Kenya criticises US Raid in Somalia

[Sherban Shabeel]

Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula has criticised last week's raid by US forces in Somalia in which a suspected al-Qaeda member was reportedly killed.

 

Mr Wetangula told the Reuters news agency that he felt uncomfortable when the US conducted operations in the region without sharing information.

 

He said such "lone ranger behaviour" had frequently failed to achieve the stated goals.

 

Kenya is a US ally in the fight against East African Islamist militants.

 

Mr Wetangula also said that he welcomed any "success" in the raid.

 

US Special Forces flew into Somalia by helicopter, killed Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan and carried away his body, officials said.

 

Analysts say Nabhan was one of the most senior leaders of al-Qaeda's East Africa cell.

 

It is believed he fled to Somalia after the 2002 attacks and was working with the al-Shabab group, which the Americans see as al-Qaeda's proxy in Somalia.

 

Al-Shabab, which controls much of southern Somalia, later staged a suicide bombing on African Union peacekeepers in Mogadishu, saying it was revenge for the US raid.

 

Nabhan was suspected of two attacks on the same day - bombing an Israeli-owned hotel in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa and trying to shoot down an Israeli airliner.

 

The authorities in Kenya also regard him as a suspect in two attacks on US embassies in the region in 1998.

 

(BBC AFRICA)