Former speaker of the national assembly Farah Maalim has reignited the debate on whether the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) troops should be withdrawn from Somalia
While taking to his twitter account said, “Frontline states of Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti must withdraw their peace-keeping forces from Somalia ASAP,” the former National Assembly Deputy Speaker tweeted.
According to Maalim, AMISOM needs to replace Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti forces with forces from other states like Burundi, Sudan, Senegal, and Rwanda.
In addition he said, “There is no need to protect neighbours from Al-Shabaab retaliatory attacks.”
The debate on whether Kenya should pull out of Somalia has been raging on.
A section of politicians has proposed Kenya to pull out of Somalia in order to stop A-Shabaab attacks in the country.
The politicians argue that Al-Shabaab has been staging attacks in Kenya because of KDF presence in their war-torn country.
However, a majority of politicians among them Garissa Township MP Aden Duale are against the proposal to withdraw KDF from Somalia.
Duale has been quoted, saying that KDF’s presence in Somalia is good for the country especially the North Eastern region.
Kenya deployed KDF troops to Somalia in 2011 under the ‘Linda Nchi’ operation to fight the militant group that had occasionally staged attacks in the country.