Former Kenyan Official suspects Ethiopia is in alliance with Al-Shabab

Faram Maalim, Former Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Kenya (Credit: TheStar)

By Ramadhan Rajab


Farah Maalim is a former Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Kenya. He spoke to our reporter Ramadhan Rajab about Amisom forces role in Somalia in relation to al Shabaab militants. Here are excerpts:

RAMADHAN RAJAB:  The political interests you hinted at, who are out to maintain the status-quo of a failed State in Somalia, what is the way out from that limbo?

FARAH MAALIM: Right now people of the region are asking those questions too. Personally I don’t think regimes in this region have a long time to hide.

Look at al Shabaab and Ethiopia, there seems to be a tacit understanding between them.

Al Shabaab moves in a zone and the Ethiopian forces moves out from that zone and vice-versa, you hardly hear of an engagement between these parties.

You wonder sometimes whether there is an unholy alliance between them. Look at the region like Mandera where the al Shabaab sneaked in and killed Kenyans in a quarry.

It is around the Ethiopian forces sector but the militants are able to infiltrate cross over the border and kill and return back. Ethiopia has capacity and resources to clear that menace in less than a week but they seem uninterested to clean that area.

The global community and funders of these operations should start asking hard questions on whether they are putting their money where their mouths are.

They should make sure that the forces utilise resources to meet the set out goals and objectives and give a timeline because as there is now an impression that the Amisom forces don’t want al Shabaab menace wiped out because it serves as shield to fend off international scrutiny and pressure on towing the good governance line.

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Related Reading: Ethiopia is Supporting al-Shabab to Destabilize Kenya: Kenyan Businessman

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