From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Fri Jun 19 2009 - 15:08:41 EDT
Kenya will not sit by as Somalia worsens-minister
Fri Jun 19, 2009 6:30pm GMT
* Kenya says it has duty to protect strategic interests
* Asks countries to deliver promised funding
* Somali legislator killed
(Adds MP's killing)
By Wangui Kanina
NAIROBI, June 19 (Reuters) - Kenya will not sit by and allow the situation
in neighbouring Somalia to deteriorate further because it is a threat to
regional stability, the country's foreign minister said on Friday.
Hardline Islamist insurgents stepped up an offensive against Somalia's
government last month and on Thursday killed the Horn of Africa country's
security minister and at least 30 other people in a suicide car bomb attack.
Opposition fighters also killed a legislator on Friday. Mohamed Hussein
Addow was killed during fighting in the Kaaran area, north Mogadishu, a
government official said.
Kenya, regional countries as well as Western nations fear that if the chaos
continues in Somalia, groups with links to al Qaeda will become entrenched
and threaten the stability of neighbouring countries.
"We will not sit by and watch the situation in Somalia deteriorate beyond
where it is. We have a duty ... as a government to protect our strategic
interests including our security," said Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula.
"Kenya will do exactly that to ensure the unfolding developments in Somalia
do not in any way undermine or affect our peace and security as a country,"
he told a news conference.
Asked about any specific action, Wetangula said an international partnership
was dealing with the issue of the insurgency and instability in Somalia and
it would be inappropriate to discuss details.
Al Shabaab insurgents, said to have hundreds of foreign fighters in their
ranks, claimed responsibility for Thursday's attack.
The rebels that want to oust the government control much of southern Somalia
and some of the capital.
"Engineer Mohamed Hussien Addow was killed in his house after opposition
militia attacked Kaaran district," local district commissioner Muhudin
Hassan Jurus told Reuters.
John Holmes, the top U.N. humanitarian aid official, said on Friday
instability was making it very tough to deliver food and supplies to Somalis
who are also struggling to cope with drought.
SIGNIFICANT SETBACKS
Wetangula's comments echoed a joint statement issued on Thursday by the
European Union, the African Union, the Inter Governmental Agency on
Development, the League of Arab States and the United Nations.
"These extremists, both Somali and foreigners, are continuing their
indiscriminate violence. They are a threat not only to the country, but to
the IGAD region and the international community," the bodies said.
Al Shabaab has so far resisted government attempts to drive its fighters
from the capital.
The death of the security minister and Mogadishu's police chief this week
were seen as significant setbacks given the two men were closely involved in
directing the government's forces.
Analysts say the fighting in Mogadishu since May 7, in which about 300
people have been killed, is the worst for years and the chances of a
negotiated peace are waning.
Wetangula, who met several ambassadors in Nairobi on Friday, urged countries
who had pledged $213 million in April to build security forces to deliver on
those pledges as soon as possible.
He said the African Union was committed to beefing up its 4,300-strong
peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and helping to build a police
force.
Somali Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke told the news conference
the suicide attacks would not deter the government from pursuing peace.
"We call on the international community to stand with us and assist our
security forces and AMISOM to really defeat these enemies before they pose a
threat to the entire region". (Additional reporting by Laura MacInnis in
Geneva and Ibrahim Mohamed in Mogadishu; Editing by David Clarke)
C Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]----