The leader of the Al-Qaeda linked Al Shabaab group in Somalia Sheikh Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr has called upon Kenyan Muslims to take up arms against President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government, accusing it of harassing the Muslim community in the country, writes Mohammed Kahiye from Nairobi.
The leader, whose speech in Arabic was aired on the group’s online station Al Andalus radio, said that Kenya is now experiencing a tougher economic deficit and high insecurity as a result of invading a Muslim country.
He said: “Your economy has collapsed because you have invaded a Muslim country (Somalia) where Islamic sharia is implemented.”
Abu Zubeyr, whose real name is Ahmed Abdi Godane, has warned the Kenyan government to withdraw its troops and stop taking the orders of what he termed as “Jewish and Western countries” or face the consequences.
He said: “I am warning Kenya to withdraw its troops from Somalia because Jewish and western countries have forced them to fight a war they can’t afford.”
Ahmed Abdi Godane warned that more attacks like the Nairobi Westgate shopping mall are on the way if the Kenya does not pull back its troops, adding that the Kenyan government is yet to recover from the economic loss of the deadly assault in September last year.
This comes as the British government has issued a travel advisory to its citizens travelling to the coastal town of Mombasa due to the continuous threat of terror attacks.
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The Al-Shabaab group is blacklisted by US as a terrorist organization and has carried out several attacks in retaliation for the Kenyan military incursion into Somalia in November 2011.
