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Kenya urges world to seize this opportunity to stabilize Somalia

Saturday, February 04, 2012

Kenya on Friday appealed to the international community to seize the current opportunity created by the foreign troops to stabilize Somalia which has been ravaged by conflict spanning over two decades.

Speaking in Nairobi during a meeting with visiting British Foreign Secretary William Hague, President Mwai Kibaki stressed there was need to capitalize on various gains achieved so far through the combined efforts of the Kenya Defence Forces, African Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and the Transitional Federal Government (TFG).

"He (Kibaki) said that there was need to utilize the safe havens so far created in Somalia through the ongoing military intervention so as to provide social amenities such as water, health services and schools to Somali refugees currently hosted in the country," said in a statement issued on Friday after the meeting.

The talks come as Kenyan officials say its military incursion into the Horn of Africa nation has been successful and that troops are pushing deeper into the territory in pursuit of Al-Shabaab militants.

The cross-border operation dubbed Operation Linda Nchi (Protect the Nation), which was launched on Oct. 16, 2011 has seen Kenya deploy ground troops and air assets between its common border and near the Somali port town of Kismayo.

The Kenyan officials have also clarified that its forces were not at war with Somalia but are targeting militants who threaten Kenya’s heavily tourism-dependent economy and its national security.

Speaking on Friday, Kibaki appealed to the international community to consider availing more support to frontline nations like Kenya in the stabilization process of the war ravaged nation.

On his part the British Foreign Secretary thanked Kenya for the pivotal she has played towards the stabilization of Somalia and even hosting the largest ever known number of refugees.

Hague, who was in Somalia on Thursday briefed the President on the current situation in the country where he met various stakeholders in the conflict resolution process among them the TFG leaders and members of the civil society.

"The Foreign Secretary also affirmed Britain’s commitment to the stabilization of the Somalia conflict as evidence by the hosting of an international conference to be attended by about 50 nations to chart the way forward," the statement said.

Kenya has maintained that the current onslaught on Al-Shabaab which has seen Kenya kill hundreds of Al-Shabaab fighters should not be left to Kenya alone, noting that it’s the responsibility of the broader international community.

There have been kidnappings of tourists and aid workers in Kenya in recent weeks which officials blamed on Al-Shabaab, a charge the group denied.

The two Spanish women, Montserrat Serra, 40, from Girona (Palafrugell), and Blanca Thiebaut, 30, from Madrid, both working as logisticians for MSF in the Dadaab refugee camp, were abducted in Dadaab refugee camp in October 2011.

Aid agencies working in northern Kenya and in Somalia said the latest attack is jeopardizing the assistance to thousands of people in urgent need of humanitarian aid and that a quick and satisfactory solution is necessary.

During the meeting, Kibaki called for urgent action because Kenya was hosting over 600,000 refugees a number that has never been witnessed anywhere in the world.

The president called for voluntary repatriation of the refugees to pacified areas of the war ravaged country so as to mitigate other negative trends that are associated with the conflict, particularly piracy, terrorism, general insecurity and destabilization of the Horn of Africa region.

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