Since the brutal attack on a university campus in Kenya’s northern town of Garissa, much discussion in local and international media has put an emphasis on the untimely response to the attack by Kenya’s security agencies, and of the general lack of an effective counter-terrorism strategy. I find this disturbing due to the fact that not only does the Kenyan Government failed in employing effective counter terrorism strategies but there have been little support from the international community. Discussions and outcry alone cannot cut it, as that will serve as futile vis-à-vis a challenge to the status quo. The people of Kenya and Nigeria has been crying out for too long and I am tired of seeing them being neglected. When the twelve persons were killed from Charlie Hebdo Satire newspaper in France some time ago, there was an international outcry, a march which attracted leaders from around world, yet during that same time extremist groups killed hundreds in Nigeria and nothing came out of it - imagine that!
Some African countries have been growing economically since recently, while some countries are still lagging - having poor education and health care systems, insufficient resources, lack of jobs and poor political systems. Extreme poverty is dominant in some African countries, where thousands of children died because starvation. Most African countries have failed to be integrated in this globalized and technological world. This has a significant contribution to how some of these countries have been able to effectively employ counter-terrorism strategies as defensive measures. These extremist groups have been shedding innocent blood without a case. If the US is able to Help Iraq and Iran dismantle Isis, why is it that they have not gone to these African countries to offer the same level of help to protect the African people in these countries? Would there need to be a genocide for us to see the threat that these extremist groups such as Al-Shabaab and Boko Haram poses to their immediate environs? Are the African people less than the twelve killed in France? Are these extremist groups considered less of a threat to humanity and human rights than Isis?
How does Al-Shabaab does it? According Ngala Chome in his article "Countering Al-Shabaab’s narrative in Kenya’s fight against extremism" he stated that "Abdirahim’s story teaches us at least three key lessons. First, that the commonly-held belief that Al-Shabaab recruits only from disenfranchised and marginalised youth is faulty. Second, the view that radicalisation happens to someone, rather than it being a process the radicalised actively chooses to participate in. Last and perhaps most important, we cannot persist in viewing Al-Shabaab as an external threat to Kenya’s peace, but as a manifestation of the impact of unaddressed local grievances. It is under the latter context that Al-Shabaab has successfully taken advantage of Kenya’s existing fault lines to draw membership (and sympathy) to its side." I too believe that these groups recruit university students who are specialist in specific areas. I believe that they have an intelligent network consisting of bright minds so the recruiting transcends the mere concept of marginalized youth.
However, is it that its because African countries have not cried for help why none is being offered? I do not believe that the case. Saudi has been helping out Yemen to fight the Houthis extremist group without Yemen asking for help. Whatever the case nay be, the international community has failed miserably, and they should step up and do more for these African nations. Innocent blood is crying out, children, women, men are dying without a cause. While I encourage and welcome the outcries, protests and discussions, I prefer a more practical approach to the situation. In the final analysis, Ngala Chome laid down the following recommendations: "It is this current state of affairs that needs a re-examination, in addition to and in complementing intelligence efforts and effective counter-terrorism measures. Existing fault-lines need to be bridged, historical injustices genuinely addressed; and alliances with respectable members of the Muslim community made so as to promote the already existing form of Islam that has always been peaceful and tolerant. The latter can, and will act as a buffer against growing radical ideologies originating from outside the region."
