Kenyan troops in Somalia are heavily involved in the smuggling of about 150,000 tons of sugar a year into Kenya, a local watchdog group said Thursday.
Kenyan soldiers and a pro-government militia based in Somalia's port
city of Kismayo make $13 million a year from taxing the illegal sugar
shipments which are smuggled to Kenya, Journalists for Justice said in a
report. It didn't break down the share of profits that each party
allegedly makes.
Kenyan Defense Minister Raychelle Omamo denied the allegations, saying
that they are meant to create hostility for Kenyan troops in Somalia. She said the report is a smear campaign.
According to the report, members of the Kenya military are also illegally exporting charcoal from Somalia.
Sugar smuggling is also financing activities of Islamic extremist group
al-Shabab that the Kenya military went to Somalia to fight in in 2011.
According to the report, al-Shabab makes $12.2 million a year from
levying taxes on sugar trucks.
"This is a case where the security of the whole country is sacrificed
for a few people to gain," said journalist Kwamachetsi Makhoha, one of
the authors of the report.
Kenyan leaders say the country's troops are in Somalia to bolster the
weak U.N.-backed Somali government against al-Shabab's insurgency, and
are with the African Union military mission.
Journalists for Justice said they interviewed at least 50 people with insider knowledge.
The report says sources from within the military, parliament and foreign
embassies all described a situation in which a high-ranking military
official heads a smuggling network which includes commanders of Kenyan
troops, key figures in the ministries of defense, immigration and state
house. It said the network enjoys the protection and tacit cooperation
of leaders at the highest echelons of the executive and parliament.
Source- abc NEWS
No comments:
Post a Comment