Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti has retaliated Kenya’s push for Al Shabaab to be declared a terrorist organisation.
Speaking at the at the 88th Session of Interpol’s General Assembly in Santiago, Chile, the DCI said, ”Kenya continues to push for Al Shabaab to be declared a terrorist organisation by the United Nations Security Council in order to allow for resource mobilisation globally to counter and arrest the spread of terrorism in Eastern Africa.”
The four-day conference brings together law enforcement officers from around the world to address national and regional efforts in combating terrorism and organised crime.
On August 28, the Security Council rejected Kenya’s request to designate Al Shabaab a terror group under Resolution 1267, which includes groups such as Al Qaeda, Taliban and ISIL.
The Kenyan government expressed disappointment at the decision by the UNSC to block its push to toughen sanctions on the Somali militant group, Al Shabaab.
“We are disappointed because it seems unconscionable that any country, least of all a country that is in the UN Security Council and which has lost its citizens in the terror attacks by Al Shabaab, would not wish to see all necessary measures brought to bear on this hideous organisation,” Foreign Affairs PS Macharia Kamau told the EastAfrican.
“We would expect that of all the entities of the UN multilateral system, that the UN Security Council would be most sensitive to this issue and would feel most compelled to bring to bear the maximum pressure on organisations such as Al Shabaab, which have killed hundreds of innocent people in both Somalia and Kenya,” he said.
Some humanitarian agencies, most of them American, and former diplomats argue that such a designation would “criminalise humanitarian aid.”
Kenya was fronting the proposal for the second time after the first bid failed in 2014 on a veto from the United Kingdom.
