AFRICA/KENYA - "The Shabaab are bringing their war in Kenya": the Bishop of Garissa's concern

Nairobi (Agenzia Fides) - "Garissa is completely blocked, while fighting continues. The entire population is locked in the house and cannot go out and buy the necessary goods, no one can enter or leave the city," says to Fides Agency His Exc. Mgr. Paul Darmanin, Bishop of Garissa, in eastern Kenya, on the border with Somalia. " The clashes – explains the Bishop - broke out yesterday when an armed group killed three soldiers who were walking the streets of the city." According to the Kenyan press, the three soldiers were part of the Kenyan army operating in Somalia.
"The army immediately surrounded a large area of the city in search of the culprits. The result was a battle that is still going on, in the course of which fire was set to the city market and shops, " continues Mgr. Darmanin. "The Somali Shabaab had promised that they would bring the war in Kenya, and it seems they are trying to do it," said Mgr. Darmanin. In Nairobi, in the district inhabited mainly by Somali, tension remains high for the riots in the aftermath of the bus attack where at least nine people were killed, according to the latest reports (see Fides 19/11/2012). Mgr. Darmanin stresses that who pays the price of these tensions "are Somalis of Kenyan nationality, which are viewed by other Kenyan as supporters of the Shabaab."
"The situation is very complicated and I ask the prayers of all," concluded Mgr. Darmanin. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 20/11/2012)