Kenya's North Eastern province which immediately borders the conflict-torn Somalia has suffered a wave of attacks which have mostly relied on grenades and makeshift bombs.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
At least 30 people including several policemen have been killed in the towns of Wajir, Mandera and Garissa, all of which lie close to the border with Somalia.
The violence increased in October when Nairobi sent troops into Somalia to battle al Shabaab Fighters. Kenya’s security agencies have blamed the attacks on Al shabaab sympathizers and have intensified security around the country.
Analysts point out the heightened security has caused certain levels of paranoia among many Kenyans. Yet it does not take away from the real concerns raised by the security threat posed by Al Shabaab.
On Christmas day, the 25th of December 2011 worshippers were evacuated from one of the more popular mainstream churches in Kenya’s capital Nairobi due to a bomb scare.
As recently as last week there was a public outcry in Kenya when Kenya’s deputy chief justice refused to be frisked at a high end mall. Security checks in public places, including frisking have become the norm in Kenya due to the increasing number of attacks.
Kenyan troops have entered their tenth week in Somalia increasing airstrikes in the southern part of Somalia. Somalis have in the past claimed that some of the casualties have been pastoralists and their cattle.
However, the Kenyan defense force maintains minimum civilian casualties in most of the airstrikes carried out, and claimed to have killed 60 Al Shabaab fighters in air raids last week.
Somalia has been mired in anarchy for the past 20 years with various foreign invasions. It is believed that there 20,000 independent groups in Somalia, will toppling over a militant group solve the complexities of Somalia?
Many Somalis today believe that Somalia’s problems should be left to Somalis themselves to resolve. However with a nation now almost 100 percent dependent on foreign aid, it remains to be seen if Somalia will ever gain sovereignty back and at what cost?