Israel-Kenya deal to help fight Somalia's al-Shabab
Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 4:45 pm
Israel has offered to help Kenya secure its borders as it tackles Somalia's Islamist group, al-Shabab, the Kenyan prime minister's office has said.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15725632It said Kenya got the backing of Israel to "rid its territory of fundamentalist elements" during Prime Minister Raila Odinga's visit to the country. Last month, Kenya sent troops to neighbouring Somalia to defeat al-Shabab, which is linked to al-Qaeda. It blames the militants for a spate of abductions on its side of the border. In a statement, Mr Odinga's office quotes Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as saying that "Kenya's enemies are Israel's enemies". "We have similar forces planning to bring us down," he is is quoted as saying. "I see it as an opportunity to strengthen ties." At least 15 people were killed in a suicide bombing on an Israeli-owned hotel in the Kenyan coastal resort of Mombasa in 2002. Four years earlier, more than 200 people were killed in co-ordinated bomb blasts on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Al-Qaeda carried out the attacks, with some of its senior members operating from Somalia.
