Somalia’s longest serving ambassador to Kenya, Mohamed Nur, has wound up his duty in the country with a call to Kenyans to stop profiling Somalis as terrorists. Ambassador Nur said both the governments of Kenya and Somalia were united in fighting Al-Shabaab and any terror attacks should be treated as criminal acts by individuals, not a whole community.
“…Sometimes I see in the media that whenever attacks happen they (Kenyans) say these Somalis did this, Somalis did that. These Al-Shabaab are not Somalis but criminals. Somali refugees are in this country because of these criminals. Whenever things happen, it is not right to profile Somalis.
Kenya and Somalia have a common enemy and we must be united to fight them,” he said. Mr Nur, who bid President Uhuru Kenyatta goodbye last week, praised Kenya and the Kenya Defence Forces ( KDF) for helping his country to fight Al-Shabaab. He said he was grateful to Kenya for sheltering over half a million refugees over the last 21 years.
“I want to thank Kenya for hosting our refugees here for over 21 years and KDF, which is part of Amisom, for joining the Somalia National Army in fighting Al-Shabaab,” he said. The ambassador, who is returning to Mogadishu after serving in Kenya since 2007, said he was yet to decide on his next assignment. There are reports that he is eyeing the presidency in Somalia’s elections next year.
He said he would be meeting his countrymen and women both at home and in the diaspora to preach reconciliation.
