The government has directed roadblock personnel to block non-Somalis from using the Elwak-Kotulo route for their own safety. The Daily Nation reported yesterday that armed Al-Shabaab militants stopped a bus from Nairobi to Mandera. They checked the bus for non-Somalis and proceeded to give a lecture to the travellers before letting all of them go. The travellers reported to the police and details of the lecture have emerged as
'preaching'. |
| Photo Credits: BBC.com |
The Al-Shabaab have been targeting non-locals since 2015. Going down in history, this has the echoes of the 1960s Somali Question conflict for the session of the North Frontier District (Shifta War as propagandists call it). I'm not sure if this is just about terrorism for terrorism's sake but I can only speculate.
Remember during the said conflict and in its aftermath, several combatants moved across the border. Also, it's not like Kenya's neighbour has been secure over the years. Years under brutal security apparatus in concentration villages, disruption of the pastoralist life, betrayals among separatists, inter-clan/tribal conflicts, and events such as the Wagalla massacre. It's said that only when the region came under a Somali PC did the brutality from the security apparatus reduce drastically.
This can explain why there seems to be a deep-seated hatred for non-Somali Kenyans among Al-Shabaab militants (who I think are essentially either descendants of former or current cross-border belligerents of the internal and external Kenya-Somali conflicts).
The discourse has shifted from the Greater-Somali union and now self-determination appears as the next agenda purported by the Al-Shabaab and various other groups. Nonetheless, while the region is largely inhabited by the Kenyan Somalis, there are still significant minority groups including Rendille and Borana whose case, fate and security of the country make for the consistent efforts of the government to protect the interests of the people of Kenya.
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