From: Herrn Edward Mulindwa <mulindwa@look.ca>
Date: Sun, Sep 22, 2013 at 3:55 AM
Subject: [Mwananchi] RE: [Ugandacom] EM: OUR CONDOLENCE FOR CANADIANS KILLED...Canadians die in Kenya massacre claimed by al-Qaeda-linked group
To: Ugandacom@yahoogroups.com
Cc: ugandans-at-heart@googlegroups.com, mwananchi@yahoogroups.com, zimsite@yahoogroups.com, camnetworks@yahoogroups.com
Matek
It becomes very wired when a Canadian diplomat dies when we have nothing of interest into Kenya. And this is where this entire discussion needs to be started from. There are countries that still love to do diplomacy by being good neighbors and showing some charity, the danger into building a foreign policy of arming every one and all of them, is that you reach a point of Saudi Arabia that has been out armed and simply has no plan on how to use them let alone to whom.
EM
On the 49th
Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni and Dr. Kiiza Besigye Uganda is in anarchy"
Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni na Dk. Kiiza Besigye Uganda ni katika machafuko"
From: Ugandacom@yahoogroups.com [mailto:Ugandacom@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of matek
Sent: Saturday, September 21, 2013 10:25 PM
To: ugandacom; voice-of-uganda
Subject: [Ugandacom] EM: OUR CONDOLENCE FOR CANADIANS KILLED...Canadians die in Kenya massacre claimed by al-Qaeda-linked group
Canadians die in Kenya massacre claimed by al-Qaeda-linked group
Somalia's al-Shabab claims responsibility after at least 39 killed
The Associated Press Posted: Sep 21, 2013 9:52 AM ET Last Updated: Sep 21, 2013 8:25 PM ET
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Chaos in Kenya 4:52
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Two Canadians, including a diplomat, are among the 39 people killed and more than 150 wounded after Islamic extremist gunmen raided Nairobi's top mall Saturday, lobbing grenades and firing assault rifles.
The Prime Minister's Office released a statement identifying 29-year-old Annemarie Desloges, an official in the Department of Citizenship and Immigration who served in Canada's High Commission to Kenya, as one of those killed.
"Canada condemns in the strongest possible terms this cowardly, hateful act that apparently targeted innocent civilians who were simply out shopping," Prime Minister Harper said in extending his condolences to the victim's families.
1 of 14
Early Sunday morning, 12 hours after the attack began, gunmen remained holed up inside the mall with an unknown number of hostages. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta called the security operation under way "delicate" and said a top priority was to safeguard hostages.
As the attack unfolded shortly after noon Saturday, the al-Qaeda-linked gunmen asked the victims they had cornered if they were Muslim. If the answer was yes, several witnesses said, those people were free to go. The non-Muslims were not.
Kenyatta said that his close family members were among the dead, and local media reported his sister escaped the mall uninjured.
Other foreigners were among the casualties. France's president said two French women were killed, and there were reports of American citizens injured, but the U.S. State Department said it had no further details.
"Acts of terror cannot be allowed to go unpunished. Canadian staff at our mission are offering Kenyan authorities every possible assistance to bring the perpetrators of this heinous attack to justice," Harper said.
The PMO's office said the family of the second Canadian victim has not been notified, and therefore the person's name is not being released.
Desloges worked as a liaison officer with the Canada Border Services Agency at the High Commission and has been public servant for the Canadian government since 2008. She was previously posted in New Delhi, the PMO's office said, and had been working in Nairobi for the past two years.
She is survived by her husband, Robert Munk.
Al-Shabab responsible
Somalia's Islamist extremist group al-Shabab claimed responsibility and said the attack was retribution for Kenyan forces' 2011 push into Somalia. The rebels threatened more attacks.
Al-Shabab said on its Twitter feed that Kenyan security officials were trying to open negotiations. "There will be no negotiations whatsoever," al-Shabab tweeted.
As night fell in Kenya's capital, two contingents of army special forces troops moved inside the mall.
Police and military surrounded the huge shopping complex as helicopters buzzed overhead. An Associated Press reporter said he saw a wounded Kenyan soldier put into an ambulance at nightfall, an indication, perhaps, of a continuing shoot-out inside.
Witnesses said at least five gunmen — including at least one woman — first attacked an outdoor cafe at Nairobi's Westgate Mall, a shiny, new shopping centre that hosts Nike, Adidas and Bose stores. The mall's ownership is Israeli, and security experts have long said the structure made an attractive terrorist target.
The attack began shortly after noon with bursts of gunfire and grenades. Shoppers — expatriates and rich Kenyans — fled in any direction that might be safe: into back corners of stores, back service hallways and bank vaults. Over the next several hours, pockets of people poured out of the mall as undercover police moved in. Some of the wounded were moved out in shopping carts.
"We started by hearing gunshots downstairs and outside. Later we heard them come inside. We took cover. Then we saw two gunmen wearing black turbans. I saw them shoot," said Patrick Kuria, an employee at Artcaffe, the restaurant with shady outdoor seating.
2011 threats
Frank Mugungu, an off-duty army sergeant major, said he saw four male attackers and one female attacker. "One was Somali," he said, but the others were black, suggesting that they could have been Kenyan or another nationality.
Al-Shabab, on its Twitter feed, said that it has many times warned Kenya's government that failure to remove its forces from Somalia "would have severe consequences." The group claimed that its gunmen had killed 100 people, but its assertions are often exaggerated.
American survives
American Sara Head spoke to CBC News about what it was like to hide from gunmen at the Westgate shopping centre in Nairobi.Read her story here.
"The attack at WestgateMall is just a very tiny fraction of what Muslims in Somalia experience at the hands of Kenyan invaders," al-Shabab said. Another tweet said: "For long we have waged war against the Kenyans in our land, now it's time to shift the battleground and take the war to their land .Westgate."
Al-Shabab threatened in late 2011 to unleash a large-scale attack in Nairobi. Kenya has seen a regular spate of grenade attacks since then but never such a large terrorist assault.
Nairobi's mortuary superintendent, Sammy Nyongesa Jacob, said Africans, Asians and Caucasians were among the bodies brought to the mortuary.
The U.S. State Department condemned "this senseless act of violence that has resulted in death and injury for many innocent men, women, and children."
The U.S. embassy said it was in contact with local authorities and offered assistance. Some British security personnel assisted in the response.
Non-Muslims targeted
The gunmen told hostages that non-Muslims would be targeted, said Elijah Kamau, who was at the mall at the time of the midday attack.
"The gunmen told Muslims to stand up and leave. They were safe, and non-Muslims would be targeted," he said.
Jay Patel, who sought cover on an upper floor in the mall when shooting began, said that when he looked out of a window onto the upper parking deck of the mall he saw the gunmen with a group of people. Patel said that as the attackers were talking, some of the people stood up and left and the others were shot.
'The gunmen told Muslims to stand up and leave. They were safe, and non-Muslims would be targeted.'- Elijah Kamaum witness
The attack was carried out by terrorists, said police chief Benson Kibue. He did not specify a group. He said it was likely that no more than 10 attackers were involved.
Somalia's president — the leader of a country familiar with terrorist attacks — said his country knows "only too well the human costs of violence like this" as he extended prayers to those in Kenya.
"These heartless acts against defenceless civilians, including innocent children, are beyond the pale and cannot be tolerated. We stand shoulder to shoulder with Kenya in its time of grief for these lives lost and the many injured," President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said.
The gunmen carried AK-47s and wore vests with hand grenades on them, said Manish Turohit, 18, who hid in a parking garage for two hours.
"They just came in and threw a grenade. We were running and they opened fire. They were shouting and firing," he said after marching out of the mall in a line of 15 people who all held their hands in the air.
Hospitals overwhelmed
A local hospital was overwhelmed with the number of wounded being brought in hours after the attack, so they had to divert them to a second facility. Dozens of people were wounded. Officials said Kenyans turned out in droves to donate blood.
The United Nations secretary-general's office said that Ban Ki-moon has spoken with President Uhuru Kenyatta and expressed his concern. British Prime Minister David Cameron also called Kenyatta and offered assistance.
Kenyan authorities said they have thwarted other large-scale attacks targeting public spaces. Kenyan police said in September 2012 they disrupted a major terrorist attack in its final stages of planning, arresting two people with explosive devices and a cache of weapons and ammunition.
Anti-terror Police Unit boss Boniface Mwaniki said vests found were similar to those used in attacks that killed 76 people in Uganda who gathered to watch the soccer World Cup finals on TV in July 2010. Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for those bombings, saying the attack was in retaliation for Uganda's participation in the African Union's peacekeeping mission in Somalia.
--
This is a quote:
"Even if Joseph Kony was killed, that would not necessarily be the end of the war in northern Uganda because Kony is no more than a ' spiritual' leader of the LRA. This quick fix, arm-chair solution seemed to be from the Kampala-based 'opinion leaders' who only know the war through newspapers".
" Until the legitimate grievances and the marginalization of northern Uganda's communities are addressed, LRA fighters remain a possible vehicle for the expression of northerners' frustrations".
"Kony may never sign a peace agreement. Whether or not he signs, however, is less relevant to avoiding new conflict in northern Uganda than ending marginalization policies and fulfilling promises by the Ugandan government."
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