Kenyan youth enlisted by the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) forces to fight the Ethiopian invasion in Somalia were killed in the battlefield. Government officials on Wednesday acknowledged the deaths but remained tight-lipped on the number of local recruits killed in the anarchic horn of Africa nation.North Eastern Provincial Commissioner, Mr Kiritu Wamae, said intelligence reports indicated that several Kenyan youths fighting alongside UIC militia were killed as they confronted the advancing Ethiopian troops. He told a news conference at Liboi border point that the
| Provincial security and intelligence committee compiled a list of the dead recruits, majority of who were Kenyan Somalis. |
| "We want these sheikhs (religious elders) who still deny the reported deaths to show us where the missing boys are, because we have a list of the slain local combatants." |
Wamae also declared persona non grata recruits who survive the Somalia conflict who may wish to return home.
| PC said the names of more than 4,000 local youths enlisted in the foreign force was already in circulation and warned the recruits that they risked facing treason charges if they set foot in the country. |
He said some relatives of the slain fighters were mourning their dead in silence for fear of being identified. The PC cautioned locals against enlisting their children in the foreign militia.
The killing comes after a section of
| Politicians and religious leaders late last year disputed WamaeÂ’s claims that a foreign force was recruiting hundreds of local youths. |
Last yearÂ’s Idd celebrations in the province was widely characterised by calls for the sacking of the PC over the remarks, as politicians joined the fray and demanded an apology. But Wamae stood his ground at the expiry of the apology notice and insisted that unemployed youths were being induced with $400 to enlist with the UIC forces in a war widely publicised as Jihad (holy war). He said the widely disputed remarks was now unfolding before the eyes of critics and challenged the leaders to prove their version with facts. He claimed that some of the parents of the killed youth had already confirmed the deaths of their sons. He invited the religious leaders locally referred to as Ullama to verify lists of the men he says were missing in action. Majority of them, he said, were from Garissa District.
Wamae cautioned the leaders to uphold the countryÂ’s sovereignty and stop taking sides in the conflict.
| "Radical transnational Islam, Pan Somali nationalism and local Muslim leaders involved in Somali politics threatened the countryÂ’s sovereignty and NEP integration into the Kenyan mainstream and the trend should stop," |
Wamae confirmed that one of the 23 Islamist fighters seized after escaping into the country was suspected to have links with terrorist cells in Somalia. Witnesses said some of the fleeing fighters joined a group of herdsmen at Ammuma border location. There were claims that some had sneaked into Dadaab refugee camps in Garissa District. And Kenyan security personnel manning the volatile border with Somalia retreated from the no manÂ’s land after the US forces bombed Dobley town.