Kenyan plans to arm local officials to counter terror threats

Kenyan government plans to give firearms to local administrative officials in northeast region as part of new measures to effectively deal with the Al- Shabaab menace in border regions.

Northeastern Regional Coordinator Mohamud Saleh said on Thursday the administrators, chiefs and their assistants, who have undergone paramilitary training, will be armed to help deal with insecurity in regions neighboring Somalia.

He also said police officers will be vetted and properly equipped to man and patrol the border between Bodhai in Garissa County up to border Point One in Mandera County.

Saleh, who is credited with eliminating militiamen from the region, said the National Police Reservists (NPR) will be given uniforms, paid allowances and be under the command of the county security and intelligence committees.

"We shall pay the chiefs well as one way of motivating them and ensure that they work with chiefs within their areas of jurisdiction. They will have powers to arrest and caution suspected criminals just like the police," he added.

Saleh said chiefs at the border with the war-torn Somalia, some of who have relocated to urban areas for fear of being attacked by the Al-Shabaab militants, will be given first priority.

The administrator ordered chiefs and their assistants who have left their work stations and are operating in urban areas to immediately go back since the government had bolstered security.

He said the move to arm them was necessitated by intelligence reports that the Al-Shabaab were targeting the administrators, singling out the killing of a chief in Mandera a month ago.

Garissa and other local towns have been the target of Somalia- based Al-Shabaab militants who kill innocent citizens, as well as security officers and other government officials.

The security measures come amid rising fears among communities living along the porous border with Somalia that the Islamist group was turning their frustration on the innocent civilians in a series of revenge attacks.

Saleh said the government will also recruit ex-servicemen who retired with honor from the military, para military and the police reservists, who will stationed along the Kenya Somali border specifically to deal with the Al-Shabaab.

He said the government has an elaborate program to rehabilitate all radicalized youth who opt to leave the Al-Shabaab terror group.

"The chiefs should work with the elders and talk to the youth who have joined Al-Shabaab to return back. We shall not be victimized by anybody," he said.

Saleh said the youth will be absorbed into the National Youth Service (NYS) after being rehabilitated and those with business interest will be funded under the youth enterprise fund and awarded projects in the 30 percent contracts set aside for youth and women by the government.

"We shall ensure that youth who come back do not slip back for lack of jobs or lack of sources of income,"he said.

Al-Shabaab militants have vowed to attack Nairobi after the east African nation soldiers were sent to southern Somalia to flush out the insurgents in 2011. Endi