Your trusted source

Press TV has talked with Agnes Gitau, with the Kenya Movement for Democracy from London, to discuss the deadly shopping mall incident in Nairobi.

- Your perspective? Are you surprised that this attack has taken place in Nairobi?

- Of course I am very surprised. Nobody expected to be attacked. Kenya is not an enemy to anybody. What Kenya did in 2011, we did not go to Somalia to please anybody. We went to Somalia because our security was under threat, Kenya was attacked, our tourists were attacked so intervention in Somalia, I want to clarify, was not by any way to please anybody. No! but it was to defend our land this is a surprise; it is absolutely, absolutely surprising, I have spent sleepless nights.

That mall became our local hangout in July, when I spent about six weeks in Nairobi, this is a place where Kenyans, rich and poor, go to do their daily shopping.

This is cowardly, if the people responsible for this want to engage in war, you do not target innocent people, children. I do not think that there is any religion that condones this. Life cannot be so cheap. You have seen the pictures, the pictures are moving, they are shocking, I cannot believe to this moment that this is my country. This is the city that we love.

Nairobi is a hub to the African continent; Nairobi is home to thousands and thousands of diplomats.

We are hospitable, we are welcoming, not only to Westerners but also to Somalis. Remember Kenya hosts over half a million Somalis in our land. We took them we gave them homes. We have naturalized most of them. We have actually made the situation in Somalia stable and we did not go to Somalia, just to make a point, to support the Somali government. No! Kenya moved to Kismayo because we were under threat.

- You said that no one expected; of course who would expect this type of terrorist act. However al-Shabab had threatened the government in Kenya, are you surprised by the lack of security especially that this mall is frequented by foreigners, expatriates and as you said regular Kenyans but it is in upscale neighborhood and also frequented by diplomats. Are you surprised that the security had not beefed up and that it is taking so long, actually, to be able to get control over the mall again?

- You know, the operation currently going on is very delicate. Our first priority is to ensure that those, who are still being held hostage, come out safely, come out alive, if we can. You know, you are not in that situation, it is very difficult to comment on the ongoing operation but let me clarify which country, which nation, which leader will put his own people at risk to please Western allies? I completely disagree with my guest (colleague) in Detroit that according to WikiLeaks that this operation was preplanned for Kenya to go into Kismayo.

In 2009 Kenya raised an alarm saying that we are going to close the borders, the international community begged Kenya not to close... Kenya said we are going to close the borders because that we are weary of insecurity; that the refugees and the people who came from Somalia, we could not be able to determine who are genuine refugees and who are militants and the response was, Kenya was a signatory to the United Nations treaty whereby you help fleeing refugees. So Kenya raised an alarm as early as 2009 not because we were very excited at wanting to please anybody but because, as I said, our borders and our country was under threat and I think that it is our right to protect our nation, our people and prior to going to Kismayo in 2011, there were various attacks. Tourists were kidnapped and they targeted the core course of income. Kenya is a tourist destination. The economy depends highly on tourists. So attacking tourists means obviously that you are disabling us.

So of course I am surprised. Kenyans are good people. We do not want to harm anybody and a threat on Kenya is a threat on international peace… and I want to say that we have really appreciated the good will of our people.

Forget about politics, innocent people, children, mothers, fathers, innocent people, have died. You know, nothing can justify that. No political gains, no association, can justify what has happened in Kenya.

- As our guest in Detroit said, everyone is sad by the situation and the loss of lives in Kenya; how likely though as you said these are innocent people, innocent children, women and men but it would not be the first time, not only in Kenya and other parts of the world, that people are used as pawns in a political game?

With this situation being that we talked about Kenya’s involvement, how likely, though, is this? If Kenya was not involved in the situation in Somalia, that perhaps this would not have happened.

- In 1998 the US embassy in Nairobi was attacked …Kenyans were killed. Kenya was not in Somalia then; Kenya was still home to thousands of Somalia refugees. That was in 1998, this (now) is 2013.

So militants will attack an open and united society, it does not mean it is Kenya, it could happen anywhere in the world.

We need a political discuss, how do we deal with the issues, what makes young men and women join militants, why do these happen? Most of them are poor people, who have no ends, they have no way of getting a livelihood, a decent livelihood.

It is a delicate situation. I am sorry, I am a bit emotional because this is too close to home like it was in 1998 and once again because of us being hospitable we choose to live our lives the way we want. We fought for our independence so that we can lead our nation the way we want. We are not being dictated to by anybody, we choose who are friends are and I think that should be a natural thing. So the al-Shabab should not punish Kenya because we have allies across the globe.

We have allies in the Middle East, we have allies in Asia, because Kenya is an independent and a sovereign, open, society. So we should be allowed to lead our lives and choose who we want to relate with, who we want to trade with. You know, we have seen delegations from Africa looking for foreign direct investment, we asked who would come in first, so it does not matter who owns the Westgate Mall and I want to specify one thing that earlier this year, I attended a conference in Nairobi, whereby Somali businesses who actually contribute to Nairobi economy, were discussing the way forward to an economic dialogue in Somalia and there was a very positive environment. And that is what I want to see.