Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta Sacks Police Chief And Minister Over Killing Of Christians By Islamists This Morning

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has replaced
his interior minister and police chief following a
massacre by Islamist group al-Shabab.

The president asked Kenyans to unite, and said:
"We will not flinch in war against terrorists."
Kenya's police chief David Kimaiyo stood down,
while Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku was
dismissed.

Earlier, al-Shabab killed 36 quarry workers in the
north-eastern Mandera region near the Somali
border.
The group attacked the workers around midnight
on Monday while they were asleep in tents at
the quarry in Kormey, 15km (9 miles) from the
town of Mandera.

Non-Muslim workers were shot dead after being
separated from the Muslims.


"This is a war against Kenya and Kenyans," Mr
Kenyatta said on national TV on Monday. "It is a
war that every one of us must fight."

He said Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku had
been fired, and he nominated an opposition
politician and former army general, Joseph
Nkaissery, as his replacement.
The president also announced that he had
accepted Mr Kimaiyo's wish to retire.
Correspondents say both Mr Kimaiyo and Mr
Lenku have been under pressure to resign amid
growing concern over security in Kenya following
a spate of attacks.
"The time has come for each and every one of
us to decide and choose - are you on the side of
an open, free, democratic Kenya... or do you
stand with repressive, intolerant and extremists?