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– President Uhuru Kenyatta has told the United Nations Security Council that Kenya would pull troops from Somalia
– If Kenya decides to withdraw its soldiers from the war torn Horn of Africa nation it would impact negatively on the war against al-Shabaab
– Kenya is concerned that the lack of funding for its troops from UN is limiting its operations
President Uhuru Kenyatta has threatened to pull out Kenyan troops from Somalia after a meeting with United Nations Security Council envoys last week.
Uhuru on Friday, May 20 said funding gaps to Kenya and Amisom soldiers is increasingly making it difficult for the country to sustain its soldiers in Somalia.
Uhuru told the UN that Kenya particularly will not fill the gaps left in funding and instead they will have no choice but to withdraw their soldiers.
“Referring to the recent cuts in EU support, he said it was not Kenya’s role to close the funding gap and the logical conclusion would be for Kenya to pull out its troops.” a UN council online bulletin report that quoted Uhuru read.
The bulletin also quoted Uhuru questioning if it was worth countries like Kenya who are part of the Amisom forces to spend huge amounts of money without support from the United Nations.
“As one of Amisom’s major troop contributing countries, Kenya is questioning whether it was worth the huge cost,” [President] Kenyatta asserted that Amisom was not getting the support it needed in terms of resources and equipment, and argued that the UN needed to take on a much greater role,” the bulletin read.
Uhuru also questioned if Amisom has the resources to maintain stability in Somalia as they are over stretched.
Kenya has 3,664 soldiers based in Sector 2 of the the Amisom mission, which is under the African Union, but is technically a UN controlled peacekeeping mission.
The majority of Kenyan forces are in lower and middle Juba region of Somalia.
If Kenya withdraws its soldiers this will impact negatively the war against terrorism as Kenya’s Defence Forces (KDF) battle the terror group al-Shabaab.
Kenya pulling its troops from Somalia will encourage al-Shabaab to continue their reign of terror in Somalia and parts of Kenya.
Kenyan troops under the Amisom flag are paid KSh 88,480 per month but with its limited resources Amisom requires $300 million for military and logistical operations.
In April 2016 Uganda said it was planning to withdraw its 6000 strong force in Somalia under Amisom the country did not give its reason for the move.
According to media reports in Uganda the decision could be as a result of review of its deployment in peacekeeping missions in Somalia which have been affected by pay cuts and lack of funding.
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