Monday, October 17, 2011

Just a wee bit scary...

We have been following the current events in Kenya/Somalia closely. This weekend, Kenyan troops crossed the border into Somalia with helicopters and jet fighters in response to a few recent abductions that are thought to be the work of an Islamic terrorist group, Al Shabaab.


This is from a BBC news report issued today. 


"Al-Shabab spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage told the BBC Somali service that his fighters would attack Nairobi.
Kenya launched an air and ground assault on the weekend, in response to several recent cross-border abductions it blames on al-Shabab.
The hard-line group, which controls much of southern Somalia, denies carrying out the kidnappings.
Mr Rage said: "We will defend ourselves. Kenya doesn't know war. We know war. The tall buildings in Nairobi will be destroyed.
"We have fought against governments older and stronger than Kenya and we have defeated them."
Submitting our dossier at this time is difficult. Once our document is submitted, there is no turning back... we are committed. Once our referral is issued we have 90 days to  move there. If we do not follow policy, we lose the referral and in all likelihood, we would not be considered for another match.
Once again, another control issue that I am battling with... hand over the papers, hand over control. I think we are likely just going to have to decide to take this leap of faith and trust that it will work out. We do want to feel  that it is a measured risk though and that we are not jumping into a full out war zone!!
The one comfort is that al-Shabab has made threats to Kenya in the past but has never followed through...
Just released - news report from National Post.

1 comment:

BCMommy said...

Oh Jo...that is so cary. I hope that this is another empty threat and will not impact your journey in any major way. Everything is always so hard!!!

Claire