End the fighting in Bula Hawo, Kenya tells Somalia, ignores blame

GOOBJOOG NEWS|NAIROBI: Kenya has once again treated Somalia’s accusations with disdain making no reference to it in a statement Monday evening and instead called for a cessation of hostilities in Bula Hawo as Mogadishu claims Nairobi lent a hand to Jubbaland forces to ‘invade’ the border town.

In a statement to newsrooms, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said it had written to the African Union expressing concerns of a possible humanitarian crisis over the fighting which Monday claimed over ten lives.

“Kenya’s primary concern is that the renewed fighting engenders large-scale displacement of civilians inside Somalia and increasingly generates large numbers of refugees and asylum seekers to Kenya, therefore aggravating the already dire humanitarian situation in Somalia and in the refugee camps in Kenya,” the statement read in part.

It added that continued fighting risked destabilizing the region and upending the war against terrorism. Nairobi called for ‘cessation of hostilities and a rapid return to normalcy’.

The Information Minister in Mogadishu Osman Dube had early Monday directed blame at Nairobi alleging it supported the Jubbaland forces to attack Bula Hawo. “A Kenyan backed group cross the border tonight and attacked Gedo region but Somali National Army repelled the foreign organised invasion,” Dube said in a statement.

Somalia has since late last year fired several shots at Kenya accusing it of acts of aggression and went ahead to cut diplomatic relations. In one controversial move, Dube went on TV at 2 am to announce an end to diplomatic relations and expulsion of Kenya’s ambassador to Somalia retired general Lucas Tumbo.

But Kenya kept mum in what analysts said was a calculated move on the understanding that Farmaajo was using the allegations to gain political mileage for re-election.