Kenya to send over 800 troops to Somalia

[Xaq]

Kenya will send troops to the strife-torn Somalia, Ethiopia Foreign Minister Seyum Mesfin said here at the conclusion of a ministerial meeting of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD).

 

Mesfin, who is chaired the meeting, told journalists that Kenya will send one battalion consisting of about 800 soldiers to Mogadishu.

 

Kenya is one of the six member states of IGAD. The others are Ethiopia, Sudan, Djibouti, Somalia and Uganda. It will be the third country to send its troops to Somalia, joining Uganda and Burundi.

 

Currently, around 3,300 Ugandan and Burundi troops are in Somalia supporting the transition government of Somalia.

 

The troops come under the African Union mission in Somalia.

 

The African Union has called on member states to contribute troops for its mission in Somalia. It plans to send around 8,000 peacekeeping forces.

 

Source: APA, Nov 19, 2008

[Xaq]

Here's the link

[Hassan6734]

if 50, 000 ethiopian troops could not defeat the somali people than what makes kenya think that 800 of them will, lol.

[ilax]

That is neither bad nor good news If Kenya send troops to help Somalis i don't see any wrong doing.

I think Somalis needs stablising forces, not from enemies but from freind, I wish Kenya is not in the enemy list

[Fabregas]

^^lol, Kenya will be seen by some folks as worser than Ethiopians and I hope they don't stupily troops to SOmalia,as it will be good for them nor Somalia.

[Liqaye]

It seems kenya is going to invade somalia real soon either way the two catholic nuns, in gedo need to be returned

[Koora-Tuunshe]

The Kenyan decision to bolster the AU force currently deployed in key installations in Mogadishu will press the AU countries that earlier promised to send troops to Somalia to step up their deployment.

[Liqaye]

^^^

Brother are you still waiting for godot?

The kenyans have staitioned close to 3,000 troops in el-waq backed up with support brigades and anti-tank helicopters [MD-500 Defenders which are the only ones I have seen in the kenyan arsenal], it seems that the kenyans want to blood their troops who have not seen any action since the 1982 coup attempt.

Expect an incursion in to gedo region as some sort of police action.

[rudy-Diiriye]

yeah right!! so they gonna take afternoon sleeps, drink after that...and pass out then. I guess they can fight for 5hrs a day.. good news bro!

[Liqaye]

Locals flee as soldiers are deployed in El Wak

 

Updated 14 hr(s) 56 min(s) ago

 

By David Ochami and Cyrus Ombati

 

Hundreds of residents of El Wak and Mandera towns are fleeing in fear of clashes between Kenya’s armed forces and Islamist militiamen.

 

The militiamen, who captured neighbouring town of Bulla Xawa in Somalia, took control of the town on Tuesday night, as authorities in Kenya imposed a dawn to dusk curfew.

 

At the same time, officials denied reports that the army entered Hadija Aminow town in Gedo region in pursuit of militiamen holding two kidnapped Italian nuns and a driver.

 

Kenya has accused radical Al Shabab militia of kidnapping the nuns but its spokesman Mukhtar Ali Robow denied the claim.

 

North Eastern PC Josephat Maingi said many people were fleeing to Wajir.

 

"We are encouraging people to return to their homes. They have been moving away fearing an operation by security forces," he said.

 

A local resident said some residents of Mandera town fled towards Malka Suftu, the hinterland and into Ethiopia.

 

Maingi said the local population was fleeing because of rumours they would be brutalised by police and soldiers.

 

"In view of the security situation, we imposed a 6pm to 6am curfew in El Wak and Mandera," said Maingi, who also disclosed that overnight clashes raged in Somalia’s Gedo region on the border with Kenya.

 

Maingi said there was heavy fighting between militia groups in Bula Xawa [in Gedo] on Tuesday night.

 

According to independent accounts from security sources and residents of El Wak and Mandera, remnants of the defunct Al Ittihad Al Islam now allied with Al Shabab; ousted militiamen allied to Somalia’s weak Transitional Federal Government TFG and seized a huge arms depot from them on Tuesday.

 

Fresh intelligence

 

The sources also said close to 3,000 police and army forces, including support brigades with light and heavy weapons, had been deployed around El Wak since the weekend. They include military forces from the Engineering and Paratrooper Battalions from Isiolo as well as the special Administration Police detachment called the Rapid Deployment Unit from Nairobi.

 

Reports show the Kenyan forces are acting on fresh intelligence that Al Shabab is moving forces towards Gedo on from Somalia’s Kismayu and Baidoa towns following new arms supplies and growing resentment over Kenya’s secret involvement in Somalia.

 

Maingi said the Italian nuns and driver are still alive somewhere near Mogadishu.

 

He said negotiations between Kenyan and Somalia elders for their release were continuing on Wednesday.

 

Militiamen captured the victims last week. Internal Security Minister George Saitoti has given them an ultimatum to return the victims or face military action.

 

Meanwhile Al Shabab is said to be moving towards El Wak and Mandera to defend their country after being accused of the kidnapping.