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Al-Shabab attacks put Kenyan government under pressure | Al-Shabab attacks put Kenyan government under pressure |
(about 5 hours later) | |
By attacking a bar in Wajir, a town used by the Kenyan military, and by singling out non-Muslim victims in two brutal attacks near the border with Somalia, al-Shabab is hoping to send a stark, and chilling message, both to the Kenyan Government, and to the public. | |
Al-Shabab labels the presence of Kenyan troops, part of a wider African Union force in Somalia, as an "occupation". | |
It claims the recent air strikes by Kenyan fighter jets on al-Shabab targets in Somali territory amount to "aggression" and have caused "atrocities" among the civilian population. | |
The Somali-based group, which much of the world labels a terrorist group, wants to try and create the impression that the attacks are a direct consequence of the presence of Kenyan troops, and Kenyan airstrikes, in Somalia. | |
But the message from Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta was uncompromising. | |
At one time during his televised address, in language that reminded me of the language of President George W Bush in the wake of the 9/11 attacks in New York, the Kenyan president told his people they were either with his government, or with the "terrorists". | |
Mr Kenyatta said his country was "at war" and fighting a "war on terrorism". | |
His message to al-Shabab was clear: Kenyan troops will continue fighting you in Somalia, and said he would "intensify" the war. | |
Before Kenyan troops were deployed in Somalia in October 2011 there were several attacks in the Mandera region, and other parts of northern Kenya, attributed to al-Shabab. | |
But in the past few days the audacity and brutality of the attacks there has escalated, and so too has the pressure on the Kenyan authorities to prevent further violence. | But in the past few days the audacity and brutality of the attacks there has escalated, and so too has the pressure on the Kenyan authorities to prevent further violence. |
And in the face of such cruel attacks, some people in Kenya will support their government's position. | |
There will inevitably be uncomfortable questions about the effectiveness of the Kenyan military operation in Somalia, and the affect it is having on Kenya's own internal security. | |
And there may now be more calls now for them to pull-out. | |
What's more, the situation in the corner of north-eastern Kenya, near to both the Ethiopian and Somali borders, is not a simple battle between Islamist militants and Kenyan security services. | |
There are also clan-based allegiances within the majority Somali-Kenyan population there, on either side of the border. | |
It is possible that al-Shabab is successfully exploiting tensions and loyalties amongst other militant groups in the region. | It is possible that al-Shabab is successfully exploiting tensions and loyalties amongst other militant groups in the region. |
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