Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Alshabab: Kenya to withdraw troops


Written By:Simon Achola/KNA,    Posted: Tue, Feb 21, 2012

The Kenyan troops are set to join AMISOM
The government is now contemplating pulling out the Kenya Defense Forces from Somalia.
Head of Public Service and Secretary to the Cabinet Francis Kimemia said the Kenyan troops had weakened the militants adding that the government is in the process of finalizing their withdrawal from the war torn country. 
Kimemia said KDF will now join the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) forces so as to maintain peace in that country and also they will be tasked with the responsibility of manning the country's borders.
Kimemia who was speaking in Embu defended Kenya's offensive inSomali saying the purpose was to show the militia that Kenya is sovereign and can be able to protect itself from external aggression.
"We did not get into Somalia because we wanted to stay there; we wanted to protect our country from the illegal militia that was hampering our tourism sector by kidnapping the various tourists thus endangering our economic development," he said.
He said that after leaving the war tone country, the defense forces will take cover at the various borders of the country so as to ensure that the country will no longer be in the threat of being attacked from the outside.
Kimemia said the President who will be attending a conference on Somalia in London is expected to finalize the deal for the army to join AMISOM.
Kimemia also said that the government is intending to employ more than 7000 additional police officers ahead of the elections so as to ensure there will be enough security for Kenyans during the elections.
He said the 7000 officers who were recruited by the government last year have now gone for attachment and will be replaced by the seven thousand to be recruited and deployed before the elections.
He said the exercise is intended to ensure enough police officers during the electioneering period, so as to ensure proper security for Kenyans.
Meanwhile, KDF backed by the Somali transitional federal government soldiers killed 14 al shabaab fighters after hitting the militias command centre located between Elade and El Wilnley this morning.
The KDF spokesman Major Emmanuel Chirchir on his twitter account termed the attack as the second biggest after DALAYAT.

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