Monday May 23, 2016
By Adow Mohamed
President Uhuru Kenyatta has threatened to withdraw Kenyan troops from Amisom serving in Somalia.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has threatened to withdraw Kenyan troops from Amisom serving in Somalia.Uhuru told visiting United Nations Security Council envoys on Friday that fund cuts by the donor community to the mission in Somalia have hampered success against al Shabaab.“Referring to the recent cuts in EU support, he said it was not Kenya’s role to close the funding gap and the logical conclusion would be for Kenya to pull out its troops,” a brief by a UN online bulletin read.
The President's threat comes as a surprise, given his earlier stand that Kenya will remain in Somalia for as long as it takes.
Opposition leaders have consistently asked the government to withdraw the soldiers, saying it has not helped Kenya’s resolve to defeat al Shabaab.
The close to 4,000 Kenyan soldiers in the war-torn country have suffered heavy casualties, with more than 200 officers killed in El Adde in January.