Did KDF Join A Smuggling Ring With Al-Shabaab?

The Kenya Defense Forces, (KDF) has been implicated of smuggling sugar within Somalia worth KSh 40 billion in a new report. 
The same sugar smuggling racket also allegedly helps to fund the militant terrorist group al-Shabaab.
A wide series of allegations against the KDF are outlined by the report. The investigation was carried out over a series of months by the human rights group, Nairobi Journalists for Justice.

“The illicit conflict economy is benefitting both Al-Shebab and those ostensibly opposing them. The corruption and human rights abuses undermine Kenya’s goals in Somalia, provide funds to Al-Shebab, and ultimately result in the deaths of hundreds of innocent Kenyans,” the report states.

The organisation further alleges that officers from the KDF are frequently engaging in corrupt business practices while soldiers are sitting idle.

Obonyo told the AFP news agency in a response to the report: “We are not involved in sugar or charcoal business. How can you sit down with Shebab one minute, and the next you are killing each other?”

Further allegations are leveled against the KDF accusing the force of engaging in a series of human rights abuses in Somalia.

A report by the UN monitoring group released in October of 2015 also referred to possible KDF involvement in illicit sugar rings.
The Kenyan military has been involved in Somalia since entering the nation in late 2011 to combat the al-Shabaab.
The KDF has been accused of committing human rights abuses during their occupation of territory in Somalia.
Since entering the country, the militant al-Shabaab have launched dozens of attacks against Kenyan citizens over the border.
The group gained international notoriety on Saturday, September 21, 2013 when they launched a deadly attack against the Westgate mall in Nairobi. At least 67 people including several children were killed in the attack. More recently the group committed the second deadliest attack in Kenya’s history, storming the campus at Garissa University College.
At least 147 people were killed in the attack.

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