A response to Patrick Gathara’s oped on the Kenya-Somalia dispute
Al Jazeera
Contrary to claims in the piece, the Kenyan government has acted in good faith in its engagement with the ICJ.
We refer to an article authored by Patrick Gathara published on October 10 entitled “Kenya’s cynical offensive against the ICJ” and wish to state facts as they are and not armchair analysis by Mr Gathara as a right of reply.
To begin with, Kenya has a long history of peaceful and friendly relations with its neighbours. Despite Somalia’s territorial ambitions against Kenya, the Kenyan government has made great sacrifices for the Somali people. Kenya has provided humanitarian relief to hundreds of thousands of Somali refugees. Its military has protected the Somali government from terrorists. In fact, the Somali government was hosted in Nairobi for several years because of insecurity in Mogadishu. It enjoyed generous financial, diplomatic, and military support from Kenya. Its gradual return to Mogadishu was made possible thanks to the thousands of Kenyan troops in the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). Kenya’s “huge” and “extraordinary sacrifice” in support of our Somali neighbours is recognised the world over, including by the UN and the African Union.
Despite Kenya’s friendliness, Somalia has consistently engaged in unprovoked and unwarranted diplomatic actions against Kenya, including the expulsion of Kenya’s ambassador from Somalia and severing of all diplomatic, economic, social and political engagements with Kenya.
