Kenya threatens to slap sanctions on Somalia leaders

NAIROBI, Tuesday

Kenya would impose sanctions on leaders of the interim Somalia Government if they fail to bring peace to the war-torn country, Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetang’ula said today.

The warning comes just two days after leadership wrangles emerged between Somalia’s President Abdullahi Yusuf and the Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein.

According to Mr Wetang’ula, the President did not have powers to sack the Prime Minister.

“Leaders of Somalia should put their act together... the kind of confusion that they are creating at the moment is very unhelpful,” he said.

The minister said the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad) had asked the leaders to jointly form a Cabinet, but instead they had “decided to engage in sideshows.”

“Time is running out for the mandate of the Transitional Federal Government and Igad will not extend the term once it expires in the next seven months,” Mr Wetang’ula said.

He said Kenya was gathering data on “those who were blocking the peace roadmap” and would impose travel and economic sanctions upon them, their families and their business associates.

He added: “Even the United Nations and the African Union have agreed that sanctions should be imposed on whoever is dragging behind with regard to the implementation of the peace process.”

Mr Wetang’ula said it would be “very easy” to impose the sanctions on those who thought they could frustrate the peace process.

“We cannot allow the situation to deteriorate any further,” the minister said.

Mr Wetang’ula’s statement comes a day after the AU urged President Yusuf and Prime Minister Nur to work together to bring peace in the Horn of Africa country.

When President Yusuf sacked the PM, Somalia’s Parliament revoked the decision and went on to approve a Cabinet formed by Mr Hussein, in effect creating two governments since the President had already named another Cabinet.

At the same time, Mr Wetang’ula announced the appointment of former Agriculture minister Kipruto arap Kirwa to spearhead the Somalia peace efforts.

The presidential appointment follows up on last October’s Igad meeting in Nairobi which directed Kenya to facilitate peace initiative in the war-torn country.

Mr Kirwa will be based in at the AU headquarters in Ethiopia and would operate in Djibouti and Kenya under the direction of the Igad secretariat.

The situation in Somalia has posed a great security threat to the Great Lakes region with regard to terrorism, piracy and the proliferation of small arms.

The recent increase in cases of piracy led to a decision by regional bodies to urgently focus on bringing peace to the country to stop the crime.

So far, 102 pirate attacks have been reported, 40 of them having successful, according to the International Maritime Bureau.