Issues that have battered image of the defence forces

The new Chief of Kenya Defence Forces General Samson Mwathethe will not only ride on the successes of the military excursion into Somalia but must also live with lingering accusations that dogged the tenure of his predecessor, Gen Julius Karangi. 

Top on the list of issues that have battered the military’s image under General Karangi is the botched operation to ferret terrorists out of Westgate in September 2013 and the oft-repeated allegation – which KDF strenuously denies – that they are complicit in illicit charcoal trade in Kismayu, Somalia.

The allegations first surfaced in a United Nations report leaked to Reuters News Agency which said Kenyan troops helped export charcoal from Kismayu port after Al-Shabaab lost control of it in September 2012.

Yesterday, a DoD spokesman told the Sunday Nation: “The UN report had no basis whatsoever since no evidence has ever been presented to the AMISOM or the Kenya Govrenment. Mere allegations with no substantial evidence do not hold water and, in the circumstances, turn out to be unnecessarily tainting the image of soldiers dedicated to the AMISOM mandate.”

The UN banned the export of charcoal from Somalia in February 2012.

“Essentially, with the changeover of power in Kismayu, the shareholding of the charcoal trade at the port was divided into three between Al-Shabaab, Ras Kamboni and Somali Kenyan businessmen co-operating with the KDF (Kenya Defence Forces),” the report alleged.

NOT GONE AWAY

KDF spokesman Bogita Ongeri said at the time that the report lacked objectivity and had not been properly researched. The accusations, though, have not gone away.

In July last year, the Institute of Defence Analysis released a damning report claiming that KDF presence in Somalia is aiding illegal charcoal trade in which Al-Shabaab is benefiting. The institute is funded by the United States Government.

Charcoal harnessed from rare tree species that naturally grow in the war torn country is in high demand in regions across the Gulf of Aden and fetch millions of dollars for Al-Shabaab.

 “Kenya, although formally a participant in Amisom, which operates in support of the Somali national government, is also complicit in support of trade that provides income to Al-Shabaab, its military opponent both inside Somalia and, increasingly, at home in Kenya,” said  the IDA report by Mr George Ward, formerly Washington’s ambassador to Namibia, in July last year.

In the past, Al-Shabaab controlled charcoal trade at the port but, reacting to the invasion, they retreated and took over its source points in the mainland where they imposed illegal levies on harvesters.

And in areas beyond their reach, Al-Shabaab erected check points in major transportation routes, imposing the levies on middle men, who paid them money they used to purchase weapons and fund terrorist activities.

Gen Mwathethe will have to deal with this.

According to the report, there are about 70 businessmen — located in the Somali port city of Kismayu that is controlled by KDF, and in Garissa and Nairobi in Kenya — who are brokers in the charcoal trade. The report does not name any individuals.

Under Gen Karangi, Kenya’s military chiefs denied allegations of involvement in any illicit activity in Somalia and maintained that since October 2011, they have only engaged in military action aimed at stabilising the war-torn country.

“Another equally misrepresented fact is about the management of the sea Port of Kisimayu. The port is fully in control of top Somalia officials from Mogadishu and the local administration. KDF has nothing to do with the port apart from executing the AMISOM mandate,” the official added.

But the accusations, which first surfaced in 2013 through a report by the United Nations, have refused to go away.

 “Since the charcoal trade is Al-Shabaab’s primary income, it is not an exaggeration to posit that a portion of the resources used to carry out terror attacks in Nairobi and in Mombasa and other locations along the Kenyan coast is being generated with the acquiescence or even the co-operation of the KDF and Kenyan business interests,” the report said.

There is also another challenge; the sibling rivalry between the military and elite forces of the police.

Going by postings in the social media by Kenyans, they feel that the Recce Company of the General Service Unit, a formation of Kenya Police, is best suited when it comes to dealing with terrorists.
Bungled operation

KDF had to bear embarrassment when in September 2013, under Gen Karangi, it fought four terrorists for four days and suffered six deaths in a bid to liberate the Westgate shopping mall in Westlands.

The effort was made worse by the fact that they had to bomb part of the mall to kill the terrorists.

Most embarrassing was footage of soldiers who appeared to be carrying away items from the mall in polythene bags. So botched was the operation that President Uhuru Kenyatta promised an inquiry but then shelved the plan.

The worst part of it came on April 2, when the military Special Forces and Rangers units fought four Al-Shabaab terrorists for hours, only for the GSU commandos to enter Elgon Hostel of Garissa University College and kill the assailants in less than an hour. Kenyans feel that the military, though better funded than the police, are not well skilled to save them in dire circumstances.