From Steve Bloomfield in Mombasa
March 25, 2007
SundayHerald
East Africa has been a theatre in America's "war on terror" since the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam were blown up in 1998, killing 225. But it is only in the past year that US involvement in the region has become more obvious - and generated more anger.
Muslims are in the majority in Kenya's coastal regions and events since the fall of Somalia's Islamic Courts at the turn of the year have given many of them the impression they are suspects.
Thousands of Somalis, many with close family in Kenya, tried to cross the border into the neighbouring country after fighting broke out. But Kenya sealed the border and sent most back. Those suspected of belonging to the Islamic Courts were rounded up and taken to Nairobi for questioning. Once there, claim human rights groups, they were interrogated by the FBI. US diplomatic officials visited the detained and took some to hotels for questioning. After several weeks in Nairobi, 88 people were put on secret night flights back to Somalia - the first reported case in East Africa of what human rights groups call "extraordinary rendition".
Many were transferred to Ethiopian jails where, it is claimed, they are interrogated by Ethiopian officials on behalf of the US. The US State Department's 2006 human rights report claims that "conditions in prisons and pre-trial detention centres remain very poor" and "there were numerous credible reports that security officials mistreated detainees".
Four Britons were originally sent to Somalia, but British officials arrived a day later and took them back to the UK, where they were questioned and subsequently released.
The role of the Kenyan and Ethiopian governments has come under renewed scrutiny. Both are seen by the Bush administration as allies in the war on terror, and the US plans to give $1 billion in aid to the two countries next year.
America, using its 1500-strong taskforce based in Djibouti, has also been involved in training Ethiopia and Kenya's armed forces. But, for Muslim citizens in Kenya, the country's support for the war on terror is not seen in a positive light.
Al-Amin Kimathi, of Kenya's Muslim Human Rights Forum, said Muslims were being unfairly targeted. "Many have been rounded up and interrogated," he said. "They think we are all al-Qaeda."
The operation, he said, has been carried out on behalf of the Americans.
The Islamic Courts Mujahideen Resist The Invaders:
Across the border, in Somalia, the violence appears to worsen by the day. Far from bringing peace and security, the US-backed military operation by Ethiopian and Somali government forces to drive out the Islamic Courts has brought chaos and anarchy.
The insurgency, which started in late January with the appearance of a leaflet titled "heavy warning", has become more deadly. The leaflet vowed that Ethiopians would "face new insurgent operations and attacks".
They have delivered on that promise. Remnants of the Islamic Courts' fighters, acting under the leadership of Arun Ayro, a militant trained in Afghanistan, have been joined by clan militias and common armed thugs in attacking Somali government and Ethiopian troop targets.
Since their arrival earlier this month, 1500 Ugandan soldiers - a vanguard of the proposed 8000-strong African Union peacekeeping force - have come under attack from insurgents.
The past week brought reminders of one of the darkest days in Somalia's recent history: what appeared to be the bodies of Somali and Ethiopian soldiers were dragged through the streets by insurgents and angry residents after fierce gun battles which killed 16 people.
The images were similar to those of 1993 when the bodies of US soldiers were dragged through the streets after two Black Hawk helicopters were shot down. On that day, more than 1000 Somalis were killed - the worst day of violence Mogadishu has ever seen.
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