Mogadishu (Sunatimes)-Ask any Somali about the current conflict against Al Shabaab and they will tell you it’s being led and promoted by foreigners for their own selfish interests.  First there was the Ethiopian hand that sought to undermine Somalia’s sovereignty, and now Somalis have learned that Kenyans and their politici-ans are secretly fomenting terrorism against Somalia.

The recent UN report that exposed the role of Kenya in Somalia has highlighted what many people in Somalia know already – terrorism has been brought into Somalia by non-Somalis and Somalis continue to remain the victims. At a time when Somalia’s neighbour, Kenya should be investing in peace initiatives, it is sending its young men to join Al Shabaab to kill Somalis.  As the report rightly focuses on Amiir Ahmad Iman Ali a senior Kenyan Al Shabaab commander has been recruiting fellow Kenyans both from his Muslim Youth Centre (MYC) in Majengo in Nairobi sponsored by the Riyadha Mosque and areas like Mombasa to destabilize Somalia.  However, there seems to a lack of political appetite in the East African region to deal with the Kenyan involvement in Al Shabaab unlike the vociferous call in the region for Eritrea to be dealt with due to its links to Al Shabaab. Rather, Kenyan cabinet Minister Najib Balala is allowed to reduce his alleged funding of Al Shabaab to “it not my business” where his funds end up because he only donated money to a Mosque reconstruction project.

Last month, PRMC (Pumwani Riyadha Mosque Committee) and MYC under the direction of Amiir Ahmad Iman Ali released a video on youtube pledging their allegiance to Osama Bin Laden and pledging to avenge his death. The youtube video (http://www.youtube.com/user/TheMzelles#p/a/u/1/_FT0N6hBh7Y) shows various members of PRMC and MYC both in Kenya and in Somalia.  This is something the UN report missed but adds credibility to their claims that PRMC in Kenya is now funding Al Shabaab.

More recently after the UN report was released, in the internet chartrooms Ahmad Iman Ali was urging Muslims to rally round the politicians and the PRMC and not let the UN get away with their claims against them.  Surprisingly, this is the same Ahmad Iman Ali that Minister Balala and MP Amina Abdalla and PRMC are trying to distance themselves from who is immediately rallying fellow terrorists to their call.

It is now time for the government of Kenya to make its stand against terrorism in Somalia.  To do this it must first deal with the two politicians (Najib Balala and Amina Abdalla) accused of funding Al Shabaab and the PRMC that clearly has links to Al Shabaab.  Failure to do this Kenya must be treated as Eritrea within the region.

Mareeg Online