Al-Shabaab Still a Threat To Somalia And Kenya – UN Report

United Nations (UN) experts released a report concerning terror attacks in Kenya and the recruitment of potential Al-Shabaab militia.

The UN report has established that even with beefed up security in Kenya and at the borders, the Al-Shabaab extremists in Somalia are still a major threat to the peace of the region as apart from recruiting more young people, they are manufacturing home-made explosives, getting more funds and infiltrating government institutions.

During their research, the UN experts focused on the terror attack that occurred on the 15^th of January 2019 at Nairobi’s Dusit D2 Hotel that left 21 people and four gunmen dead.

The attack that was claimed by the Al-Shabaab, the UN experts established that it was planned and executed by three Kenyans and two Somalis linked to the Dadaab refugee camp in North Eastern Garissa.

According to the report, Ali Salim Gichunge, a Kenyan born in Isiolo in 1995 was the organizer and coordinator of the attack as he was given wide discretion and autonomy over the particulars of the plot, including selection of the target, something that would otherwise have been done by a Somali operative and overseen in Somalia.

It was also revealed that the attackers obtained a Dadaab identification and ration card number attributed to Abdi through his fingerprint.

Just as Al-Shabaab boasts having more recruits from Kenya, their recruitment is said to take place at the Musa Mosque in Mombasa, which is said to have been a centre of radicalization for a long time.

According to the report, the Dusit attack is an illustration that that the terror group will continue posing a threat to the peace of Kenya and Somalia.

The report, released on 12^th November 2019 also cited attempted Al-Shabaab attacks on the North eastern regions of Kenya in June and July by use of Improvised Explosive Devices (IED), which the experts suspects was an exploitation of the currents strained relationship between the two countries.

Somalia established a functional transitional government in 2013 after years of civil war, extremist attacks and famine and is currently working on stability, but UN advises that the country still has to work on fighting violent attacks and corruption among other things.

UN experts say that governments should remain vigilant as the militia are using new recruitment strategies such as possession of criminal skills and use of m=homemade explosive devices as opposed to when they relied on military-grade explosives.

The Al-Shabaab also enjoy unregulated mobile money and banking services, which enables them to easily transfer money to fund their attacks.