20 January 2016•Update: 20 January 2016
By Andrew Ross
NAIROBI, Kenya
Angry and anxious relatives of Kenyan soldiers gathered Tuesday to see if their loved ones were among those killed in an attack by al-Shabaab militants in Somalia.
As soldiers’ bodies arrived in Nairobi following the Friday attack on an African Union base in southwest Somalia, family members concerned about their sons and brothers stationed with the Kenyan contingent flocked to counseling centers in Nairobi and Kisumu Bondo County.
“The government needs to break the silence, they should just tell us if my brother is no longer with us instead of keeping silent,” Seline Oguta, whose brother Wycliffe was deployed to Somalia last month, said.
“My brother is 25 years old and he was sent into the battlefield after just one year of joining the army. I fear that he might be dead.”
Since Friday’s attack, which the al-Qaeda-linked group has said claimed the lives of more than 100 Kenyan soldiers, the army has set up helplines for the families but has yet to name the casualties or release an official death toll.
Oguta said she feared for the worst having been unable to contact her brother. “I have been calling his phone since Friday,” she said, breaking down in tears. “He used to pick up but the phone has been ringing since Friday and no-one is answering. This has never happened.”
The parents of Michael Owino, 22, appeared distraught as they begged security officers for information about their only child.
“My son is very young, very young indeed, I fear that he might have died during the attack,” Nicholas Owino, Michael’s father, told Anadolu Agency.
He said his son had joined the army a year ago.
“We have called his friends,” he added. “No-one has any clue where he is. All that I know is he had been posted to that camp. We spoke to him just a few days before the attack but now our calls are not being answered.
“The Kenyan government should tell us what is happening.”
Holding onto a picture of a young man smartly dressed in military uniform, Margaret Anunda sobbed uncontrollably as she called her son Mohammed’s name.
Accusing the Kenyan government of maintaining a “deafening silence”, she said: “We need to know if our sons are injured and in the hospital or if they died from the attack.
“They always tell us to come back tomorrow -- this is even more painful as we don’t know their fates.”
A defense department source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Anadolu Agency the department had received many calls from concerned family members and were establishing family counseling centers.
The first four bodies arrived at Nairobi’s Wilson Airport on Monday night, where they were met by Defense Secretary Raychelle Omamo and military officials. Around 30 survivors, including the wounded, were flown back Sunday and Monday.
Al-Shabaab, which formed around 2006 in the aftermath of Somalia’s civil war, has claimed to have captured 12 soldiers.
Meanwhile, Kenyan rights group Muslims for Human Rights called on the government to pull its troops out of Somalia.
“The Kenyan government should withdraw its troops from Somalia and spur a public discussion in Kenya that can lead to action towards accountability for the mistakes that have been made,” it said.
The group demanded compensation for the families of killed soldiers.
Kenyan troops have been in Somalia as part of the African Union Mission in Somalia since 2011 following a string of kidnappings and murders by al-Shabaab, which has pledged to continue attacking Kenya until it withdraws its troops.
An attack on a Kenyan university in April last year saw the group killed 148 people.
