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| Africa Horn |
| Kenyan Opposition Slams Counter-Terrorism Crackdown |
| 2014-04-11 |
[An Nahar] Kenya's opposition party on Thursday slammed the mass round-up and deportation of ethnic Somalis by police after a week-old counter-terrorism crackdown saw 4,000 people locked awayDrop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! The latest sweep, conducted in Nairobi's main Somali district Eastleigh since last Friday, is aimed at weeding out sympathizers of the al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab, but residents say people of Somali origin have been rounded up indiscriminately. Government figures say several hundred have been detained after their initial arrest, and 82 deported to Somalia after being found to be in Kenya illegally. The opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) compared the crackdown to two notorious incidents from Kenyan history: the internment of thousands of suspected Mau Mau sympathizers by the British colonial authorities in 1954, known as Operation Anvil, and the 1984 massacre of ethnic Somalis at Wagalla in northeastern Kenya. "We wish to express strong displeasure at the swoops going on today, which resemble Operation Anvil of the Mau Mau era or the Wagalla operation of the 1980s," ODM top official Anyang' Nyong'o told a presser. "We do not think indiscriminate picking of Somalis is the answer. We wish to remind the government that in countries where the war on crime and terror has taken ethnic, racial or religious dimension, the conflict has ended up being more complex and more protracted. We fear Kenya is taking that unfortunate route," he said. ODM also said the government should draw up a timetable for pulling out of Somalia, where it sent troops in October 2011 to fight the Shabaab. |
| Posted by:Fred |