THIS IS LEADERSHIP Kenya chiefs replaced after massacre (Nigeria gives its own medals) President Uhuru Kenyatta: We will not flinch or relent in the war against terrorism Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has replaced his interior minister and police chief following a massacre by Islamist group al-Shabab. The president asked Kenyans to unite, and said: We will not flinch in war against terrorists. Kenyas police chief David Kimayo stood down, while Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku was dismissed. Earlier, al-Shabab killed 36 quarry workers in the Mandera region near the Somali border. The group attacked the workers around midnight on Monday while they were asleep in tents at the quarry in Kormey, 15km (9 miles) from the north-eastern town of Mandera. Non-Muslim workers were shot dead after being separated from the Muslims. Choose a side This is a war against Kenya and Kenyans, Mr Kenyatta said on national TV on Monday. It is a war that every one of us must fight. The time has come for each and every one of us to decide and choose - are you on the side of an open, free, democratic Kenya... or do you stand with repressive, intolerant and extremists? The militants attacked the workers as they lay sleeping in their tents He said Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku had been fired, and he nominated an opposition politician and former army general, Joseph Nkaissery, as his replacement. The president also announced that he had accepted Mr Kimaiyos wish to retire. Correspondents say both Mr Kimaiyo and Mr Lenku have been under pressure to resign amid growing concern over security in Kenya following a spate of attacks. Analysis: Robert Kiptoo, BBC Africa, Nairobi Most Kenyans will be pleased by the departure of police chief David Kimaiyo and Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku - two men widely blamed for the failure to get to grips with the insurgency. President Kenyatta has shown his determination to declare war on al-Shabab by nominating a former army general as the new interior minister. If Kenyas parliament approves his nomination, Joseph Nkaissery will become the first opposition MP handed such a key ministerial post since Kenya adopted a new constitution in 2010. Like his predecessor, Mr Nkaissery comes from the Maasai community, suggesting the president took into account the need to ensure the ethnic group remains represented in government. At a time when al-Shabab is threatening Kenyas security, Mr Kenyatta cannot afford to cause ethnic tension by alienating any group. A driver who visited the scene of Mondays attack, Ali Sheikh Yusuf, told the BBC most of the victims appeared to have been lined up and shot in the head at close range. He said four were beheaded inside their tents, while three appeared to have escaped to Mandera town. Al-Shabab said it carried out the attack, blaming the involvement of Kenyan forces in Somalia and their ongoing atrocities therein, such as the recent air strikes on Muslims. The group put the number of those killed at 40, higher than official accounts. Kenyas Red Cross said that security personnel and one of its own teams were at the scene soon after the attack. Al-Shabab has stepped up its campaign in Kenya since 2011, when Kenya sent troops across the Somali border to help battle the militants. Only last week al-Shabab killed 28 people in Mandera in an attack on a bus targeting non-Muslims. In one of the worst attacks on Kenyan soil, 67 people were killed last year when four gunmen took over the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi. Dozens of people have been killed in a series of shooting attacks in coastal districts in recent months. Hundreds of people sought refuge at a military airstrip in Mandera last week, fearing a fresh assault by al-Shabab. BBC © 2014
Posted on: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 15:13:00 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015