Kenya Defense Forces have not withdrawn from Dhobley in Jubbaland and the region is still secure under Ras Kamboni Brigade and AMISOM, spokesman Col Paul Njuguna has said.
For the last one week, rival groups in Jubbaland have claimed that KDF has left, leaving behind Sheikh Ahmed Madobe, the commander of Ras Kamboni Brigade and Kenya's ally in war against Al-Shabaab.
On 24 August, Sheikh Madobe will be defending his Presidency in Jubbaland, which has seen President Mohammed Farmaajo also join forces against him.
Col Njuguna on Sunday dismissed the reports, insisting that the forces are still in Jubbaland, one of the most peaceful states in troubled Somalia.
On Saturday, an aide of Madobe said such claims are expected during campaigns. “People will try every trick in the book to win. I will not be surprised,” the aide said.
Madobe’s office, he said, has a strategy to fight back “character assassination, distorted campaigns and hate”. “He is close to people. Most of these guys competing do not even live in Kismayu,” the aide added.
Madobe faces opposition from Abdinasir Seraar, who was with him in the Ras Kamboni Brigade, the militia that worked with KDF to rout Al-Shabaab in Kismayu in 2012. Seraar now runs a separate militia group.
“Farmajo’s administration wants to make sure the states are under his control before completion of the future constitution,” Abdiwahab Sheikh, a governance and security consultant, said.
Guled Omar Osman, a Kismayu native who has written on Jubbaland politics, says the sponsored candidates are part of a wider project to reduce the influence of Kenya in the region.
“They are financing candidates...against the wishes of the people so that they have influence in Jubbaland and fade off Kenyan impact,” he said referring to KDF’s alliance with Madobe’s Ras Kamboni Brigade.