It is reported that the U.S.
Africa Command (Africom) seeks authorization to conduct drone attacks inside
Kenya, against the Somalia-based terrorist group Al-Shabab. If President Trump
and the Defense Department approved the move, that could represent a
significant escalation in U.S. military activities in a region already beset by
a complex history of violence.
The request is reportedly a
response to a January Al-Shabab attack on a US military base located in the
Kenyan coastal county of Lamu (Camp Simpa, Manda Bay) that killed one American
soldier and two U.S. Defense contractors. Approval of the authorization request
would give the U.S. military the ability to conduct drone strikes in Lamu and
Garissa, two-Muslim majority Kenyan counties that border Somalia.
Considering the history of
security agencies’ human rights violations, drones usage risk further deepening
historical grievances in the region. It also comes at a crucial moment for neighbouring
Somalia, which is gearing up for general elections as well as the drawdown of
an African Union peacebuilding mission in the country.
The expansion of drone strikes
into a new country would be a turning point in U.S. military action in the East
and Horn of Africa region. To many analysts, this moves U.S. engagement closer
to a forever series of wars, which have characterized post-9/11 military action
in other parts of the world.
The target counties are at the
center of Kenya’s counter-terrorism efforts. Since commencing, a military
invasion of Somalia in 2011 to curb the threat of Al-Shabab, Kenya has
conducted significant domestic counterterrorism operations in both Garissa,
Lamu and Mandera counties.
Human rights groups in Kenya and
beyond have accused the Kenyan Anti-Terror Police Unit of committing
extrajudicial assassinations, enforced disappearances and torture. Al-Shabab
then used Kenya’s government security practices as recruitment propaganda. In
April 2015, one of the deadliest attacks in Kenya, after the 1998 US embassy
bombing left 148 people, mostly students, dead at Garissa University College.
In 2014, the group butchered at least 48 people in Mpeketoni town in Lamu County.
However, counterterrorism efforts have thus far failed to address historical
grievances and marginalization in northern and coastal Kenya.
In 1963, on the eve of Kenya’s
independence, there was a fierce debate about Northeastern Kenya preference to
unite with Somalia instead of Kenya. Kenya’s independence leaders strongly
rejected any proposals to split this area from Kenya, which led to an
insurgency. This region has a predominantly ethnically Somali population, which
fought to secede from Kenya, with the Somalia government’s help. The new Kenyan
government reacted by declaring a State of Emergency in late December 1963,
just two weeks after independence. Insurgency and counterinsurgency in Kenya’s
Shifta War lasted for at least four years.
Early this year, some of the
politicians, religious leaders and elders from Northeastern region crossed to Somali
for a secret meeting with the Somalia leadership, the details of that visit remain
classified. This invited suspicion from the Kenyan government; the National
intelligence and Criminal investigation directorate summoned the members of
parliament who attended the meeting, who maintained that the visit was a peace
courtesy.
In a recent state visit to
France, Kenya's president Uhuru Kenya in an interview with France24 said his government
is not aware of any drone strike in Kenya. Mr Kenyatta added that he would not sanction
any drone strike on the Kenya soil. Conducting drone strikes in these areas
would probably add another complex layer to an already fragile region.
Ruzeki is a blogger at SHADOW WOKA NEWS,
specializing in politics, internet culture and propaganda, as well as writing
about climate change and other things science-related.
Shadow Woka News is the platform where quality news are
made. An essential source of information and ideas that make sense of a world
in constant transformation.
© 2020 Shadow
Woka News. All Rights Reserved.
fighting is not how we get peace, war is a failure of everything. Therefore, the USA SHOULD &MUST leave AFRICA alone, we don't want endless wars just like the one they've caused in the Middle East...
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree with you more...We need a different approach; TIME of drone strikes and nukes should end!
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