Pull KDF out of Somalia and tell the truth about our dead loved ones

Foreign Affairs CS Amina Mohammed with KDF troops in Somalia on January 11, 2015 /FILE

A majority of Kenyans want the Kenya Defence Forces to withdraw from the anti-terror operation in Somalia, a Star poll indicates.

The survey shows 63 per cent want KDF out, while the remaining 37 per cent want troops to stay and continue fighting al Shabaab.

The terror group says it will continue attacking Kenyan troops in Somalia and targets within Kenya until KDF withdraws.

The poll by the Radio Africa Research department also suggests 80 per cent of Kenyans do not believe government figures on KDF casualties in Kulbiyow, Somalia. It refused to give the death toll in the earlier El Adde massacre.

Eighty per cent of 2,000 respondents said the government should release honest figures about any attacks on KDF.

The survey of adult registered voters was conducted last week in 16 counties. The margin of error was +/- 2.19 per cent.

KDF entered Somalia in October 2011 after years of al Shabaab attacks that dealt a blow to tourism and the economy.

The El Adde slaughter caused an outcry and demands for troops withdrawal. President Uhuru Kenyatta said they would stay and complete the mission.

On January 15, 2016, a suicide bomber blew up an armoured personnel carrier packed with explosives at the gate of KDF’s El Adde base.

The blast was three times more powerful than the bomb that destroyed the US Embassy in Nairobi in 1998.

Thus began KDF’s most devastating and humiliating defeat, one from which it was supposed to learn hard lessons.

There were more suicide bombs. Barriers were easily breached. Hundreds of heavily armed al Shabaab fighters on foot and in vehicles overran the base of about 280 soldiers.

Militants fired AK-47s, rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns.

After a day-long battle, more than 150 soldiers — some say 180, 200 or more — were reported slaughtered. Twelve soldiers are believed to have been captured.

The government has never released the toll of dead, injured and captured. It says transparency only aids terrorists.

In January this year, two weeks after publicly warning it would attack a Kenyan base in coastal Somalia, al Shabaab audaciously launched that very assault early on January 27.

More car bombs smashed through the Kulbiyow gates.

Al Shabaab claimed it overran and and captured the base and killed at least 57 soldiers. It withdrew after removing trucks and burning vehicles. News reports said 67 soldiers or more were killed.

Kenya denied, however, that the camp had been overrun and said the attackers were repulsed. It said nine soldiers were killed, 15 injured.

It has refused to update the toll and is unlikely to do so.

Military spokesman Paul Njunguna said 70 al Shabaab fighters were killed and scores wounded during Kenya’s counterattack.

Source:The Star/Kenya