Kenya is worried over a possible withdrawal of US support
for its campaign in Somalia, following a series of questions sent by incoming
President Donald Trump’s team to the State Department. The fight against Al Shabaab
is only one among issues concerning Africa raised by the Trump transition team,
made public by the influential New York Times newspaper at the weekend.
Others questions listed hint at a possible shift in American
policy on trade and emergency funding for HIV/AIDS patients. Kenya is worried
because if the answers don’t appease the new administration, which takes over
this Friday, it could trigger a major policy change affecting Washington’s
support for the government’s counter-terrorism programme and its fight against
the Aids pandemic. One of the questions drawn up by Trump’s advisers is: “We’ve
been fighting Al-Shabaab for a decade, why haven’t we won?”
Speaking to The Standard on Sunday yesterday, Government
spokesperson Eric Kiraithe said the questions “should certainly worry Kenya”.
Concern revolves around what the Trump administration will do in the ongoing
war against the Somalia-based Al Shabaab, in which the African Union forces
receive crucial logistical support from the US. The inquiry, which is part of
Mr Trump’s preparation for government, comes on the first anniversary of the
bloody attack in El Adde, Somalia, in which Kenya lost nearly 100 soldiers at
the hands of the militants. The way the Trump team has framed the question is
akin to a demand for results for the billions of shillings that the US Government
has sunk in the counter-terrorism offensive in the Horn of Africa. Mr Kiraithe,
himself a senior security figure, remarked: “We are at war with Al-Shabaab. We
appreciate the support the US has given us and we will be keen as partners in
regional security if he (Trump) added more impetus to that war and even deliver
a killer blow.” Kenya has troops in Somalia fighting Al-Shabaab. President
Uhuru Kenyatta has repeatedly vowed the country’s soldiers will stay in Somalia
until the militants are vanquished. Under outgoing President Barack Obama, the
US has had “one of the deepest and most important security relationships for
the United States in all of Africa”, according to Robert Godec, the US
Ambassador to Kenya.
