State will not disclose number of soldiers killed in Somalia, committee tells Cord

Cord leaders from Left Raila Odinga and Moses Wetangula with Senator Bonny Khalwale

NAIROBI, KENYA: Joint Committee on Security on Thursday termed opposition’s call for withdrawal of KDF soldiers from Somalia as unpatriotic and hypocritical terming CORD leaders Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab sympathisers

The Committee also said state will not give figures of KDF soldiers who have died or injured in Somalia saying that it is a matter of national security.

“Kenya is under obligation of AU and UN to continue serving in Somalia and until AU asks them to withdraw,  they will continue serving in Somalia,” said Asman Kamama, Committee Chair National Security.

In an interview with AFP, opposition leader Raila Odinga accused the government of failing to safeguard national security in the face of a wave of terror attacks and has warned of mounting internal ethnic tensions.

He said the east African nation was now in a state of permanent anxiety because of attacks by Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents, and that Kenya should pull its troops out of Somalia.

The Shebab have stepped up their attacks on Kenya in retaliation for Kenya's military intervention in Somalia in 2011. Kenyan troops now control a part of southern Somalia and form a part of the 22,000-strong African Union force supporting the internationally-backed government in Mogadishu.

According to Raila, the operation is proving too costly.

"On a regular basis our dead soldiers are being brought back in coffins and the government is not announcing it," he alleged.

"This was never meant to be an indefinite engagement in Somalia. We need to have a clear timetable of this engagement, how long our troops are going to remain in Somalia. In my view, as quickly as possible, pull our troops out."