from ouko joachim
Colleagues Home & Abroad Regional News
BY FR JOACHIM OMOLO OUKO, AJ
NAIROBI-KENYA
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2011
Report that two people, one of them a seven-year-old boy, were killed in a grenade attack on a church in Garissa town on Saturday night, leaving five others injured when two grenades were thrown into Garissa East African Pentecostal Church reawakens the security threats US had warned in Kenya.
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The US had advised against all but essential travel to coastal areas within 150km of the Somali border, following two attacks by armed gangs in small boats against beach resorts in the Lamu area on 11 September and 1 October 2011. Although this advice would be kept under review, it has turned has it was speculated.
When it happened at first that both attacks were on beach-front properties, with two Westerners kidnapped and one murdered, Kenyan security was somewhat relaxed, thinking it was only that incident.
This is the order how the attacks in Kenya have been:
In November 2008, armed groups based in Somalia crossed into Kenya near the town of El Wak and kidnapped two western nuns, who were later released.
In July 2009, three aid workers were kidnapped from the Kenyan border town of Mandera and taken into Somalia but were later released.
On 28 November 2002, there was a suicide car bomb attack on a hotel near Mombasa in which at least 15 people died.
On 28 November 2002, an unsuccessful attempt to shoot down an Israeli charter plane.
On 28 November 2002, there was a suicide car bomb attack on a hotel near Mombasa in which at least 15 people died.
On 28 November 2002, an unsuccessful attempt to shoot down an Israeli charter plane.
On 11 September, Two British nationals were attacked at a beach resort north of Lamu, near the Kenya-Somalia border. One was killed and the other kidnapped.
On 1 October, A French national was kidnapped at a beach resort close to Lamu, 150km from the Kenya-Somalia border.
On 13 October, two aid workers were kidnapped from Dadaab refugee camp.
On 24 October, there was a grenade attack at a bar near the business district in Nairobi. Several people are reported to have been injured.
On 24 October, an explosive device was also thrown at a bus stop in central Nairobi. One person was reported killed and several injured.
On 27 October 2011 there was an attack on a vehicle in Mandera, near the Somali border and within the area to which US advised against all but essential travel. Several people were reported to have been killed.
This is not to mention a British resident who was attacked and killed near Voi in August 2009. Also another British resident killed in Thika in October and one in Nairobi in November. Two British visitors were killed during their stay in Mombasa in October 2009.
On 13 June 2010 six people were killed and over 100 injured following explosions at a rally in Uhuru Park in central Nairobi.
Apart from churches, markets, clubs and some spotted areas outside Nairobi, areas within Nairobi that are at risk include all township or slum areas, which experience high crime levels. Such areas include, but are not limited to, Kibera, Mathare, Huruma, Mukuru Kwa Njenga, Mukuru Kwa Reuben, Korogocho, Kariobangi, Kangemi, Mwiki and Kawangware.
Confirmation by the government that there is a link between the outlawed Mombasa Republican Council and the Somali militants al-Shabaab is even more worrying.
Coast Provincial Commissioner Ernest Munyi was quoted by press as saying that the activities of the outlawed group are similar to those of Al-Shabaab in that they both recruit youths who are promised non-existant jobs in Somali.
Severa mosques at the Coast of recent were under investigation for alleged involvement in recruiting Kenyan youths to join the al Shabaab terror group. Coast Provincial Police boss, Aggrey Adoli confirmed that certain senior religious leaders were being watched for their suspected involvement in the recruitment.
Kenya National Muslims Advisory Council chairman Sheikh Juma Ngao while confirming the same said the recruiters are targeting new muslims, who are easy to brainwash, and are training them secretly in their houses. He said the house trainings are mostly held in Isiolo, Mombasa and Pumwani area of Nairobi.
According to Ngao, the recruiters lure the youths with promises of money, a better life and other goodies.
It is again worrying that police are investigating Tourism minister Najib Balala and nominated MP Amina Abdallah to establish whether the money they donated for the construction of Pumwani Riyadha Mosque was meant for the Al-Shabaab militia.
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The UN Monitoring group on Somalia and Eritrea released a report linking Balala and Amina to al-Shabaab, claiming they funded the proscribed militia group.
The report further said Balala and Amina donated Sh200,000 and Sh500,000 respectively towards the construction of the Pumwani mosque (pictured above). But the funds were directed to the al-Shabaab in Somali, according to the report. Balala has since defended himself over the accusation insisting he has no links with the al-Shabaab.
Although he has also vowed to seek legal redress against a UN report implicating him in a financing deal, nothing has taken place since then. Addressing the media at his Mvita constituency during a medical camp, Balala said he had directed his legal team to look into the report and advice him on the way forward.
His alleged link to Al Shabab emanated from reports that the minister together with a nominated MP, Amina Abdalah attended a funds drive in aid of Riyadha mosque in Pumwani, Nairobi, where he made his donation. “I attended the funds drive in aid of the mosque, one of the oldest as a Muslim,’’ said Balala.
He added that the organisers of the funds drive notified him that the Sh200, 000, which he donated in two installments, was duly banked at an account for the mosque renovation at Habib Bank.
What is also creating fear is the reports by Reuters that it reporters have seen al Shabaab fighters in Eastleigh, sometimes returning for medical treatment, and Somali parents living there complain that some mosques actively recruit youths to fight for al Shabaab.
According to Mombasa Republican Council, one of the 33 gangs the Government outlawed recently says it wants part of the coastal region to secede.
Established in 1999, the organisation claims the Coast was not part of Kenya. Similar claims by the shifta (Somali militia) who wanted to secede parts of North Eastern Province led to armed confrontations in which scores were killed in the 1960s.
According to a four-page document by the organisation seen by The Standard, and interviews with its officials, the group is seeking self-rule, although it claims it does not support use of violence.
It is at the same time Trade Minister Ali Chirau Mwakwere joined his colleagues in supporting the Mombasa Republican Council (MRC), called on the Government to give audience to them.
Mwakwere, who was addressing a cultural gathering of the Mijikenda community and their counterparts from Central, Meru and Western provinces at Mtwapa in Kilifi County recently, also asked leaders of MRC to meet him “for a candid talk on the matter”.
“The group has exercised a lot of diplomacy and it cannot be taken for granted. I want to commend the MRC for the way it has conducted itself since it has not stolen anything from anyone, neither has it shed anybody’s blood,” he said.
Mwakwere argued that MRC was championing a worthy cause and “anyone brushing it off was blindly hiding from the truth”.
People for Peace in Africa (PPA)
P O Box 14877
Nairobi
00800, Westlands
Kenya