The menace of Al Shabaab that has led the Kenyan government to deploy her defense forces to the war-torn country has dealt a big blow the tourism industry this year. The dreaded militia that had become so daring by kidnapping foreigners from Kenya and thus heightening the terror not only in Kenya but other East African country has no choice but to surrender.
It is important that the Government of Kenya to extend an olive branch to Somalia once the Kenya Defense Forces get rid of Al Shabaab.For any meaningful peaceful coexistence in the region, it is important that something is done to restore peace in Somalia.
It is true that this nation has been in turmoil for two decades. The good news is that this can be reversed if the Somalis were to cooperate with Kenya and international community in adopting a culture of peacemaking.
The ordinary Somalis living in Somalia are peace loving people but fate has made many of them to join rag tag militias to fight for the limited resources in the war-ravaged nation. Others have sought refuge to Kenya and Ethiopia to escape hunger and other man-made calamities.
This is why it is imperative to seize this opportunity that KDF are in Somalia to put things in order for good there. The forces should ensure that what they are doing will have a long term positive implication to the Somalis.
Rwanda and Burundi joined East Africa bloc when they put their acts together and they have benefited enormously from this integration. South Sudan will also join East Africa officially anytime after seceding from Sudan after a long protracted armed conflict.
Somalia can also enjoy this if only peace can became a reality in and not a pipedream. East Africa can benefit from the wide coastline that Somalia is endowed with among other things. The sooner this is done, the better.
James Mwangi Kanyi
Nairobi
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