The East African editorial

Nairobi 22 June 2009— THE DETERIORATING SECURITY SITUATION in Somalia, which last week culminated in the murder of the country's defence minister, Omar Hashi Aden, is a matter of grave concern across East Africa.

The unfolding scenario is particularly worrying for Kenya, the region's largest economy, because the country shares a long and porous border with its war-torn neighbor.

Threats of cross-border raids in the past two weeks by the fundamentalist Al Shabaab group have served to underline the gravity of the situation.

As a bloc and through such regional bodies as Igad, the countries of the region must lobby the international community for greater engagement with progressive forces in Somalia to stop further deterioration.

Without compromising the stance that Somalia is one country, for example, it is now prudent that global powers extend financial, logistical and military support to the nominally independent regions of Somaliland and Puntland.

Enabling these two regions to police their coastlines will, for example, have a beneficial impact on the levels of piracy.

Farther south, the global powers must work to strengthen Somalia's fragile transitional government.

The international financial system must also stop the flow of funds to the insurgents.

Related to this, the world community must do all it can to stop the migration of jihadis to Somalia. As we have noted elsewhere in this paper, there is growing evidence that the pressure being exerted on the extremists in places like Afghanistan and Pakistan has made Somalia an attractive haven for them, with estimates now being that up to 1,000 foreign fighters are in the country.

For the sake of the entire region, this rising tide of migration should not be allowed to become a full-scale deluge.

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