SENDING KDF SOLDIERS TO SOMALI WAS A GRAVE MISTAKE

Today marks the second anniversary since the Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) crossed the Kenya –Somali boarder to start the famous “Operation Linda Nchi” war against Al Shabaab militia forces in Somali.

Somali has lagged behind economically because of the unending fierce civil war in the country, courtesy of the well-organized Al Shabaab terror group whose capital of operation was Kismayu before AMISOM and KDF soldiers captured the town and flushed the militia men out of their stronghold.

Onto my point, methinks sending our soldiers to fight Al Shabaab in Somali was the biggest mistake our government ever made. Ever since the “Operation Linda Nchi” in Somali started, Kenya has faced a series of terror attacks in its major towns; Nairobi, Mombasa, Garissa, Wajir and Mandera.

The Westgate Mall attack on Saturday 21^st September 2013 is still fresh in our minds because of its huge magnitude and it left at least 67 Kenyans dead and over 200 others seriously injured. The attack was one of the worst to have ever happened in the country and what followed was a travel advisory by Britain to its citizens, to avoid touring Kenya.

The mall was under siege for more than 72 hours, unearthing the weaknesses our security forces. Recent CCTV footage of the mall siege show that the terrorist who orchestrated the attack were around four, contrary to reports by the government that they were between 10-15 gunmen who killed innocent lives at the prestigious shopping mall.

Before the Westgate terror attack, the country had faced an uncountable grenade attacks at its capital and Mombasa. Apparently, the controversial Mombasa Republican Council (MRC) group was believed to be a breeding ground for Al Shabaab terrorists and some of its members were arrested with the government claiming that the group recruited some Kenyan youth to Al shabaab. The group was later outlawed by the government.

Through their HSM Press twitter account Al Shabaab claimed responsibility of the many terror attacks in Kenya including the Westgate siege, stating that unless the Kenyan government withdrew its forces from Somali, Kenya will continue to suffer more terrorist attacks and they even warned that they are yet to launch a more serious attack in the country. They also claimed that the Kenyan troops in Somali were committing atrocities in their country are they are on a revenge mission.