Westgate validates US strategy on Shabaab, says Africom head

Thursday, October 24, 2013

advertisements

Successes achieved by US-supported African forces fighting al-Shabaab in Somalia led to the deadly attack on Nairobi's Westgate Mall, the head of the US Africa Command (Africom) said on Wednesday.

"This really validates our strategy," declared Africom Commander Gen David Rodriguez.

The same affirmative interpretation was offered by Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Linda Thomas-Greenfield who joined Gen Rodriguez in a State Department teleconference with reporters.

The Westgate massacre showed Shabaab is resorting to hitting "soft targets because other targets are being made harder for them to go after," the top US diplomat for Africa said.

"It highlighted to us we were pursuing the right strategy," Assistant Secretary Thomas-Greenfield said in regard to Shabaab's targeting of a shopping mall.

"We need to bolster that strategy," she added.

Ms Thomas-Greenfield offered a noncommittal response to a question regarding the US response to the African Union's call for a deferral of the ICC cases against Kenya's leaders.

"We are reviewing that, as others are reviewing that request," she said.

"We are very, very aware of the Kenyans' concern about having to deal with Westgate," Ms Thomas-Greenfield added in regard to the AU's argument that the cases would distract Kenya's leaders from the fight against terrorism.

But the assistant secretary of state reiterated the US position of encouraging the Kenyan government to continue to cooperate with the ICC.

"We think that it is extraordinarily important for the victims of the violence that occurred in Kenya in 2007," Ms Thomas-Greenfield said.

Home
Email

Hiiraan Online