Somali militiamen hold weapons they looted after Islamist Court Council fled Mogadishu yesterday

Nairobi, Kenya, December 29, 2006 – Kenya has sealed the border with Somalia following intensified fighting in that country.

Heavily armed soldiers and policemen were yesterday on high alert along stretches of the common border to ensure none of the rival armed groups entered the country.  

Refugees fleeing the fighting in Somalia will still be allowed to enter Kenya, but only at specific border crossing points where they will be screened by security and immigration officials.

Entry points for refugees at Liboi and Mandera townships were still open, said Mandera district police chief Leonard Omukata yesterday.

In Wajir district, the border between Biif and Bagahale was completely sealed off, said area police chief Julius Kitili.

The Amuma boarder point was also closed and security officers have also been put on alert at other entry points in Garissa and Ijara districts.

Contigents of regular and Administration police, the General Service Unit (GSU) as well as the Kenya Army were patrolling the 1,500 km border in vehicles.

As the joint security operation went on, local leaders called on President Kibaki and the United Nations to impose sanctions against Ethiopia for sending troops to aid the beleaguered transitional government re-take the capital, Mogadishu, from the Islamist militia. They accused Ethiopia of “waging war against a sovereign state.”

Addressing journalists in Nairobi yesterday, politicians and representatives of civil society organizations said arms and trade embargoes should be imposed on Ethiopia.

They accused the country of contravening the UN, AU and IGAD charters on sovereign states.

Deadline for withdrawal

In a joint statement, the group appealed to President Kibaki, as chairman of IGAD, to lead other countries in the region in pushing for unconditional withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from Somalia.  

They asked the UN to give a deadline for Ethiopian withdrawal.  

The statement said the international community must recognize the authority of the Union of Islamic Courts in Somalia and engage it in dialogue.

“Islamic courts union emerged as a popular reaction to the lawlessness perpetuated in Somalia by warlords for the last 16 years,” said former Lagdera MP Farah Maalim, who read the statement.

He went on: “The ICU stabilized the security in the areas under its control and reinstated the rule of law and it enjoys the support of citizens in all parts of Somalia.”

The group, which included Mandera Central MP Billow Kerrow, also demanded that Ethiopia pay reparations for the death and destruction caused during the fighting.

The Civil Society Congress, Muslim Human Rights Forum and National Dialogue Conference were among the civil groups represented.

They also warned that if not checked, escalation of the violence in Somalia would spread to the larger horn of Africa and deteriorate to mass destruction similar to that witnessed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims has also condemned the military incursions and demanded immediate withdrawal of Ethiopian troops.

Some Kenyan MPs who had earlier visited Somaliland, a breakaway section of Somalia which is seeking independence have also condemned the fighting.

Kabete MP Paul Muite who led the delegation said: “The Islamic Courts have a majority support; about 90 per cent support from the people of Somalia. That is a reality that anyone wishing to bring peace must accept.  

“The reason is simply that they were able to disable and end the reign of warlords and bring peace to ordinary people. The fiefdoms to which the ordinary people paid taxes and road tools and the fighting between warlords is no more.”

Misguided belief

Mr. Muite said that the belief by US Government that the Union of Islamic Courts consists of extremists and Al Qaeda operatives and sympathizers, was misguided.

“The Bush administration has a way of seeing things in black and white and this is not the case in Somalia. They have to be more pragmatic and realize that the majority of leaders are moderate.”

The MP also asked Kenya as the chair of IGAD, to initiate dialogue with the Transitional Federal Government and the Islamic Courts.

MPs Oloo Aringo, Jim Choge, Patrice Ivuti and former Mandera West MP Aden Abdillahi had accompanied Mr. Muite to Somaliland.  

“In Somaliland, we found a functional government, economy and Parliament and a people who wish to be recognized by the international community as a sovereign state so that they can take part in building peace in the horn of Africa. The war there appears to be a proxy of the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea,” Mr. Muite said.  

But the delegation asked the Islamic Courts to abandon the quest for more territory.

Supkem said the attack was “an outright violation of all international and civilized protocol”.

It asked IGAD members to recall their ambassadors from Ethiopia.

The leaders spoke a day after the Kenyan Government asked Ethiopia to stop the air strikes against the Islamic Courts militia, saying the military involvement was unilateral.

Source: The Nation