Kenya to expel Somali leaders

By Sunday Standard Team

Foreign Affairs minister, Mr Raphael Tuju (left), United States Assistant Secretary for Africa Affairs Ms Jendayi Frazer and Germany Ambassador to Kenya, Mr Walter Lindner, address a press conference on the Somali conflict at the Windsor Golf Club in Nairobi. Picture by Boniface Okendo

Foreign Affairs minister Mr Raphael Tuju has issued a terse statement warning Somali leaders opposed to peace efforts in the Horn of Africa country would be expelled from Kenya.

Tuju’s statement comes after five Somalia MPs were arrested on Friday and detained after they addressed a press conference in which they asked for the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from their country.

"The Kenyan Government will not standby and watch as efforts to bring peace to Somalia are undermined by a group of self-seekers calling themselves leaders, operate from the comfort and safety of luxurious hotels in Nairobi," said Tuju.

The minister said the Government would not allow its territory to be used by people who abuse the hospitality given to them and who are bent on promoting selfish interests.

The Government, he said, would not hesitate to take decisive and punitive action against those who subvert peace efforts. He said measures that could be taken against them include expulsion.

He said the MPs were issuing hostile statements to the media even when a meeting was being held in Nairobi to restore order in their country.

Tuju reiterated that there was a new momentum to restore peace and stability in Somalia and the efforts should not be "held hostage by any single interest or side issues being propagated by a few Somali leaders".

The Foreign Affairs minister said majority of Somalis had agreed to embrace reconciliation under the transitional federal government led by President Abdullahi Yussuf.

"I call upon all leaders from Somalia to refrain from issuing hostile statements that would promote animosity or suspicion between clans or factions or even between countries of the region," he said.

The transitional Somali government has now entered Mogadishu two years after it was formed in Nairobi.

Ethiopian troops helped bolster its forces against those of the Islamic courts union who had taken over large parts of the south of the country.

But reports coming in from Somalia indicate that Yussuf may have a difficult time if he does not get the support of all clans.

In an interview with BBC’s news hour programme on Friday night, a leader of the Ceyr clan living in the city, Mr Mohamed Uluso, said Yussuf had to do some house cleaning before he gets the goodwill of the people.

He accused Yussuf of sidelining some clans while building the government forces.

The international Contact Group on Somalia urged Yussuf to engage all groups in the country. The meeting resolved to send an African Union force to bolster the transitional Government.

Meanwhile, eighteen students from Somalia were detained at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport for several hours on Friday night.

The students had landed in a charter plane at the airport at about 10pm when police and Immigration officials moved in and detained them for hours.

They were reportedly part of a delegation from Somaliland who had come for an Information Communication and Technology (ICT) seminar sponsored by the United Nations, officials said.

UN officials intervened and said they had invited the students.

Officials at the airport said the students were allowed to leave for their hotels after hours of interrogation by security agencies.

"They claimed that they were invited here by a UN agency," said an official.

The development came as eight members of the Islamist movement, who were arrested in Liboi last Monday, were moved to Nairobi for further interrogation.

They were driven from Garissa to Nairobi under tight security for further scrutiny. CID officers are holding the officials at an undisclosed police station. Sources said the men may be deported any time and that consultations were under way.

The suspects are said to be trainers of the disposed Islamist Courts Union (ICU). They were captured at the border after Ethiopian troops drove them out of Somalia.

Yesterday, Somalia President Abdullahi Yusuf left for Mogadishu as Immigration officials intensified their hunt for MPs, who allegedly called for the pull out of the Ethiopian troops.

The whereabouts of five legislators who were arrested on Friday remained a mystery.

Twenty others were still being sought for interrogation. This was after the legislators called for a press conference in Nairobi and condemned the Ethiopia invasion and demanded that they leave immediately.

Kenya supports the invasion and that is why the legislators were questioned.

"We will not allow Kenya to be used as a ground for waging war. We want to know if they are here legally," said an Immigration official.

Foreign Affairs minister Mr Raphael Tuju said last Thursday Kenya was happy that the officials of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government are in Mogadishu.

THE Orange Democratic Movement-Kenya (ODM-Kenya) has urged the Government to treat the crisis in Somalia with caution.

But speaking in Kisumu, ODM-Kenya secretary general Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o yesterday warned the State against getting sucked into the crisis in Somalia by arresting its MPs in Kenya.

Police in Nairobi flushed out five Somali legislators from their hotel rooms before placing them in custody after interrogation by Immigration officials. "We as ODM-Kenya are saddened by the twist of events on the crisis in Somalia and our Government should re-think its foreign policy," Nyong’o said.

He called on the Government to step up security on its borders with Somalia and solve the crisis through negotiations.

"We should re-open our borders with Somalia and seek ways of solving the crisis...they are and will remain our neighbours...we cannot change that," he said.

Nyong’o, who was accompanied by Mbita MP Otieno Kajwang’, said deporting the Somali MPs would set a bad precedence.

"The Government had breached the international law and Geneva conventions after locking out more than 400 fleeing Somali refugees last week," Nyong’o said.

The Kisumu Rural MP said the Somali MPs in custody could be innocent.

"The interim Government in Somali was born on Kenyan soil and the MPs elected and sworn in here...how could they have been terrorists overnight?" Nyong’o posed.

Kajwang’ said: "We are shocked that Foreign Affairs minister Raphael Tuju said last week that the lives of more than 400 refugees sent back last week were not in danger."

The Mbita MP, who is a lawyer, said Kenya would be an accomplice in crimes against humanity if the crisis gets out of hand.

Lang’ata MP Mr Raila Odinga asked the Government to provide humanitarian aid to women and children fleeing fighting in Somalia.

Raila said turning back the refugees was against the fundamental rights of humanity and asked the Government to stop the blame game with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).

Addressing a rally at Kitale’s Kenyatta Stadium on Friday, Raila said they have reports from the UNHCR that children and women fleeing the fighting are being turned away at the border.

"We want to see the Government take a serious stand on the Somalia fighting and the fate of refugees. It should say whether it is ready to assist refugees," said Raila.

Raila wants the Government to state the number of those who died after Ethiopian military planes strayed into Kenya and bombed a village in North-Eastern Province. He said unconfirmed reports indicated that several Kenyans were killed in the bombings.

On Tuesday, the Ethiopian planes were reported to have bombed Amey, a small Kenyan village, three times.

The village is situated some 17km East of the Liboi border.

But the parliamentary Defence and Foreign affairs committee has defended the Government’s move to shut its borders with Somalia.

Mr G G Kariuki, the committee’s chairman, criticised UNHCR for condemning the country. He said the country was justified to turn away scores of refugees, running away from fighting in Somalia.

"The Government should not be seen as unsympathetic to the refugees since it understands Somalia’s position more than any other country in the world." said Kariuki.

Speaking in Nyahururu Town on Friday, Kariuki said it would be wrong to open the borders because of the crisis in Somalia.

The MP was concerned that the number of Kenyan security officers patrolling the border was inadequate.

He said the international community should leave Somalia to sort out their problems through negotiations.

"The interim government is fighting for survival while the Islamist Courts want to control the country. They must negotiate to find peace," he said.

Kariuki said Kenya had suffered for a long time due to the instability in Somalia, adding that peace in the region would stop the proliferation of arms.

Source: Standard, Jan 07, 2007