“Terrorism is a global phenomenon.
And it baffles the mind. Unlike crime as we know it—say theft, where a person
steals to gain something— terrorism mostly does not engender material gain and
is mostly precipitated by religious or political extremism.” Mr.
Salem Lorot
The Bard, William Shakespeare, through the lips of Henry in one of
his plays Henry V, tells Gloucester before the battle of Agincourt, “Tis true
that we are in great danger; the greater therefore should our courage be.” In
the same vein, as a country, like Sebastian to Alonso in Tempest, from the
deepest recesses of our being we let out these words: “But one fiend at a time,
I’ll fight their legions o’er.” And fight the legion of terrorism we must—
courageously but intelligently.
Terrorism
is a global phenomenon. And it baffles the mind. Unlike crime as we know it—say
theft, where a person steals to gain something— terrorism mostly does not
engender material gain and is mostly precipitated by religious or political
extremism. It then leads me to ask, “Why should a fellow human kill the other?”
It still boggles my mind how another human would first blow up unarmed,
peace-loving humans then blow up himself or herself. I am still grappling with
these questions.
Mad
Mullah
With
Kenya’s incursion into Somalia,I have taken a keen interest in knowing more
about this failed state. Of Bakol. Hiran. Belet Weyne. Galgadud. Dusa Mareb. Mudug.
Galkayu. Nugal. Puntland. Bulohawo. Digil Mirifle Region. Algoi. Bur. Benadir.
Merca. Of pastoral life of the Somalis. Of Sayyid Mohamed Abdille Hassan
(the‘Mad Mullah’) who led a holy war against ‘infidel’ colonisers—especially Ethiopians
and British. Of the birth of Djibouti in 1977 under President Hassan Guleid. Of
the birth of the Somaliland Republic.
Of
Somalia’s post 1991 political history after the overthrow of President Siyad
Barre by the United Somali Congress (Hawiye) guerrillas. Of the Operation
Restore Hope of 1992 by the United Nations. Of the Transitional Federal
Government since 2005. The reason why I am retreating into Somalia’s history is
to illustrate the point that the fight against terrorism is multi-faceted. In
order to effectively deal with Al Shabaab, we need to understand Somalia and its
nuances in the national psyche. We should feel its pulse at Mogadishu. It
appears that as a country we have a disjointed knowledge of the Horn of Africa
and an ineffective response mechanism for the Somalia question and now the Al Shabaab.
Al-Qa’ida
In
Al-Qaida’s Mis(Adventures) in the Horn of Africa, a project of Combat Terrorism
Centre, there are important lessons to be learnt. The report cites four reasons
why Kenya is a target of terrorists:
1) due to Kenya’s advanced economy and
its long-standing ties with the United Kingdom, United States, and Israel;
2) a functioning Kenyan sovereign
government which limits the operational freedom of Western intelligence and counterterrorism
units;
3)
Kenya suffers from weak governance in a number of critical areas, including security
and the criminal justicesystem. This discourages those Kenyans who might have
relevant information from providing it to the authorities;
4) the
presence of a disaffected minority Muslim population, especially along the Kenyan
coast, provides Al-Qa’ida operatives an environment in which they can operate
with less security pressure than elsewhere in the region. Although the report’s
findings are on Al-Qa’ida, it would be safe to say that the issues enumerated still
apply to the Al-Shabaab. It should be noted that the greatest challenge we face
today in combating terrorism is within our borders as terrorists might find logistical
challenge to wage their unconventional war in Somalia.
The
report observes, “Weakly governed states often provide a more conducive
environment for terrorists. Their sovereignty provides a measure of protection
against strikes by Western forces.” Finally, in our fight against Al- Shabaab,
we need to infuse within ourselves a good dose of patriotism. Our nation needs
it. Direly.
-Mr.
Lorot is a Legal Counsel, National Assembly
No comments:
Post a Comment