Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday warned Somalia against any violation of Kenya’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, reported Africa News.
President Kenyatta, who chaired a National Security Council meeting to discuss the onslaught on Kenya’s territorial integrity and sovereignty by Somalia, in a statement, said he had noted that Somalia’s army had fought on Kenyan land and harassed the people and destroyed properties in the border town of Madera.
“This action amounts to an unwarranted attack by foreign soldiers with the intention of provoking Kenya,” the statement read.
“We, therefore, urge the Federal Government of Somalia, to cease and desist from the unwarranted provocations and focus on managing its internal affairs for the welfare of her people; defeating terrorism; and advancing the cause of peace, security, and stability in the region,” it added.
The statement follows Monday’s incident in which Somali army troops had destroyed the properties of Kenyans in the town of Mandera, which lies along the shared border.
Last month, the Somali foreign ministry accused Kenya of interfering in Mogadishu’s internal affairs, especially issues of governance. It called on its neighbor to “halt its ongoing violations” of Somalia’s sovereignty and encroachment in the border areas between the two countries.
The Somali foreign ministry also accused Kenya of harboring a Somali official wanted by the central government in Mogadishu.
But the Kenya government dismissed the claims saying that it was “part of a growing and persistent pattern of ill intent to use Kenya as a scapegoat and a tool to justify challenges in Somalia for political reasons.”
Kenya urged Somalia’s federal and regional governments to instead turn focus on defeating the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab.
Notably, Kenya and Somalia are already at loggerheads over a maritime border dispute related to a disputed 62,000-square-mile (160,580-square-kilometer) oil and gas-rich area in the Indian Ocean in the shape of a triangle. Both countries claim rights on the area.
