Kenya army is on Twitter, but it’s not sharing much

If you are a journalist, of all the East African armies, Uganda’s is the one you have to like.

The Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) loves to either leak or officially provide information — especially if it has won a good victory or wants to demoralise the enemy with propaganda.

The Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF) will, typically, set up an efficient information operation and give you lots of material, but it will not be dramatic news. However, it will also establish a good leaking network. The problem is that it will be an arms-length operation, so that it can credibly deny it if necessary.

The Tanzania People’s Defence Forces (TPDF) hasn’t been to war since it chased Ugandan military ruler Idi Amin out of power in 1979, so we haven’t seen its propaganda capabilities on display for a long time.

The Kenya Defence Forces (KDF), however, has surprised many with how old school it is in its approach to information sharing. Though it has taken journalists inside Somalia to cover its campaign there, it has kept them safely away from the frontline where the shooting and killing is taking place.

It has reduced the regular press briefings to a drip. And even when it brings the generals out to speak to the media, they give very little away. There are rarely any leaks.

A few days ago a juicy leak came through. The KDF, according to a leading general, has been surrounding the Kismayu port, seen as the big prize in Kenya’s military expedition in Somalia, for several days. According to the general, they have “slowly been closing in the port and the town, and the Al Shabaab militants.”

Not surprisingly, a hint of the squeeze on Kismayu first came on the social media site Twitter, when a tweet suggested that the current pile-up of goods at the Mombasa port is because in recent weeks the KDF had made it too risky for ships to dock at Kismayu.

Kismayu plays an important role in financing Al Shabaab activities, but it’s also a major landing port for East African smugglers, especially Kenyan ones, seeking to avoid high port charges and big bribes in Mombasa and Dar es Salaam ports.

The fall of Kismayu, therefore, could mean that East Africa’s taxmen and women could collect more revenues; but the profits of several businessmen could dip.

I am not sure whether that is a desirable thing. One good thing will definitely come out of it, though.

Kismayu is the main transit point for East African charcoal exports to the Gulf and Middle East states. According to a report last year by the UN news service IRIN, although Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government has banned charcoal, exports had reached their highest level ever. Almost 80-90 per cent of charcoal exported through Somalia goes via Kismayu.

Tree cutting, once a low-tech affair, has become highly sophisticated, and in areas controlled by the militants, tree cover is being slashed at an alarming rate. An activist told IRIN that tree felling in Somalia had become “more dangerous than the piracy problem.”
You might say Somalia’s and East Africa’s trees desperately need an Al Shabaab defeat!

Charles Onyango-Obbo is Nation Media Group’s executive editor for Africa & Digital Media. E-mail: cobbo@ke.nationmedia.com. Twitter: @cobbo3