Somalia President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed (C), Somalia Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali (L) and another Somalia government official attend a press conference at the capital, Mogadishu's presidential palace, on October 26, 2011.
Photograph by: ABDURASHID ABDULLE, AFP/Getty Images
Somalia's government said it will cooperate with Kenya to crush al-Shabaab, the al-Qaeda-linked rebel group.
"We all share the need to defeat and destroy al-Shabaab," Somalia's Information Ministry said today in an e-mailed statement from Mogadishu, the capital. Uganda, Burundi and Ethiopia have also been attacked by the group, it said.
Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali will lead a joint-security committee to work with the Kenyans, the ministry said. It neither criticized nor endorsed Kenya's intervention in southern Somalia last week after kidnappings of tourists and aid workers that the authorities in Nairobi blame on al-Shabaab.
While describing al-Shabaab as a common enemy, the ministry said "the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of both Somalia and Kenya should be respected." The two sides will undertake "coordinated security and military operations spearheaded" by Kenyan-trained troops from Somalia, it said.
Al-Shabaab vowed to retaliate against what it has called Kenya's "invading forces." Two explosions hit Nairobi this week injuring as many 20 people, the Kenyan police said.
While the bombers who carried out the attacks were inspired by al-Shabaab, the group didn't carry them out, Alfred Mutua, a spokesman for the Kenyan government, said today in response to a question sent by mobile-phone text message.
Police Raids
As part of their investigations, police raided a house in Kayole in eastern Nairobi yesterday and seized weapons including 13 grenades, an AK-47 rifle, a sub-machine gun, two pistols and 716 rounds of ammunition, Nairobi police chief Anthony Kibuchi said in a statement sent by mobile phone.
"Suspects have been arrested and are undergoing intensive interrogation," he said.
Kenyan Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere said on Oct. 24 that initial investigations hadn't found any evidence to link al-Shabaab to the bar attack.
Somalia hasn't had a functioning government since the 1991 overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. Al-Shabaab has waged a four-year campaign to remove the country's United Nations-backed government and controls most of southern and central Somalia.
Burundian and Ugandan forces account for most of the 9,595 peacekeepers the African Union has deployed to back Somalia's government.
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