Shabaab Threaten to Invade NE Kenya, Annex Under Sharia

26/4/09
1631 GMT

Al-Qaeda and Al-Shabaab militiamen in Somalia have reportedly issued fresh threats to the Kenyan government saying they would invade the North Eastern province with the intention of annexing and subjecting it to Islamic Law.

North Eastern PC Kimeu Maingi said the two militia groups have officially communicated to the government authorities saying they were determined to invade the province and make it part of their country and rule it using their religious laws.

Maingi said the abduction of several Kenyan citizens witnessed at the border town of Mandera was part of a wider scheme to force a reaction from the Kenyan government.

• Maingi expressed concern at the increasing cases of locals acquiring small arms from the strife-torn country which, he said, could be used in such an attck.
• Maingi, however, said the government had put up measures to counter such an attack from the militia including deploying extra troops to man the expansive and porous Kenya-Somalia border and the disarmament of residents in the province.
• Speaking at Warable in Fafi district during a relief food distribution exercise, the PC said it was unjustifiable for the locals to keep demanding food rations from the government when they routinely exchanged their livestock for firearms with Somali militias at the porous border.
  

Maingi's remarks came after a local resident, Sheikh Mohamed, surrendered a G3 rifle which, he admitted, had been used in clan wars pitting the Abdallah against the Abdwak.

• Early this year, two people were killed when members of these two clans clashed over ownership of a water pan and pastureland.
  
• The PC issued an indefinite ultimatum for locals to surrender the firearms they had illegally acquired from Somalia saying the government was committed to safeguarding its citizens by all means possible and no one would be allowed to own firearms illegally in the guise of protecting themselves.

The Rest @ Kenya BBC