There is something disturbingly wrong with this operation

During the launch of the report Black and White that was prepared by the NGO, Journalists for Justice, the moderator, veteran journalist Kwamchetsi Makokha, indicated that as part of the investigation that went into compiling the report, an opportunity was given to the KDF leadership to respond to the allegations made against them but they declined to do so.

Prior to the launch last week, JFJ had sent copies of the report to media houses and it is to one of these media houses that the KDF leadership spoke, for the first time, on the report. They denied that its contents were true.

The value of their denial would, however, have to be weighed not only against the evidence that the report contains but also against previous relevant conduct by the KDF.

WESTGATE LOOTING

Of note is the fact that after the Westgate Mall terrorist attack, KDF was, again, accused of misconduct, with allegations that its members who had come to rescue people held hostage in the attack had participated in an orgy of looting.

On that occasion, Defence Secretary Raychelle Omamo and the head of the military, General Julius Karangi, denied that the KDF had participated in looting the mall.

But independent evidence appeared to contrast their denial, as soldiers were caught on camera carting away goods.

At one level, the report by JFJ merely corroborates the periodic reports of the UN Monitoring Group, which have consistently claimed that there is a thriving charcoal and sugar trade in Somalia which contravenes existing UN sanctions, and gives economic sustenance to Al-Shabaab, the group that the effort in Somalia is supposed to neutralise.

STRONG ACCUSATIONS

What is new about the JFJ report is that it makes direct and strong accusations against KDF, something the UN reports have only obliquely done.

The JFJ marshals the evidence which includes conversations with insiders at various levels of the Kenyan state, including Parliament and the military.

The JFJ report also relies on the strong circumstantial case that since KDF now controls Kismayo, and since the central objective of taking over Kismayo was to disable Al-Shabaab’s trade in charcoal, which has nevertheless continued thriving, the only conclusion is that Al-Shabaab still controls Kismayo and, therefore, the trade in charcoal and sugar.

Or that the KDF, having taken over the port, has replaced Al-Shaabab as the new trader in these commodities.

There is another dimension to the trade in sugar, which, according to the JFJ report, is transported over territories under the control of a former member of the Islamic Court Union, Sheikh Ahmed Madobe, and Al-Shabaab, for it to reach Kenya.

For the commodities to be allowed to pass into Kenya, both Al-Shabaab and Madobe exact levies, creating a relationship from which all sides are benefiting.

ACCOUNTABILITY

In the wake of these revelations, a social media campaign was commenced in Kenya which portrays the valour of the Kenyan military in Somalia and the sacrifices they are making — as if to say that demanding accountability amounts to a denial that Kenyan soldiers have done good work.

The JFJ report itself gives credit to the good work that has gone on in Somalia and, in particular, says that incidents of rape associated with KDF are fewer than those associated with soldiers from other countries that have a presence in Somalia.

Secondly, there is a difference between the Kenyan soldiers, many of whom are doing innocent and sacrificial work, and the Kenyan political and military leadership, which is the one that is truly accused of involvement in the charcoal and sugar trade.

Foisting largely innocent soldiers into the picture is a clever way of taking refuge in numbers.

As the report observes, there has been little public discussion in Kenya about what the KDF is doing in Somalia, and information asymmetry between the government and the public allows the former to get away with such arguments as, having a discussion undermines national security.