Kenya has dismissed a UN report which accuses its troops in Somalia of facilitating charcoal exports in defiance of a UN Security Council ban. <\/p>\n
The report, leaked to Reuters news agency, said Kenyan troops helped export charcoal from Kismayo port after militant Islamist group al-Shabab lost control of it in September 2012. <\/p>\n
The UN banned the export of charcoal from Somalia in February 2012. <\/p>\n
It alleges that the industry is a major source of income for al-Shabab.<\/p>\n
‘Lacks objectivity’<\/p>\n
Kenya and the African Union (AU) appealed to the UN Security Council to lift the ban after al-Shabab fighters fled Kismayo following last year’s offensive by Kenyan troops and a Somali militia known as Ras Kamboni.<\/p>\n
When the Security Council refused, Kenya’s army and Ras Kamboni “took the unilateral decision to begin the export of charcoal” from Kismayo, said the report, compiled by a UN panel of experts.<\/p>\n
It said al-Shabab retained a stake in the industry. <\/p>\n
“Essentially, with the changeover of power in Kismayo, the shareholding of the charcoal trade at the port was divided into three between al-Shabab, Ras Kamboni and Somali Kenyan businessmen cooperating with the KDF [Kenya Defence Forces],” the report alleged. <\/p>\n
KDF spokesman Bogita Ongeri said the report lacked objectivity and had not been properly researched. <\/p>\n
Kenyan troops had curtailed al-Shabab’s operations in Somalia and had put a “stop” to the illegal charcoal trade, he said, Kenya’s Daily Nation newspaper reports.<\/p>\n
The total trade volume of charcoal exports from southern Somalia in 2011 increased to between nine million and 10 million sacks, generating revenues for the al-Qaeda group in excess of $25m (\u00a316m), the UN report said. <\/p>\n
Charcoal exports from Kismayo were estimated to be worth $15m to $16m per month, it added. <\/p>\n
Kismayo has been hit by clashes between rival Somali militia since al-Shabab fled the city in September 2012. <\/p>\n
The city is seen as a lucrative prize for militias, which could gain financially from charcoal exports, port taxes and levies on weapons and other illegal imports.<\/p>\n
Kenya sent troops to Somalia in October 2011, alleging that al-Shabab was threatening its security. <\/p>\n
Its troops later joined the African Union (AU) force helping the weak Somali government fend off threats by al-Shabab to overthrow it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kenya has dismissed a UN report which accuses its troops in Somalia of facilitating charcoal exports in defiance of a UN Security Council ban. The report, leaked to Reuters news agency, said Kenyan troops helped export charcoal from Kismayo port after militant Islamist group al-Shabab lost control of it in September 2012. The UN banned […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ogeysiiska-iyo-iidhehyada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/warsom.com\/wararka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/warsom.com\/wararka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/warsom.com\/wararka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/warsom.com\/wararka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/warsom.com\/wararka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16408"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/warsom.com\/wararka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16414,"href":"https:\/\/warsom.com\/wararka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16408\/revisions\/16414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/warsom.com\/wararka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/warsom.com\/wararka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/warsom.com\/wararka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}