NAIROBI: Kenya warned Thursday of the risk that groups such as Al-Shabab could carry out attacks in “solidarity” with Hamas after the Palestinian militant group’s bloody assault on Israel.
The East African country has suffered a number of attacks carried out by the Somalia-based Al-Shabab since sending troops into its neighbor in 2011 to battle the Al-Qaeda-affiliated militants.
“Conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza impacts global security,” Kenya’s counterterrorism police service said on X, formerly Twitter.
“Terror groups like Al-Shabab may conduct attacks in solidarity with Hamas to remain relevant.
“Kenyans need to be vigilant & report terror activities to police for action,” it added.
Al-Shabab, which has been waging a deadly insurgency for more than 15 years against Somalia’s fragile central government, issued a statement on Wednesday praising the surprise weekend assault by Hamas.
Hamas gunmen killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 150 hostages. Israel has retaliated by raining air and artillery strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza for six days, killing over 1,350 Palestinians.
The Kenyan foreign ministry on Saturday said it condemned “in the strongest terms possible, the unprovoked attack by Hamas militants on the people of Israel.”
“This egregious act of violence, has not only disrupted the fragile peace in the Middle East but also poses a significant threat to global peace and security.”
President William Ruto urged both sides to refrain from further violence.
Kenya is a major contributor to the African Union force backing Somalia’s central government in Mogadishu in its fight against Al-Shabab and has suffered a string of deadly retaliatory assaults.
The country last month marked the 10th anniversary of a siege at the upmarket Westgate shopping center in the capital Nairobi in 2013 that killed 67 people.
Two years after Westgate, Al-Shabab fighters attacked Garissa University in eastern Kenya, killing 148 people, almost all students.
It was the second most deadly attack in Kenya’s history, surpassed only by Al-Qaeda’s bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi in 1998 that killed 213 people.
In 2019, Al-Shabab gunmen killed 21 people at the upscale Dusit hotel complex in Nairobi.
In 2002, an Al-Qaeda suicide car bombing at an Israeli-owned resort hotel near the Indian Ocean port city of Mombasa killed at least 13 people, including three Israelis, while an Israeli jetliner narrowly escaped a missile attack on takeoff from Mombasa airport.
Kenya warns of risk of ‘solidarity’ attacks over Israel-Hamas war
https://arab.news/wabz9
Kenya warns of risk of ‘solidarity’ attacks over Israel-Hamas war
- “Conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza impacts global security,” Kenya’s counterterrorism police service said on X
- “Terror groups like Al-Shabab may conduct attacks in solidarity with Hamas to remain relevant”
Brazil’s Lula urges Trump to treat all countries equally
NEW DELHI: Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva urged Donald Trump on Sunday to treat all countries equally after the US leader imposed a 15 percent tariff on imports following an adverse Supreme Court ruling.
“I want to tell the US President Donald Trump that we don’t want a new Cold War. We don’t want interference in any other country, we want all countries to be treated equally,” Lula told reporters in New Delhi.
The conservative-majority Supreme Court ruled six to three on Friday that a 1977 law Trump has relied on to slap sudden levies on individual countries, upending global trade, “does not authorize the President to impose tariffs.”
Lula said he would not like to react to the Supreme Court decisions of another country, but hoped that Brazil’s relations with the United States “will go back to normalcy” soon.
The veteran leftist leader is expected to travel to Washington next month for a meeting with Trump.
“I am convinced that Brazil-US relation will go back to normalcy after our conversation,” Lula, 80, said, adding that Brazil only wanted to “live in peace, generate jobs, and improve the lives of our people.”
Lula and Trump, 79, stand on polar opposite sides when it comes to issues such as multilateralism, international trade and the fight against climate change.
However, ties between Brazil and the United States appear to be on the mend after months of animosity between Washington and Brasilia.
As a result, Trump’s administration has exempted key Brazilian exports from 40 percent tariffs that had been imposed on the South American country last year.
‘Affinity’
“The world doesn’t need more turbulence, it needs peace,” said Lula, who arrived in India on Wednesday for a summit on artificial intelligence and a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Ties between Washington and Brasilia soured in recent months, with Trump angered over the trial and conviction of his ally, the far-right former Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro.
Trump imposed sanctions against several top officials, including a Supreme Court judge, to punish Brazil for what he termed a “witch hunt” against Bolsonaro.
Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years in prison for his role in a botched coup bid after his 2022 election loss to Lula.
Lula said that, as the two largest democracies in the Americas, he looked forward to a positive relationship with the United States.
“We are two men of 80 years of age, so we cannot play around with democracy,” he said.
“We have to take this very seriously. We have to shake hands eye-to-eye, person-to-person, and to discuss what is best for the US and Brazil.”
Lula also praised Modi after India and Brazil agreed to boost cooperation on critical minerals and rare earths and signed a raft of other deals on Saturday.
“I have a lot of affinity with Prime Minister Modi,” he said.
Lula will travel to South Korea later on Sunday for meetings with President Lee Jae Myung and to attend a business forum.
