December 2, 2008: The government of
Kenya is increasingly concerned with threats made by Somali Islamist radicals,
particularly the Al-Shebaab movement. Since early October al-Shebaab has said
that it will fight "a jihad" in Kenya if Kenya does not end its training
program for the Somali Transitional National Government (TNG). Kenyan security
forces have agreed to help train 10,000 new TNG soldiers.
There are other reasons to take the
threats seriously. The government has reported that Kenyan security personnel
(likely the national police) have discovered "communications equipment" that it
believes were used "to coordinate illegal border crossings" from Somalia.
Refugees from Somalia are a big
problem, and it's easy to slip terrorists across the border in a wave of
refugees. "Several hundred thousand" (one source said a half million, but
that's a guess) displaced persons have collected along the Somalia-Kenya
border. --Austin Bay
