Kenya beefs up security along Somali border ahead of Obama visit

Saturday, July 25, 2015

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GARISSA, Kenya -- Kenyan authorities confirmed Friday security along its porous border with Somalia has been enhanced ahead of the visit by U.S President Barack Obama to the East African nation.

Northeastern Regional Coordinator Mohamud Saleh told Xinhua in Garissa that the government security officers have been deployed to thwart any cross border incursion by Somalia's Al-Shabaab militants who are on the run due to major offensive by Africa Union forces in southern Somalia.

"We are aware of threats posed by the Al-Shabaab militants. We have heightened our alertness along the border and our security personnel have been alerted. We don't want to take any chances," he said.

The administrator, however, refused to disclose the security arrangements, noting doing so will work in the favor of the terrorists.

The volatile northeastern region has been affected most from terror attacks that have led to lose of hundreds of innocent lives and security officers.

Some of the border point areas which the militants have on several occasions used to cross over to the country to carry out attacks are Liboi and Holugho in Garissa, Diif in Wajir and Border Point One in Mandera.

Saleh said security agencies have intensified border patrols in those regions to deter infiltration of the militants into the country at a time of increased threats by the terrorists' network and homegrown terror cells in the region.

The Kenyan government has also started construction of a 700km wall along the Kenya and Somalia border to prevent the terrorists to sneak into the country.

The AU forces and the Somali army have intensified their presence in southern Somalia near the Kenyan border, capturing several towns used by the militants as their logistical bases ahead of President Obama's visit. Several senior Al-Shabaab leaders and officers have been killed in the recent air raids in southern Somalia.

There have growing fears that the Al-Shabaab may use President Obama visit to carry out attacks in the country to send messages to rest of the world that "Kenya was not able to secure its borders."

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday said that among the issues the government will engage with the U.S. governmnt was security.

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