Raila Odinga Criticises Kenya over Somali Refugees Crackdown

Published: May 2, 2014

Raila Odinga Criticises Kenya over Somali Refugees Crackdown	Former Kenyan Prime Minister and leader of the Opposition party ODM has criticised the Kenyan government over the crackdown on Somali refugees in Eastleigh suburb.

In an interview with the VOA Somali service, Mr Odinga said that the current operations are ‘’unfortunate’’ and not all the Somalis are involved or represent Somali terrorist group al-Shabab.

He added that there are many pure Kenyan ethnics who have links with the al-Qaeda-linked militant group.

‘’This is a very unfortunate incident; the government has been very high handed dealing in this issue. There are other ways to solve this,’’ he said.

Mr Odinga admitted that the Kenyan government has breached the International Refugees Convention.

Asked about Somalia’s step on recalling its ambassador, he said; ‘’ as a country, we need to handle this matter very delicate. It’s a very delicate issue because Somalia is a neighbouring country and also a friend.’’

Human rights groups and Politicians have criticised Kenya on the crackdown of Somali ethnic refugees, which started last month after a restaurant in Nairobi, the capital was attacked with hand grenades resulting to the death of six Kenyan citizens.

More than 1000 Somalis have been arrested in the crackdown, with some of them with legal documents. Kenyan authorities have been accused of

The Somali government has recently condemned on the way Kenya treated its citizens and also the arrest of the Consular general of its embassy. Somalia recalled its ambassador in Nairobi for consultations on both issues.

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