Somalia protests after Kenya arrests MPs in riot swoop

[SayidSomal]

Somalia has sent a formal letter of protest to Kenya after 16 MPs and other government officials were arrested by police investigating Friday's riots.

 

About 300 people were picked up in the raid on Nairobi's Eastleigh area, home to a large ethnic Somali population.

 

Prominent Kenyan Muslim leader Al-Amin Kimathi was also arrested.

 

The raids follow violent clashes in Nairobi on Friday between police and groups protesting at plans to deport a controversial Muslim cleric.

 

Kenyan Internal Security Minister George Saitoti has accused Somali militant Islamist group al-Shabab of links to the clashes, which left at least five people dead.

 

But an al-Shabab spokesman told the BBC this was not true.

 

Somali's UN-backed government only controls small parcels of territory, mostly within the capital, Mogadishu.

 

Five-star hotels

 

Kenya has played host to many rounds of talks aimed at bringing peace to Somalia and many Somali officials are based there because of the lack of law and order at home.

 

 

Al-Amin Kimathi helped organised Friday's protests

Muslim groups in Kenya have long complained that they are being unfairly targeted by the police, with many Muslims arrested and accused of terrorist offences before being released for lack of evidence.

 

A spokesperson at the Somali embassy in Kenya's capital Nairobi confirmed that government officials, including former army General Yusuf "Dumal" Hussein, had been arrested.

 

Chief consular officer Mohamed Osman Aden said some of those arrested were on an official visit and some were in the city for training.

 

"Their presence was lawful," he told BBC Somali at the court where those arrested are expected to be charged.

 

"They presented their passport to the police but they didn't want to know."

 

He said several officials had been arrested at five-star hotels.

 

A senior police official who spoke to the AFP news agency said those arrested were in the country illegally.

 

"The security operation is part of the investigation going on after Friday's demonstrations by Muslim youths in the city centre," the unnamed officer said.

 

Mr Kimathi heads the Muslim Human Rights Forum, which helped organised the protest that called for the release of Jamaica-born Abdullah al-Faisal.

 

Faisal has been jailed in the UK for calling for the murder of Jews and Hindus.

 

He was arrested on 31 December but Kenya has been unable to deport him because few countries are willing to host him.

[Che -Guevara]

The height of humiliation :mad:

 

And why in the God's green earth do care what happens to this so called Shiekh?

[SayidSomal]

Originally posted by Che -Guevara:

The height of humiliation :mad:

We are not Turkish man.

 

 

i feel sorry for the poor (none mp) somalis who would have to pay by their noses to get realised or get stucked on those kikuyu dungeons.

 

 

The so called mp deserve such treatment. what the hell what they doing there in the first place

[Che -Guevara]

I don't understand why would anybody come out in support of this man? Nobody deserves this treatment but cuz few dams farahs among others felt we need to defend our "Muslim brother", now Somalis will suffer!

[Cara.]

Stup!d is as stup!d does. Nothing surprises me anymore. So Somali refugees die protesting the deportation of a Jamaican persona non grata in Kenya. What could be more reasonable?

[Jibreel]

According to the article;

 

1.The Muslim human rights groups of kenya organized the riots.

 

2.Ali kimathi, the head of Muslim human rights forum helped to organize the riots.

 

3.Muslim groups in kenya have been complaining about unfair treatments and police targeting. This leading to a later release due to lack of evidence.

 

4.Muslims unjustly being accused for terrorism.

 

And then the article continues and talks about the detention of Somali MPs and the Kenyan officials blaming the Al shabab group for this incident.

 

I do not know how the Kenyan government came to this conclusion. According to the article these people are rioting due to the injustices they face and the Jamaican sheikh(may Allah hasten his release) is nothing but one of the factors.

 

Having said that, it wasn't Somalis alone that were rioting. All the Muslims who prayed at Nairobi's Jamia mosque demonstrated. The Masjid is not located at Eastleigh. It is located at downtown Nairobi.

 

This has again resulted in raiding the Somalis.

 

In short , what the article says is not something new. It is the same bigotry that we see irresponsible governments do, coupled with the usual Muslim repression.

 

As stated, this was not about Somalis dying for any one. It isn't about a Sheikh. It is about Kenya's oppression of its Muslim citizens.

 

Having said that, the Muslims of Kenya and the Muslim Somali community of Kenya have every right to demand the release of their brother. They also have every right to express their plight in any way that will make their voices heard.

 

Jibreel.

[Che -Guevara]

^There are indeed long outstanding issues but I think they could do without this Jam Shiekh and Al-Shabaab. The last thing one wants to see is to portray this demonstrations as something instigated by foriegners.

 

As for Somalis (from Somali proper though I doubt this distinction), I think we are better if we stay out of everybody's way not cuz we likely taking abuse but it simply lack any coherent plan or message.

[Jibreel]

Che, what do you propose? That Kenya's Somalis should dissociate themselves from the rest of the Muslim community and sit on the fence?

 

How will this route that you are suggesting help them if on one hand they face repression from the authorities and on the other hand they totally isolate themselves from their whole Muslim community? I fail to understand the logic you so present before us.

 

Perhaps your signature sums up what am saying.

 

Jibreel.

[Che -Guevara]

^I think we might be confusing issues here though it seems the whole thing is interlocked. Are we talking the historical bigorty or repression Kenyan Muslims?

 

My issue here is with the role of Somali refugees?