Kenya al-Shabab massacre: Kenyatta
replaces security chiefs
2 December 2014 Africa
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has replaced his
interior minister and police chief following a
massacre by Islamist group al-Shabab.
The president asked Kenyans to unite, and said:
"We will not flinch in war against terrorists."
Kenya's police chief David Kimaiyo stood down,
while Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku was
dismissed.
Earlier, al-Shabab killed 36 quarry workers in the
north-eastern Mandera region near the Somali
border.
The group attacked the workers around midnight on
Monday while they were asleep in tents at the
quarry in Kormey, 15km (9 miles) from the town of
Mandera.
Non-Muslim workers were shot dead after being
separated from the Muslims.
'Choose a side'
"This is a war against Kenya and Kenyans," Mr
Kenyatta said on national TV on Monday. "It is a
war that every one of us must fight."
"The time has come for each and every one of us to
decide and choose - are you on the side of an open,
free, democratic Kenya... or do you stand with
repressive, intolerant extremists?"
He said Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku had
been fired, and he nominated an opposition
politician and former army general, Joseph
Nkaissery, as his replacement.
The president also announced that he had accepted
Mr Kimaiyo's wish to retire.
Correspondents say both Mr Kimaiyo and Mr Lenku
have been under pressure to resign amid growing
concern over security in Kenya following a spate of
attacks.
Analysis: Robert Kiptoo, BBC Africa, Nairobi
Most Kenyans will be pleased by the departure of
police chief David Kimaiyo and Interior Minister
Joseph Ole Lenku - two men widely blamed for the
failure to get to grips with the insurgency.
President Kenyatta has shown his determination to
declare war on al-Shabab by nominating a former
army general as the new interior minister.
If Kenya's parliament approves his nomination,
Joseph Nkaissery will become the first opposition
MP handed such a key ministerial post since Kenya
adopted a new constitution in 2010.
Like his predecessor, Mr Nkaissery comes from
the Maasai community, suggesting the president
took into account the need to ensure the ethnic
group remains represented in government.
At a time when al-Shabab is threatening Kenya's
security, Mr Kenyatta cannot afford to cause ethnic
tension by alienating any group.
A driver who visited the scene of Monday's attack,
Ali Sheikh Yusuf, told the BBC most of the victims
appeared to have been lined up and shot in the
head at close range.
He said four were beheaded inside their tents, while
three appeared to have escaped to Mandera town.
The militants attacked the workers as they lay
sleeping in their tents
The bodies of those killed have been flown to
Nairobi
Al-Shabab said it carried out the attack, blaming the
involvement of Kenyan forces in Somalia "and their
ongoing atrocities therein, such as the recent air
strikes on Muslims".
The group put the number of those killed at 40,
higher than official accounts.
Kenya's Red Cross said that security personnel and
one of its own teams were at the scene soon after
the attack.
Al-Shabab is based in Somalia but has stepped up
its campaign in Kenya since 2011, when Kenya sent
troops across the border to help battle the militants.
About 100 people protested in Nairobi last week
chanting "Mr President, we demand security"
Only last week the Islamist group killed 28 people in
Mandera county in an attack on a bus targeting
non-Muslims.
Hundreds of people later fled to a military strip,
demanding the government evacuate them from the
region.
Demonstrators took to the streets in the Kenyan
capital, Nairobi, calling on the president to improve
security.
Dozens of people have also been killed in a series
of shootings in coastal districts in recent months.
In one of the worst attacks on Kenyan soil, 67
people were killed in September last year when
four gunmen took over the Westgate shopping mall
in Nairobi.
Chapisha Maoni