Saturday, October 29, 2011
Kenya will end its military campaign against the Islamist al Shabaab rebels in Somalia when it is satisfied it has stripped the group of its capacity to attack across the border, its head of military said on Saturday.
The east African nation moved its troops into Somalia in mid-October in pursuit of the Somali insurgents who it blames for a series of kidnappings on Kenyan soil and frequent assaults on its security forces in the border province of North Eastern.
"A key success factor of this campaign will be in the form of a highly degraded al Shabaab capacity," Kenya's Chief of Defence Forces, General Julius Karangi told a news conference.
He said the government decided to move against al Shabaab in early October following near daily attacks on Kenyan forces on the border, and the kidnapping of two soldiers in July this year as well as Western tourists and aid workers.
Karangi rejected claims that the plan to go after al Shabaab had been planned carefully for many years with a view to annexing Somali territory to create a buffer zone between the two countries, with the help of Western nations.
"When we feel as a country we are safe enough from this al Shabaab menace, we will come back where we belong, to our common border," Karangi said, adding there was no fixed deadline for the operation to end. "We absolutely have no appetite for anybody's territory."
He confirmed that Kenya suffered its first casualty from combat on Friday when a soldier died from wounds after al Shabaab fighters ambushed a group of Kenyan troops. Emmanuel Chirchir, the military spokesman, tweeted that the dead soldier had been shot in the neck.
Fewer than five others have been injured in combat, Karangi said, adding that losses on the rebel side are conservatively estimated at several hundred dead.