Wetangula tells of close shave from al Shabaab bomb

Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetangula has said the Kenya delegation to Somalia narrowly escaped a bomb attack in the capital Mogadishu that killed five people after changing their travel plans at the last minute.

Mr Wetangula and his Defence counterpart Yusuf Haji travelled to Somalia Tuesday for talks with the Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed and Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed in Mogadishu over the Kenya military offensive against the al Shabaab.

"There was an explosion on the route we were to use to the airport but we changed our travel plans at the last minute,” Mr Wetangula said.

He, however, downplayed questions as to whether the attack was targeted at his delegation, jokingly stating; “As you can see, we are here in one piece.”

Mr Wetangula also revealed that Kenya had secured the backing of the African Union and Ethiopia in its efforts to wipe out the al Shabaab militants.

In a two day diplomatic offensive, a high powered government delegation led by Mr Wetangula held talks with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and the AU chairman, Jean Ping on the ongoing efforts by the military to uproot the Al Shabaab from their strongholds inside Somalia territory.

Speaking at the Wilson Airport on arrival from Ethiopia Wednesday, Mr Wetangula said both the AU and the Ethiopian government had offered Kenya their “unequivocal support” in its military offensive against the militants.

"The Prime Minister gave Ethiopia’s unequivocal support for Kenya’s efforts to eliminate this (Al Shabaab) menace.  He said that any threat to Kenya’s security is a threat to the horn of Africa and urged us to use everything at our disposal to eliminate the menace,” said Mr Wetangula.

“We also had a special message for the chairman of the African Union, Dr Ping from our president. We briefed him on the events on the Kenya-Somalia border and Dr Ping was in full support of what we are doing to deal with the security threat,” the minister added.

Kenya considers Ethiopia a crucial ally in the war against the al Shabaab in the region given its strategic location, bordering Somalia on the western side. In 2006, Ethiopia launched a similar offensive in Somalia but registered little success.

The support of the AU in the military offensive is also crucial given the role it continues to play in sustaining the TFG’s hold to power through the deployment of forces from Uganda and Burundi to fight alongside government forces in eliminating the threat posed by the al Shabaab.

Mr Wetangula maintained that Kenya had not invaded Somalia in pursuit of the militants but that rather, it had only responded to Mogadishu’s request for support in wiping out the al Shabaab.

“The Jubaland issue is not a Kenyan issue. It is Somalia protecting itself and asking Kenya to help. It is Somalia securing its borders so the issue of invading Somalia does not arise,” he said.

“We have not invaded Somalia. We are only giving back-up to the TFG soldiers whom we have trained here in Kenya,” Mr Haji said.