Kenyan soldiers "missing" in Somalia

  1. Posted on Wednesday 7 September 2011 - 10:06
    Adow moha
    Adow Mohamed, AfricaNews reporter in Nairobi, Kenya Photo: Not the missing soldiers
    Two Kenyan soldiers have gone missing in Somalia, after they reportedly got lost during an operation at the border with Somalia. Confirming the incident, assistance minister for defence Joseph Nkaissery said corporal Evans Mutoro and senior sergeant Jonathan Kipkpsgei Kangogo have not been traced since the morning of July 24.
    soldiers
    In the company of sergeant Said Abdiaziz, the duo were on a military re-supply mission in Wajir County in North Eastern Kenya near the border of the war torn Somalia.

    The defence minister said the three lost their way and went into Somalia near the border village of Diif about 105km east of Wajir town and were 60km into the lawless state when they were captured by the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) troops.

    “It is believed that sergeant Kangogo and corporal Mutoro escaped from the TFG troops because they could not know whether they were members of al-Shabaab or friendly” said Nkaissery.

    The assistant minister said Sgt Haji was handed over to his unit at the border but Sgt Kangogo and Cpl Muturo could not be traced.

    Sgt Haji was said to have been injured when he was taken back home .The three were serving on the Transport Battalion based in Kahawa in the capital city Nairobi.

    Kenya has a number of its military manning the border with Somalia to avert the constant threat posed by the Al-Qaeda linked terror group, al-Shabaab.

    The matter has elicited a heated debate in parliament after MPs questioned the genuineness of the statement by the assistant minister.

    A recent report by a US- based Human Right Watch said Kenya is a party to the conflict in Somalia, having deployed “units of their armed forces in military operations in southern Somalia” in 2011.

    They have also provided military assistance to militias supporting the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), the report said.

    Aden Duale, a Member of Parliament from North Eastern Kenya said there is more than meets the eye in the issue than the statement by the defence ministry.

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