Over the weekend, Kenya suffered one of its most devastating Terrorist attacks in the nations history. On a normal Saturday afternoon, an estimated twenty Al-Shabab insurgents entered the "WestGate Mall." Everything after that went to hell. The terrorists started shooting everywhere, "spraying random bullets and aimlessly hurling grenades at shoppers." Shoppers from all ages were gunned down in the merciless attack. Men, women, and children from a select group of ethnicities seemed to be "targeted." After a long siege effort by armed forces, the standoff finally ended early Tuesday morning.
Interestingly, any Muslim who was caught between the gunfire was allowed to leave so that they promised to uphold "Jihad." A remarkable story also was released where a young british boy directly went up to a female shooter and told her she was "a bad person." Surprisingly, this shooter gave the boy and his bewildered sister candy bars and said that "We are here only to kill Kenyans and Americans, not Britons...we are not bad people."
This barbarous attack by Al-Shabab obviously had a clear intention-retaliation against the Kenyans for fighting Al-Shabab in Somalia. Recently, the African Union, with Kenya as a prominent leader, has taken the initiative to rid Somalia of terrorist groups such as Al-Shabab in an attempt to finally stabilize the region. The AU has been successive in driving Al-Shabab out of key fighting zones such as Mogadishu and Kismayo (feats the US could not accomplish during the failed Clinton Operation). But Al-Shabab still thrives outside these major urban zones, and the AU does not have the resources or capability to go after insurgents out in rural areas.
So with this attack, a new question has to be raised...what will Kenya do? Will they retaliate like the US did in its war on terror. Or will they grieve and reform, like the Indians did after the 11/26 attack of Bombay? Time will only tell, but my hunch is that Kenya will increase its operation capabilities within Somalia, and could possibly deploy its armed forces into the region.
But is this the right thing to do? Kenya definitely has the resources to engage in such a conflict as it is one of the booming economies in Africa. But the issue I have with Kenya going into a revenge-like war is the aftermath. Obviously Al-Shabab cannot stand up to a full forced army, but it can definitely use insurgent tactics to harass Kenyan soldiers (much like that of Iraqi insurgents against NATO forces). The real goal of any sort of military operation should be to restabilize Somalia so that when forces eventually withdraw, there will be no room for further breeding grounds for such organizations to spring back up. If Kenya can come up with some post-war restabilization plan then maybe retaliation can be justified; however, the country will need the support of the AU and international community.
What are your thoughts on this complex issue?
Links to sources if anyone is interested!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-24189116
http://metro.co.uk/2013/09/24/british-boy-4-tells-nairobi-shopping-mall-terrorist-youre-a-very-bad-man-4099859/
I had not heard the news of this horrible tragedy until I read your post. I went through some of the news articles for the attack and I am absolutely horrified. My thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected by this terrible act of violence. I am shocked at the scale of this attack and the fact that the terrorists had no mercy over the civilians except for the Muslims. They are now in a very difficult political position. I know that the families of all those affected and many other citizens will likely push for retaliation. At the same time many know the increased economic stress it will put on the country as well as the loss of soldiers. It is never easy to know the correct plan of action in situations like this one. If they go to war they could end up being successfully in a relatively short amount of time or they could be locked into combat for more than a decade to come like the US. I agree with you that they will likely go to way in retaliation for this heinous act. If they sit idly by it could leave the terrorists with the impression that they can act Kenya and its citizens without any repercussions. I will be paying close attention to what happens in the coming weeks to see how Kenya decides to respond.
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