The eighth anniversary of the Westgate shopping mall terrorist attack is a fitting moment to reflect on strides made in defeating Al-Shabaab’s futile attempt at shifting the war on terror frontlines from Mogadishu to Nairobi.
Multi-prolonged approaches by security and intelligence services seem to have given them a grip on the terror networks, disrupting their sleeper cells, recruitment centres and financiers keeping them on the run.
It is also a moment to acknowledge the resilience of Kenyans, as well as the security and intelligence agencies, who have since silenced the bombs, guns and grenades and replaced nerve-wrecking fear of visiting shopping malls with calm and confidence.
The Westgate siege, which killed 75 people and injured 175 others, has a personal dimension for President Kenyatta in that it came barely six months into his presidency. He turned the heat on Al-Shabaab, sparing no effort in policy leadership reforms, funding and equipment, backed by robust diplomatic and intelligence sharing and training synergies with partner nations such as the US, Israel, Britain and also in Africa, pivoting Kenya into a key player in the global and regional efforts to defeat extremist violence.
As if Westgate was not bad enough, on April 15, 2015, another terrorist attack on Garissa University left 147 dead, most of them students, while the January 6, 2019 raid on the dusitD2 complex, Nairobi, claimed 22 lives.
The attacks gave the Al-Shabaab the aura of a formidable foe in its bid to blackmail Kenya from its military intervention in Somalia in 2009, which has been bolstered by Amisom. The terrorists had turned maritime trade along the Horn of Africa and the East African coast a nightmare through piracy and kidnapping of tourists for ransom.
President Uhuru Kenyatta waged a historic diplomatic lobbying that saw Kenya win a two-year non-permanent United Nations Security Council membership in June last year.
In his address to the UNSC in January, President Kenyatta stated Kenya’s agenda in seeking the council’s membership to include “leveraging the knowledge and buy-in of stakeholders closest to crises and supporting the Security Council to strengthen the capacity of state institutions during post-conflict reconstruction as two of the measures that Kenya will support”.
The Westgate anniversary also comes on the heels of the remembrance of the 9/11 attacks, an event that effectively launched the American-led global war on terror. But while the two events are distinct, both are products of the savage actions by Jihadist groups that show no regard for sanctity to human life.
Kenya has garnered unique experiences in fighting extremist violence riding on radical religious teachings. Besides, the resilience of Kenyans has been formidable and their patriotic spirit unwavering in backing government efforts through community innovations like Nyumba Kumi (neighbourhood watch) and embracing intrusive frisking at facilities.
The government has invested heavily in disrupting terrorist financing and thwarting their nefarious activities. A multi-agency security team mandated to drive and coordinate the anti-terror response has been successful in keeping the country secure.
Fighting terror in the 21st Century is a complex affair. The agencies deploy technology in intelligence gathering, analysis and dissemination within a multi-agency context. But extreme ideologies are likely to be around for longer.
Taking a leaf from Israel’s Mossad to be ahead of violent groups in a multi-cultural and multi-lingual environment would help.
It is time local universities set up language study exchange programmes with counterparts in Somalia and Ethiopia. Our huge pool of Kiswahili experts can be deployed to teach Swahili in these countries in exchange for Amharic and Somali languages for Kenyans.
The cultural innovation will not only promotes civilian understanding and cohesion but also help civil authorities to be effective in digital and social media platforms, besides good old street human intelligence gathering where language is a critical tool.
