DAILY NATIONNews News Somalia war: Kenya on the spot over secret enlisting

Tension gripped Garissa Town on Wednesday following claims that hundreds of youths were being recruited secretly to fight in Somalia.

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But before joining the army of Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, the youths, it was further claimed, were first being taken for military training at Manyani Paramilitary Camp in Mombasa.

A group of parents who alleged that their sons had already been recruited, raised the alarm. They said that more than 300 youths aged between 18 and 30 years had secretly been recruited in six locations of Garissa District.

Ongoing relocation

However, North Eastern provincial commissioner James ole Serian dismissed the claims as rumours. “I heard the rumours. I think this came about due to the ongoing relocation of Somali refugees, who are mainly youths, to Kakuma. Nevertheless, we shall investigate the matter,” the PC said.

Claims about the recruitment of Kenyan youths to fight in Somalia come a few days after the United States Government said that unemployed Somali youths were targeted for recruitment by the Al-Shabaab militia group.

The Al-Shabaab, alongside other militia groups, has been fighting to oust the fragile Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, which is supported by the US and other Western powers. Garissa mayor Mohamed Gabow said he had personally witnessed the recruitment.

Monthly salary

“It has been going on. The boys who have been recruited have talked to us. They say they have been promised a $600 (Sh44,000) monthly salary,” Mr Gabow told the Nation by telephone. He claimed that those carrying out the recruitment were senior military officers, adding that the hiring was done in the cover of darkness.

“There are several National Youth Service and military trucks which ferry the recruits,” the mayor said. He alleged that the recruitment had been carried out in Medina, Masalani, Riig, Adan and Iftin villages — all in Garissa Town.

The civic leader noted that the last batch of 95 recruits was confined at Bula Shabah, at the outskirts of Garissa Town, before being ferried to Manyani. But the Department of Defence (DoD) denied any involvement in the recruitment of youth to fight in Somalia.

On Wednesday in Nairobi, DoD said it had information that Somali militia groups had been engaging in massive recruitment of fighters within refugee camps in the country.DoD spokesman Bogita Ongeri said that they had received intelligence reports that Al-Shabaab and other militia groups fighting in Somalia had been conducting recruitment in the country.

“We are not involved in any such recruitment and training of youth to go and fight in Somalia. That is absolute propaganda. Why would we do that? We, however, have information that Al Shabaab, the Transitional Federal Government and other militia groups fighting in Somalia have been recruiting youth from refugee camps to go back and fight secretly.

“We are doing everything to stop this because it is a matter of national security. We are monitoring our borders very keenly,” Mr Ongeri said. However, he said it was an Internal Security matter and was being handled as such.

In Garissa, Kenya National Commission on Human Rights northern region coordinator Hassan Abdille Abdi said the commission had received numerous complaints from locals on the secret hiring. “It is suspicious to carry out recruitment secretly without informing residents and local leaders,” Mr Abdi said.

Speaking to reporters during the close of a two-day regional consultative forum on security sector reforms in northern Kenya, Mr Abdi urged the government to clear the air on the matter. Mr Gabow, who was flanked by other civic leaders from the region, blamed the government for acting blindly to the whims of donors.

“If our youth take part in the fighting in Somalia, there is a possibility that Al-Shabaab insurgents will retaliate by attacking Kenya,” the mayor said. Garissa deputy mayor Ismail Mohamed Garad said the government should create jobs for the youth in the region instead of taking them to fight in a lawless country.

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama pledged on Tuesday to continue US counter-terrorism operations in East Africa, which recently included a deadly helicopter raid inside Somalia. “The United States and our partners have sent an unmistakable message,” Mr Obama declared in a speech at the National Counterterrorism Centre near Washington.

“We will target al-Qaeda wherever they take root; we will not yield in our pursuit; and we are developing the capacity and the cooperation to deny a safe haven to any who threaten America and its allies.”

The US president said earlier in his address that “al-Qaeda and its extremist allies threaten us from different corners of the globe — from Pakistan, but also from East Africa and Southeast Asia.”

A lightning attack last month in southern Somalia by US Special Forces killed Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, who was being hunted for his involvement in the 2002 Paradise Hotel bombing in Kikambala near Mombasa and the bombing, in 1998, of the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. It was the first known military action in Somalia carried out by the US since Mr Obama came to power nearly 10 months ago