Kenyan military begins new push for Somali stability
NAIROBI, (RBC) – Kenyan troops are eager to see power transition inside Somalia and have embarked on implementation of longer-term projects for the country’s stability, according to Kenyan military and foreign ministry officials.
Lindsay Kiptines, deputy director of Horn of Africa Affairs at the Kenyan Foreign Ministry, said East African leaders have recently adopted an inland strategy to bring peace in Somalia.
“A Somali Inland Strategy has been adopted to help prevent piracy. It is recognized that the lack of state control and unemployment are all linked up to the security in Somalia,” Kiptines told Xinhua over the weekend.
Kenyan troops have deployed an engineering unit, which has started the task of expanding Somalia’s road infrastructure and the construction of dams as part of a pacification strategy, military officers said Saturday.
“We are pushing our engineering aspects to create roads, open up parts of Somalia and digging up water wells to contribute to an overall improvement to the humanitarian situation,” said Colonel Cyrus Oguna of the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF).
The expansion of the road infrastructure is part of the pacification and stabilization efforts, which the force commanders say is necessary to the overall peace.
“This is not a conventional force. Any gain cannot be taken without pacification,” Oguna said, insisting the expansion of the roads and the improvement of the humanitarian situation would enhance the peace efforts inside Somalia.
Kenyan officials say the ongoing efforts are part of an inland strategy agreed upon by the region’s leaders last week to bring back peace into Somalia after over 21 years of turmoil.
“We invite the international community to engage in quick impact projects that would reduce piracy,” Kiptines said, referring to recent agreements reached by heads of state from the East African, during a meeting in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
Kenyan officials said recent comments made by European leaders, including British Foreign Secretary William Hague, who visited Somalia and named an ambassador there, were important signs that the pacification efforts were bearing fruit.
Source:Xinhua
