From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Thu Oct 08 2009 - 06:58:02 EDT
Somalia war: Kenya on the spot over secret enlisting
By Abdullahi Jamaa, Issa Hussein, Muchemi Wachira and Dominic Wabala in
Kenya and Kevin J. Kelley in New York Posted October 8th, 2009 at 22:30
Tension gripped Garissa Town on Wednesday following claims that hundreds of
youths were being recruited secretly to fight in Somalia.
But before joining the army of Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, the youths, it was
further claimed, were first being taken for military training at Manyani
Paramilitary Camp in Mombasa.
A group of parents who alleged that their sons had already been recruited,
raised the alarm. They said that more than 300 youths aged between 18 and 30
years had secretly been recruited in six locations of Garissa District.
Ongoing relocation
However, North Eastern provincial commissioner James ole Serian dismissed
the claims as rumours. "I heard the rumours. I think this came about due to
the ongoing relocation of Somali refugees, who are mainly youths, to Kakuma.
Nevertheless, we shall investigate the matter," the PC said.
Claims about the recruitment of Kenyan youths to fight in Somalia come a few
days after the United States Government said that unemployed Somali youths
were targeted for recruitment by the Al-Shabaab militia group.
The Al-Shabaab, alongside other militia groups, has been fighting to oust
the fragile Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, which is supported
by the US and other Western powers. Garissa mayor Mohamed Gabow said he had
personally witnessed the recruitment.
Monthly salary
"It has been going on. The boys who have been recruited have talked to us.
They say they have been promised a $600 (Sh44,000) monthly salary," Mr Gabow
told the Nation by telephone. He claimed that those carrying out the
recruitment were senior military officers, adding that the hiring was done
in the cover of darkness.
"There are several National Youth Service and military trucks which ferry
the recruits," the mayor said. He alleged that the recruitment had been
carried out in Medina, Masalani, Riig, Adan and Iftin villages - all in
Garissa Town.
The civic leader noted that the last batch of 95 recruits was confined at
Bula Shabah, at the outskirts of Garissa Town, before being ferried to
Manyani. But the Department of Defence (DoD) denied any involvement in the
recruitment of youth to fight in Somalia.
On Wednesday in Nairobi, DoD said it had information that Somali militia
groups had been engaging in massive recruitment of fighters within refugee
camps in the country.
Intelligence reports
DoD spokesman Bogita Ongeri said that they had received intelligence reports
that Al-Shabaab and other militia groups fighting in Somalia had been
conducting recruitment in the country.
"We are not involved in any such recruitment and training of youth to go and
fight in Somalia. That is absolute propaganda. Why would we do that? We,
however, have information that Al Shabaab, the Transitional Federal
Government and other militia groups fighting in Somalia have been recruiting
youth from refugee camps to go back and fight secretly.
"We are doing everything to stop this because it is a matter of national
security. We are monitoring our borders very keenly," Mr Ongeri said.
However, he said it was an Internal Security matter and was being handled as
such.
In Garissa, Kenya National Commission on Human Rights northern region
coordinator Hassan Abdille Abdi said the commission had received numerous
complaints from locals on the secret hiring. "It is suspicious to carry out
recruitment secretly without informing residents and local leaders," Mr Abdi
said.
Speaking to reporters during the close of a two-day regional consultative
forum on security sector reforms in northern Kenya, Mr Abdi urged the
government to clear the air on the matter. Mr Gabow, who was flanked by
other civic leaders from the region, blamed the government for acting
blindly to the whims of donors.
"If our youth take part in the fighting in Somalia, there is a possibility
that Al-Shabaab insurgents will retaliate by attacking Kenya," the mayor
said. Garissa deputy mayor Ismail Mohamed Garad said the government should
create jobs for the youth in the region instead of taking them to fight in a
lawless country.
Meanwhile, President Barack Obama pledged on Tuesday to continue US
counter-terrorism operations in East Africa, which recently included a
deadly helicopter raid inside Somalia. "The United States and our partners
have sent an unmistakable message," Mr Obama declared in a speech at the
National Counterterrorism Centre near Washington.
"We will target al-Qaeda wherever they take root; we will not yield in our
pursuit; and we are developing the capacity and the cooperation to deny a
safe haven to any who threaten America and its allies."
The US president said earlier in his address that "al-Qaeda and its
extremist allies threaten us from different corners of the globe - from
Pakistan, but also from East Africa and Southeast Asia."
A lightning attack last month in southern Somalia by US Special Forces
killed Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, who was being hunted for his involvement in
the 2002 Paradise Hotel bombing in Kikambala near Mombasa and the bombing,
in 1998, of the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. It was the first
known military action in Somalia carried out by the US since Mr Obama came
to power nearly 10 months ago.