Kenya's prime minister says the government is not ready to say whetherthe country's military will intervene in the conflict in neighboringSomalia. Kenyaand other countries in the region are under intense pressure from theSomali government to send troops into Somalia to keep Islamistmilitants there from taking power.
Following talkswith his Somali counterpart Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke in NairobiMonday, Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga told reporters that hisgovernment has not yet made a decision about sending Kenyan troops intoSomalia.
"The situation right now isvery crucial because the campaign is around Mogadishu itself. IfMogadishu falls, the consequences would be very grave indeed," Mr. Odinga said. "We arepledging our full support to the government. We are discussing thisissue and are going to make consultations. Announcements are going tobe made."
Prime Minister Odinga saysamong the resolutions guiding the African Union and the six-member,east African Intergovernmental Authority on Development, are rules thatrestrict nations from interfering in the internal affairs of theirneighbors. Mr. Odinga suggested that a better solution for Somaliawould be for the international community as a whole to send immediatemilitary assistance.
The Kenyan leader's comments stoppedshort of the commitment the U.N.-supported Somali government had hopedto receive from one of its staunchest allies in the region. OnSaturday, the government made an extraordinary appeal, urgingneighboring countries - Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Yemen - tomilitarily intervene in Somalia to keep the country from falling intothe hands of Islamic extremists allied with al-Qaida.
SinceMay, government and pro-government forces have been battling ferociousinsurgent attacks in Mogadishu and elsewhere, led by al-Qaida-linkedal-Shabab. About 4,300 African Union peacekeeping troops are in thecapital protecting the presidential palace and key installations. Butthey have no mandate to pursue the insurgents.
Al-Shabab,listed by the United States as a terrorist organization, has vowed totopple the pro-western government and turn Somalia into anultra-conservative Islamic state. The Somali government says hundredsof foreign fighters, battle-hardened in Iraq and Afghanistan, are nowpouring into the country to help al-Shabab.
Kenya sufferedal-Qaida-related terrorist attacks in 1998 and 2002. Anti-terrorismofficials here say one of the top commanders of the foreign fighters inSomalia is Kenyan-born Ali Saleh Nabhan, who is believed to have beeninvolved in all successful and foiled attacks against Kenya in the past11 years.
On Sunday, the spokesman of the al-Shabab-runadministration in Kismayo in southern Somalia, Hassan Yaqub, warnedKenya that if any Kenyan troop is found across the border in Somalia,al-Shabab would send suicide bombers to attack the downtown area ofNairobi.
Yaqubsays the people in downtown Nairobi will meet the same fate asSomalia's security minister Omar Hashi Aden, who was killed along withdozens of others in a suicide blast last Thursday at a hotel inBeledweyne.
Kenyan Prime Minister Odinga declined to comment on the al-Shabab threat.
Therehas been no official response from Djibouti or Yemen about the Somalirequest for troops. But Ethiopia says that it would only interveneunder a mandate from the international community. Ethiopia ended awidely unpopular military occupation of Somalia in January under aU.N.-sponsored peace deal signed in Djibouti.
Residents inseveral border towns in Somalia say Ethiopian troops are already backin their villages, conducting security operations.