Al Shabaab ask Kenya to keep off

THE NATION (Kenya)

The rebel group’s spokesman, Sheikh Ali Mohamoud Raghe alias Sheikh Ali Dhere, said Kenya was among Christian (non-Muslim) forces opposing his movement’s Jihad (holy war) against the Transitional Federal Government in Mogadishu.

“We know that Kenya is supporting few cowards around its border,” he said at a passing out parade for rebel fighters in the port city of Kismayu.

“You Jihadists are going to crush those elements and move beyond into Kenya,” he added.

Kenya, he said, is in a glass house and should not start throwing stones.

“Kenya should learn from what happened to the mightier Ethiopian forces,” said Sheikh Ali Dhere. “Thousands of Ethiopians had to stream to the border in total defeat.”

He asked the trainees to remain morally and spiritually equipped to confront any threat against Islam.

The militants, he said, were in Jihad against non-Muslims anywhere around the world.

“The jihad is for the liberation of all Muslims around the world,” said Sheikh Ali Dhere. “When we succeed in this part, we will to move to other parts until we ensure only Allah is worshipped in this world,” he added amid chants of Allahu Akbar (God is Great).

The rebels have been linked to terror group al Qaeda led by Saudi fugitive Osama bin Laden. This is not the first time they are speaking against Kenya which they accuse of recruiting and training soldiers on behalf of TFG.

Ethiopian troops intervened in Somalia in 2006 to support the Somali government.

They withdrew in 2009 following the Djibouti agreement between the TFG and some of the Islamist factions.

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