Security scare for Somali president in Kenya

17 Nov 2004 14:38:50 GMT

By C. Bryson Hull

NAIROBI, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Paramilitary troops fired on intruders who on Wednesday tried to break into the Nairobi home of Somalia's newly elected president, still living in relative safety in Kenya because of lack of security at home.

Police said the break-in did not appear to be an assassination attempt on former Somali warlord Abdullahi Yusuf, who has no shortage of enemies from his years as ruler of the semi-autonomous Somali enclave of Puntland.

Police said it was likely to be a burglary attempt -- a more typical problem in crime-ridden Nairobi.

Soldiers from Kenya's elite paramilitary General Service Unit discovered two men trying to dig under the electric fence surrounding Yusuf's new home in the upmarket Kitisuru residential area early on Wednesday morning, police said.

"They were trying to break in at the perimeter fence, and so the guards shot at them and they took off," said Kingori Mwangi, a spokesman for the Nairobi police. The suspects were not captured.

A Reuters reporter in the area heard nearly two dozen automatic rifle shots around 2 a.m., the time of the attempted break-in.

Yusuf has not returned to Somalia since his election by the new Somali parliament in the Kenyan capital on Oct. 10. The date of his return is still not yet set.

"We are very comfortable, confident and thankful to the Kenyan government for the high security level they are granting to his Excellency the president," said Yusuf Mohammed Ismail, Yusuf's spokesman.

Apart from quelling unrest, the General Service Unit provides armed security for visiting dignitaries and Kenyan government ministers.

Nairobi residents normally rely on private guards armed only with clubs since they are not permitted to carry firearms.

The Somali presidential election, along with nearly two years of peace talks that produced it, was held in Kenya because Somalia is controlled by a patchwork of querulous, heavily armed militias.