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"id": 2557,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Farah",
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"legal_name": "Farah Maalim Mohamed",
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"content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, we have gone beyond that now and I think the name of the operation should now be changed to “ Operation Okoa Somalia ” because our defence forces right now are liberating the Somalis, who are under the york and the problems of the Al Shabaab. This is a fatalistic organisation that is clearly a criminal gang. We need to learn from history, so that we do not make the mistakes that were made in history by people who went into other people’s countries. Whether it was the Americans going into Vietnam to save democracy and the Vietnamese people; whether it was the Americans going into Somalia under Operation Restore Hope to try and save the hundreds of thousands of starving Somalis who had been held hostage by Somalia warlords at that time; whether it was any other incursion, including the AMISOM project that is going on in Somalia, we want to learn from history and make sure that we do not make the mistakes that were made by those who were there before us, and who got the best out of their operations. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we want to support our National Defence Forces. We want to do everything possible to get the right materials, the right resources and the support of the international community through AMISOM and the United Nations. However, we have to have three things very fast. We have to have an entry strategy, which I believe we already have, a scope strategy, limiting our forces as to how far they can go into Somalia, and an exit strategy. If we do not have those three strategies, we will be in trouble. It is my prayer that our forces do not go beyond a certain place because the moment this combat gets into big places like Kismayu and other major cities there, it is going to become a hand-to-hand battle, and there are buildings. Kismayu has 300,000 residents. This is likely to become an urban warfare. Any guerrilla outfit is very comfortable in an urban warfare, because if you try to flush them out, you do not escape causing collateral damage, and collateral damage will give the Al Shabaab more adherents. More people will be recruited by the Al Shabaab and the war will be seen in a different light. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the other thing I want to say is that we have been doing very well. We did much better than when Ethiopia went into Somali the last time. The reason as to why we are doing better is that the Somalis have nothing to fear from Kenya. They trust Kenya’s intentions. They know that Kenya does not have an empire-building kind of strategy. They know that Kenyans are their brothers, who have given them refuge for the last 20 years. Hundreds and thousands of them live amongst us. However, the concurrent entry of the Ethiopian military forces into Somalia on the other side is a problem we will have to begin living with, because we know that we have had, since Independence, what is called the “Mutual Defence Pact” between the two countries. That mutual defence pact was basically designed for use in the event of Somalia attacking anyone of them. This now can be interpreted by the Somalis to mean that this is a joint effort by people from different faiths to take their country and share it between themselves. We have to discourage any further movement, other than just within the proximity, for the Ethiopian military forces because that will not help us. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to very much applaud the Minister for Foreign Affairs and his defence counterpart for having gone out to cities in the Muslim world to explain and sell this operation, and say that we are also looking for military forces from the Muslim countries to come and participate in this operation. I want to tell you that there are countries in West Africa and North Africa which must be brought into this operation in order for it to have the kind of legitimacy that we need, and for it not to be abused by the Al Shabaab . We must be careful when it comes to collateral damage. There was an attack on a contingent of policemen in Dadaab, during which an officer was killed and a number of officers injured. That was as a result of bomb that was planted on the roadside. Following that attack, the police went to the refugee camp and beat up the refugees, leaving so many of them injured. If we go on that way, we will change the situation. This is a society which is able to take decisions very fast. We have to endear ourselves to the civilian population. We have to win the Somali people to come to our side and show them this project or programme for what it is. Mr. Speaker, Sir, there must be a civilian component. Every time we liberate an area, we must have a strategy for that area to be handed over to civilian administration in order for us to put in place the services that need to be provided, including health, education, water and sanitation. All these services need to be put in place, so that we are seen as true liberators."
}