying they were ready to attack the heart of Nairobi if the country intervened to prop up the government in Mogadishu.

Suicide attacks

"If you attack us we will launch suicide attacks in Nairobi and we will destroy the tall glass buildings," said the group’s spokesman in Kismayu, Sheikh Hassan Yacqub Ali.

He was referring to remarks by Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetangula who told journalists at a press conference on Friday the African Union and Igad were "looking at options" to protect the Somali government from militia attacks.

He had said airports in militia-controlled regions have been declared ‘no-fly zones’, while the ports have been blockaded.

This, he said, was 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. Multiple sources close to those who attended the security meeting yesterday said the decision was reached after Gichangi informed those in attendance that they expect an influx of refugees at the border in the coming days, some of whom could be criminals.

"Those people have fought and are hungry now. They will start to troop to Kenya mostly for food pretending to be refugees," reported a source, who cannot be quoted for security reasons. The UNHCR spokesman Emmanuel Nyabera said 200 people, up from 120 last week, were arriving in the congested camps.

This was after they were granted visas for their trip that would last almost a week.