Vol 52 No 24 |
- KENYA
- SOMALIA
The war in Somalia gives President Mwai Kibaki’s government a leading role for which it looks ill-prepared
Six weeks into the fighting, unintended consequences haunt Kenya’s invasion of Somalia: rising xenophobia, terrorist attacks in Nairobi and other local insecurity, and changes in East Africa’s security...
Kenya’s military incursion into Somalia is less than a month old but is already the subject of contradictory statements by the government and its Western allies. Al Haraka al Shabaab al Mujahideen is under threat from the Kenya Armed Forces and their allies’ Special Forces and air power but the invasion also offers opportunities. Al Shabaab may be able to recoup some recent losses if Lower and Middle Juba end up controlled by Kenyan surrogate forces that alienate local people. The offensive shows, however, that the United States and its allies have faith in a military solution to the Somali problem. Kenyan forces are pushing towards Kismayo in a land assault that will combine with attacks by French and US forces from the sea to spell possible defeat for Al Shabaab in the key port. Yet with no political solution on offer, Al Shabaab could revive.
Kenya’s intervention in Somalia was first announced on 15 October by Minister of Internal Security George Kinuthia Saitoti and Minister of Defence Mohamed Yusuf Haji, and it...
Vol 52 No 22 |
- KENYA
- SOMALIA
Kenya’s confusion over its war aims proceeds in part from deep divisions within the elites and the fact that key actors support different Somali forces who have nothing...
Vol 52 No 21 |
- KENYA
- SOMALIA
After chasing kidnappers across the border, the Kenyan army is digging in for the longer term in Somalia
As the Kenyan army ventured deeper into Somalia, in its first cross-border campaign in 44 years, a regional grand strategy to deal with Al Haraka al Shabaab al...
President Kibaki’s heir-apparent mulls his defence at the Hague while his allies ponder whether to hand him over in the event of a trial
Throughout September, Kenyans were glued to television screens as the International Criminal Court Prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, presided over the confirmation of the charges of crimes against humanity...
The International Criminal Court’s case against Kenyans accused of financing and organising post-election violence finally got underway with the ‘confirmation of charges hearings’ on 1 September – and...
Bold plans to address political conflict and vote-rigging have been sidelined as the battle to succeed President Kibaki heats up
The groundbreaking programme for political reform set out in the new constitution is at risk as members of parliament and party activists position themselves for the presidential succession...
Politicians and police show no signs of investigating two people named as ‘drugs kingpins’ by the US government
Although the United States named John Harun Mwau and Naima Mohamed Nyakiniywa ‘drugs kingpins’ and froze their assets in the USA on 1 June, Mwau is conducting a...
The Kenyan at the centre of the Triton Oil scandal, Yagnesh
Devani, argues his case against extradition to Kenya on charges of
fraud worth $38 mn. in London on 11...
Under the new constitution, the DPP should be independent of the executive but the nomination of Keriako Tobiko prompts questions from MPs
President Mwai Kibaki swore in Keriako Tobiko as Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) on 20 June following an acrimonious vetting last week. Members of Parliament on the Constitution...