NAIROBI MARCH 13, 2020 — “When the safety and security of our population is threatened by foreign forces regardless of how they came into Mandera County, our position is very simple, which is that of protection of our population at all costs. We respect our neighbors and wish them well. Their problem is their problem and Somali Government and its people must find a solution to their problem in their own ways,” so goes a statement by Ali Ibrahim Roba, governor for Mandera, a county bordering Kenya to the porous Somalia in the north.
Earlier last week, heavy fighting erupted in the border town of Bulla Hawo, a contested frontier town, a business hub, a transit point, and a critical geopolitical outpost lying along the common borderline when the Somali Federal Government troops engaged forces from the semi-autonomous regional government of Jubaland.
In 2019, Jubaland authorities raised accusations against the Federal Government of Somalia for what it termed as attempts to interfere with its elections, so as to facilitate removal of Jubaland President Sheikh Ahmed Madobe who is perceived as a close ally to Kenya.
Governor Roba was responding to sentiments in a March 13 Strategic intelligence website titled ‘Leadership at Kenyan Frontier Prefectures Trading off with Terrorists & Enemy States: Treason & Principles of Loyalty in Geopolitics’ in which the governor is perceived to be siding with the Mogadishu government.
“Some desperate leader from northern Kenya has resorted to hired goons in the name of Strategic Intelligence who are pretending to be experts who know more about the desperate security situation in Mandera. Our level of patriotism and sense of belonging can never be measured through a partisan support to a regional government of Jubaland at the expense of the security of our population,” reads the response statement.
Somalia Federal Government had accused Kenya of harboring fugitive Jubaland security minister Abdirashid Hassan Abdinur also known as Janan, who is said to have escaped from a Mogadishu prison on January 28, where he had been held since August 31, 2019 on accusation of ‘grave human rights violation and killing civilians in Gedo region’.
Somalia’s government army engaged Janan’s troops in Bulla Hawo, forcing the fugitive’s fighters to cross over to Kenya’s border county of Mandera, raising fears among locals.
And with these myriads feuds between the fragile government in Mogadishu and its federal states, it would prove a huge obstacle to fighting the armed Al-Shabaab group in war-torn Somalia.
After over two decades of civil war and inter-clan conflict, Somalia started an ambitious program of national reconciliation and development, with federalism as a pillar of its plan, leading to the establishment of regional governments under the federal government based in Mogadishu.
After several attacks by armed insurgents in Kenya’s northeastern region, mostly targeting non-Muslim, leaders from the region were under pressure to seek local solutions on curbing the menace.
Recently, eleven Members of Parliament who made a secret trip to neighboring Somalia were later arrested by police for questioning when they jetted back into the country. Of the 11 MPs, six were from Mandera, three from Wajir and two from Garissa counties.
“The legislators might have had a genuine reason on seeking amicable solution to terrorism activities in neighboring country of Somali about terror issues plighting the northeastern region, but they ought to have sought the government protocol,” says Mbijiwe.
According to Governor Roba, the article sought to sway the Kenyan government views to have him change the position he holds against the presence of foreign forces in the county of Mandera.
“Let it be clear to everyone that we have nothing against Jubaland forces in Mandera. We have nothing against Jubaland or anyone else but are just interested in the safety of Mandera people against foreign fighters. If not accepting such risks translates to opposing anyone so be it,” reiterated the governor.
At least 11 people were killed in the fight involving the Somali government army and the Jubaland troops in the border town of Bulla Hawo.
Mohammed Mahmoud, a senator from Mandera County says with an already existing internally displaced persons, such conflicts are likely to put the lives of residents in the northeastern counties in limbo.
“Our people have borne the brunt of calamities such as droughts and hunger. Such a situation in our borderline threatens the existence of a people living in fragility,” said Mahmoud.