Kenya airstrikes in Somalia
Nairobi military aircraft will target and destroy weapons that officials said (November the 2nd) were flown into Somalia on two planes and delivered to Islamist militants, a military official said Wednesday. A United Nation arms monitoring group has witnessed many instances of money, fighters and weapons being given to militants or flown into areas of Somalia they control. Kenya’s military on Tuesday said it had reliable information that two aircraft landed in the Somali town of Baidoa with weapons on board intended for al-Shabab militants. Kenyan military spokesman Maj. Emmanuel Chirchir stated Wednesday that Kenyan Air force aircraft would target and attack those weapons so they cannot be used. He said intelligence showed that the weapons were transported to a militant camp. «Our focus is to reduce the effectiveness of those particular weapons» he said. «At the end of the day you get weapons but these are weapons they cannot use». Al-Shabab fighters closed down roads leading to Baidoa airport on Saturday, a Nairobi-based security official said. A few hours later, residents heard the sound of heavy weaponry being fired, he said, citing information from informants in the town. The organization the official works for does not allow him to be identified by name. Kenya’s offensive in Somalia—dubbed Operation Linda Nchi, Kiswahili for «Protect the Nation»—is also exacerbating tensions and violence at home. The UN news agency Irin reports that Somali refugees in Kenya as well as Kenyans of Somali ethnicity are «living in fear» after grenade attacks on a pub and a bus stop in Nairobi last week, which resulted in one death and several injuries. The government says the Shabab are behind the attacks, as well another on a vehicle carrying ministry of Education officials that left four dead in the northeastern town of Mandera. Following the blasts, one Kenyan Somali was arrested in Nairobi with a cache of weapons, including several grenades, and apparently admitted his involvement in the attack on the bus stop as well as being a member of the Shabab. He was quickly convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. Somalis in Kenya say they are being treated as terrorism suspects due to their ethnicity. A Bbc news report loans credence to Shabab claims that the Kenyan intervention is an assault on Somalia’s sovereignty—and even its territorial integrity. Bbc’s Will Ross cites unnamed «analysts» as saying that «for several years» Kenya, “with international [read: US] support,” has been seeking to carve a semi-independent enclave called «Azania» out of Somalia’s border region as a «buffer zone to shield its territory» from the neighboring country’s lawlessness. The taregtted area, traditionally known as Jubaland, consists of the administrative regions of Gedo, Lower Juba and Middle Juba. Ross reports: «It already has a flag—blue, white and red—a parliament, a house of elders and a president in waiting». He interviews Abdullahi Shafi, personal assistant to the governor of Lower Juba region, who is wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with «Azania» and says, «We have been in hell for the last 20 years. We need a new Somalia». Kenya’s military offensive is also sparking concern about a fresh exodus of Somali refugees to camps in Ethiopia. The rainy season has arrived in most of the Horn of Africa, raising hopes for an end to the drought that destroyed the last few harvests, triggering famine in Somalia. Hundreds of thousands of Somalis have already fled the famine zone to camps in Kenya and Ethiopia. The reception center at the Dollo Ado, Ethiopia, camp receives hundreds of refugees a day.