GARBAHAREY (Halbeeg News) – The Kenya Defence Force (KDF) soldiers have been blamed for the death of several people and raping locals in Gedo region.
Locals in Elwak last week said Kenyan troops raided the town and killed several people.
Two Federal lawmakers have presented a unified stance in a press conference condemning the alleged atrocities carried out by Kenyan troops in Gedo region.
Senator, Abdiwahid Elmi Gonjeh and Abdiaziz Dhagaqol, a member of Lower House held a joint press conference on Tuesday in Mogadishu.
The two politicians have joined the fray urging the federal government to immediately investigate allegations of extrajudicial killing.
“In Gedo region, there is rampant crimes against humanity. The latest one happened when the (Kenyan) troops seized five girls,” Mr. Gonjeh said, “They (the girls) were taken into custody for eight hours.”
Mr. Dhagaqol on his part said the soldiers who allegedly rape the girls were not operating under the framework of AMISOM saying they encroached into Somalia’s territory.
“We have confirmation, they are not soldiers, they are Kenyan troops who crossed the border into Somalia,” Dhagaqol said, “They (soldiers) kidnapped the girls from Danyerow locality.”
An internal report by aid agencies working in Somalia published on VOA website said Kenya had carried out dozens of airstrikes targeting pastoral communities in Somalia’s Gedo region since June of 2015.
It says Kenyan Wildlife Service personnel pressed into border patrol duty have targeted people with arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial killings.
According to the report, Kenya’s airstrikes targeted water points with the rationale that those resources are used by al-Shabab militants. But the report says “the distinction between military targets and civilians is skewed in the Somali context.
Kenya sent its troops to Somalia to fight Al-Shabaab fighters after series foreign abductions suspected to have been executed by Al-Shabaab inside Kenya.
The forces were later amalgamated with African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).
Thousands of Kenyan military soldiers, fighting under the auspices of AMISOM are currently in Gedo and Lower Jubba regions.
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