Kenyan forces cross into Somalia to hunt kidnappers

In a significant escalation, Kenyan army units have crossed into Somalia to hunt for the kidnappers of two aid workers seized from a refugee camp on the border.

The two Medecins Sans Frontieres workers were kidnapped on 13th October by gunman and taken back into Somalia. The Kenyan government has repeatedly tried to seal off the border, which is regularly crossed by thousands of refugees fleeing Somalia's fighting and the country's drought.

Militants from Al-Shabab, which controls much of central and southern Somalia, are believed to have infiltrated the flow of refugees and have also fought along the border to recapture territory held by pro-government militias.

Previously the Kenyan military has focused on sealing the border, only launching brief raids into border regions of Somalia, but the intervention which began on 17th October appears to be on a much bigger scale. Hundreds of troops backed by tanks, artillery and helicopters have moved into Somalia. According to local residents, Al-Shabab units in the area have been forcibly recruiting locals to boost their numbers in a demonstration that they are preparing to fight.

The kidnapping of the aid workers was the trigger for the incursion, but for some time the Kenyan authorities have been concerned by the porous border situation and the ease with which Al-Shabab has managed to cross into Kenya, recruiting among refugees or kidnapping Westerners. The deployment of so much heavy weaponry indicates that freeing the hostages will come second to a punitive raid on Al-Shabab forces.

Kenyan officials have been blunt. Kenya's Internal Security Minister George Saitoti said that “Our territorial integrity is threatened with serious security threats of terrorism, we cannot allow this to happen at all.”

Saitoti also said that the government is sealing the border with Somalia, although this would be almost impossible to do effectively. For its part, Somalia's weak Transitional Federal Government (TFG) has denied that Kenyan forces have entered Somalia, stressing that although they welcomed Kenyan support they did not require military assistance.

Officials in Kenya and elsewhere would disagree. Although TFG forces backed by African Union peacekeepers have driven Al-Shabab out of most of Mogadishu in recent weeks, the militants still control vast swathes of the country and are more than a match for the TFG's underfunded and poorly-trained forces.

The extent and duration of the Kenyan intervention remains to be seen, but it demonstrates that the border situation continues to provoke regional instability.

Sources: BBC, AFP, AllAfrica

Fighting in Somalia border region displaces thousands

Al-Shabab militants

There has been renewed fighting in the Somali border town of Beled Hawo in recent weeks, leading to at least 20 deaths and 6,000 people being displaced.

Fighting for control of the border town between Islamist militant group Al-Shabab and the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) forces, supported by the African Union (AU) and the Ahlu-Sunna militia groups is not new: Al-Shabab took control of the town in clashes in October 2010, which led to at least 60,000 people being displaced.

According to a 2nd March report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), fighting resumed in Beled Hawa around the 20th February and intensified over the course of the week. According to Somalia's Bar Kulan radio Ahlu-Sunna militias attacked several bases of Al-Shabab insurgents located at the outskirts of Beled Hawo.

Within days, Beled Hawo was reported to be a 'ghost town' with most resident either fleeing to calmer parts of Somalia's Gedo region, or across the border to Kenya. Fighting, however, was reported in Burta village, a village 30km from Beled Hawo, and even across the border in Kenya.

A temporary ceasefire along the border on 27th February allowed the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) to start the registration of refugees and within days over 6,000 Somali asylum seekers had registered in and around Mandera, a Kenyan town near the border. OCHA reports that at least 5000 Kenyans have also been displaced. There are unconfirmed reports of some Somalis being stranded at Border Point One (no man's land) and having difficulties accessing Kenya. The KRCS reports that at least one person has died at Border Point One.

"One woman has been reported dead at Border Point One and 10 casualties are being treated at Mandera District Hospital," Kenya Red Cross Secretary General Abbas Gullet said in a statement.

Bar Kulan reported on 1st March that Kenyan security forces had closed the border and brought armored vehicles and tanks to the border. This seems to have been in response to threats by Al-Shabab. Al-Shabab has accused Nairobi of allowing Ethiopian troops to use its territory as a staging ground for attacks on them in Somali territory, a claim Nairobi denies.  Whether the closed border means refugees have not been able to get across to Kenay is not clear.

Commissioner of Gedo region from the Somali TFG Mohamed Abdi Kalil accused, on 2nd March, Al-Shabab militants in Beled Hawo of burning residential houses in effort to displace people.

Renewed fighting broke out on or before Thursday 3rd March, according to Press TV. They reported that 20 people have died, and 40 people have been injured, but have not said who they are. Bar Kulan also reported renewed fighting, and have said it is taking place in the centre of town. There have been reports of gun shots and mortar attacks. They have speculated that there are probably no civilian deaths as most civilians have, by now, fled Beled Hawo.

The fighting in the border region is part of a larger attack by the TFG and AU forces, and they have recently seized some strategic positions in Mogadishu from Al-Shabab. Who will end up victorious in Beled Hawo is not yet clear, but it is certain that the renewed fighting has caused a humanitarian emergency and seriously unsettled the border region.

Sources: Relief Web, Bar Kulan, Press TV, Axadle OCHA

For more information, see the Menas Borders website, here.