Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Deploying local security agents could be a more effective way to
prevent al-Shabaab militant from committing acts of violence in
north-eastern Kenya, community leaders say.
On Saturday (April 20th), the National Advisory Security Committee
(NASC), which is investigating a series of violent attacks in Garissa,
met with leaders and residents in town hall meetings.
The meetings took place a day after President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered
top security officials to investigate last week's shooting at the
Holiday Inn Hotel that killed 10 people.
Since Kenya sent troops to Somalia in October 2011, numerous
al-Shabaab attacks in Garissa, Wajir and Mandera have often targeted
citizens and religious leaders.
Community leaders told the NASC -- headed by Inspector General of
Police David Kimaiyo and Interior Ministry Permanent Secretary Mutea
Iringo -- that a solution to the rampant attacks may include the
deployment of local security agents.
Security agents from the northeast stationed in other parts of the
country should be reassigned for duty in their hometowns to help nab
criminal elements within the community, according to Farah Maalim
Mohamed, former deputy speaker of Kenya's National Assembly who also
represented the Lagdera Constituency in Garissa County.
Locals would not raise suspicion when eating and praying with their community, he said at the meeting.
Mohamed said ethnic Somalis are a close-knit community and only
security agents from that community would be able to go undercover to
gain vital information.
"Non-natives do not understand the community's language, culture and
social lifestyle, making it difficult to gather intelligence," he said.
"The government should invest in intelligence gathering and infiltrate
the group."
Security crackdown
After last week's attack, Kimaiyo ordered a major security operation
in Garissa aimed at flushing out illegal migrants, criminals and illegal
firearms.
By Tuesday, more than 100 people had been detained and questioned in the operation, officials told Sabahi.
North-eastern regional police chief Charlton
Mureithi told Sabahi that 50 of those were charged for being in the
country illegally, and the rest were released.
Police from the General Service Unit and the Administration Police
armed with landmine detectors have been going door-to-door looking for
more suspects in the attack, which has been blamed on al-Shabaab
sympathisers.
Garissa County Commissioner Mohammed Maalim said security checks have
been set up along the roads and officers on the Somali border have been
placed on high alert.
A curfew has been imposed on transportation in Garissa limiting the
operation of taxis and motorcycle taxis to between 6 am and 6 pm.
Yet despite their successes, security operations often draw
complaints of harassment and human rights violations, which will not
create lasting peace in the region, Garissa Township parliamentarian
Aden Duale said, justifying the deployment of locals.
"In the early 1960s, the Northern Frontier Districts -- now
comprising Garissa, Mandera, Wajir, Marsabit and Isiolo counties --
agitated to secede and join the greater Somalia Republic," Duale told
Sabahi. "The secession war gave way to bandits who terrorised the
region, killing hundreds of people and maiming more."
Tribal fighting in the 1980s and 1990s resulted in hundreds of
people, including security officers, killed and businesses attacked, he
said.
"But once the government posted Mohammud Saleh, a native of the
region, as the provincial commissioner in charge of security, the armed
gangs who terrorised residents and security officials until early 2000
were eradicated," he said, adding that some of the bandits surrendered
after they were identified by locals.
Security officials found colluding with al-Shabaab
On Sunday, Kenyan police leadership dismissed the head of criminal
investigations in Garissa and indicted 11 security officers for
allegedly helping al-Shabaab commit violence in Kenya.
Kimaiyo said colluding security officials would face prosecution, as
an illegal cross-border trade in firearms has contributed to the
insecurity in the town.
"We have established that firearms are being smuggled into the
country disguised as goods entering from Somalia and some officials are
colluding with the criminals," the Inspector General of Police told
reporters.
Border officials were told to stay home as the government continued investigating the matter.
Internal Security Permanent Secretary Mutea Iringo announced a reward
of up to 100,000 shillings ($1,200) for anyone with information leading
to the arrest of officers who have been compromised.
He said more security officers would be deployed to Garissa to restore security.
Ultimately, he told Sabahi, the safety of all lies in the co-operation of the community and the security forces.