Kenya tells Somalia "put house in order" after mall attack <http://www.reuters.com/> Description: ReutersBy Richard Lough and James Macharia | Reuters
By Richard Lough and James Macharia
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's president told Somalia's leaders on Tuesday to
"put their house in order", in a sign of frustration at the festering
instability in the neighbouring country after members of a Somali militant
group attacked a Nairobi shopping mall.
The al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group said it raided the Westgate centre,
killing at least 67 people, in revenge for Kenya's military campaign against
its fighters inside Somalia.
The attack bore out widespread fears that Somalia, whose cash-strapped
government exerts little control beyond the capital Mogadishu, remained a
training ground for militant Islam and a launchpad for attacks beyond its
borders.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said he would not be bullied into
withdrawing his soldiers, who are part of an African peacekeeping force.
He also took aim at the Somali government, which a source close to the
Kenyan presidency said had also recently called for Kenyan troops to leave
before withdrawing the demand under pressure from regional leaders.
"If their desire is for Kenya to pull out of Somalia, my friends, all they
need to do is what they should have done 20 years ago, which is put their
house in order," Kenyatta told religious leaders at a multi-faith prayer
meeting.
There was no immediate reaction from the Somali government.
Mogadishu has been angered by Kenya's perceived close relationship with a
former Islamist warlord now in control of Somalia's southernmost region,
which borders Kenya.
The Westgate raid was the worst attack in Kenya since al Qaeda bombed the
U.S. embassy there in 1998, killing more than 200 people, mostly Kenyans.
Hours after the militants struck, spraying people with bullets and hurling
grenades, al Shabaab accused Kenya of turning a deaf ear to repeated
warnings to end its military intervention in Somalia.
But Kenyatta said his country had only deployed forces there after tourists
and foreign aid workers were targeted in a string of kidnappings on Kenyan
soil.
"Let me remind them that it is they who, having had enough of killing
themselves in their own country, decided to come and interfere in Kenya,"
Kenyatta said. "We did not go there, they came here."
"I want to be categorically clear: We will stay there until they bring order
in their nation," he added.
Somalia's ambassador to Kenya told Reuters on Friday his country's security
agencies were working closely with Nairobi after the mall attack.
Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni and Dr. Kiiza Besigye Uganda is in anarchy"
Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni na Dk. Kiiza Besigye Uganda ni katika machafuko"
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