The International Crisis Group (ICG) has called on Kenya not to extend its intervention in Somalia any further asking it to instead focus on an exit strategy to avoid sparking local resistance and retaliation.“As Kenya advances into southern Somalia, it must act cautiously and avoid prolonged ‘occupation’, lest it turn local opinion against the operation and galvanise opposition Al-Shabaab can co-opt, much as happened to Ethiopia in 2006-200,” ICG said in its latest report which was released in Nairobi on Wednesday.Kenyan forces entered Somalia in October 16, 2011 to push back Al-Shabaab, which controls large sections of southern and central Somalia, is blamed by Nairobi for a series of cross-border kidnappings. The militant group has also come under pressure from African Union peacekeepers, who pushed them out of the Somali capital Mogadishu in August, and from Ethiopia, which has seized several towns in the Horn of Africa nation.“Operation Linda Nchi (Protect the Country) was given the go- ahead with what has shown itself to be inadequate political, diplomatic and military preparation,” Abdullahi Boru Halakhe, Crisis Group’s Horn of Africa Analyst said.“The potential for getting bogged down is high, the risks of an Al-Shabaab retaliatory terror campaign are real, and the prospects for a viable, extremist-free and stable polity emerging in the Juba Valley are slim,” he said. The Juba Valley is the epicentre of extremist groups.
