There is more to Kenya’s incursion into southern Somalia than meets the eye. From Nairobi, Wanjohi Kabukuru reports that Kenya has long planned to create a Jubaland enclave in southern Somalia for its own security and economic interests. “Dislodging Al Shabaab extremists,” as Kenya explained its military push, appears just a convenient excuse.
When the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) made their foray into Somalia late last year, it was made to appear as if they were retaliating for the attacks carried out on Kenya’s tourism sector by the Al Shabaab terrorist group based in Somalia.
Al Shabaab extremists had abducted a French tourist who later died in captivity. They had also killed a British honeymooner in the Kenyan northern coastal resort island of Lamu.
Two weeks after the Lamu archipelago incidents, two Spanish aid workers were abducted from the world’s largest refugee camp, Dadaab, in northern Kenya. Al Shabaab was blamed for all three incidents. Kenya cited Article 51 of the United Nations Charter to back the launch of “Operation Linda Nchi” (Operation Defend the Country), sent into Somalia on 16 October. At the time, the incursion by the KDF was described as being motivated by the kidnappings and Kenya’s resolve to protect its tourism interests. The reality, it now appears, is somewhat different.
It is emerging that in the previous three years, Kenya was putting in place an elaborate scheme, codenamed the “Jubaland Initiative”. Under this plan there was to be the creation of a Jubaland, encapsulating Gedo, Lower Juba and Middle Juba in Southern Somalia, bordering northern Kenya with a population of 1.3 million. The establishment of Jubaland, according to Kenya’s diplomatic and intelligence bureaucrats, would have two phases. First, it was meant to act as a “buffer zone” to safeguard Kenya from negative effects spawned by the “lawlessness in Somalia” – which included religious extremism, the flow of small arms and contraband, terrorism, piracy, uncontrolled refugees – and to safeguard Kenya’s economic interests.
http://newafricanmagazine.com/features/ ... in-somalia
