The word terrorism was coined in the 1790s during
the French Revolution. Then the Jacobin Party executed a reign of terror against
its opponents and used methods including the guillotine.
But for much of the 20th century the
term terrorism was applied to violence aimed, directly or indirectly, at
governments in an effort to influence policy or topple regimes or cause
political liberation; examples include, IRA, ANC and the anti apartheid
movement, Mau Mau, ETA in Spain, secessionist movement in Chechnya, Palestinian
Liberation Organization, the Sikh Punjab, the Ku Klux Klan, American Left-wing
organization- Weather Underground etc.
Iddi Amin’s 8-year rule in Uganda has been
characterized as a reign of terror; his Public Safety Unit and the State
Research Bureau were state sanctioned intelligence death squads; effectively
terrorist organizations.
Hence terrorism can be defined as the use of
violence to advance objectives of race, ethnicity, nationalism, liberation,
religion, power and political ideology. Terrorism has been practiced by private
citizens, political organizations and state institutions such as the police,
intelligence and the army.
But the world and how we understand terrorism was
being re-defined in 1979, when the son of a Saudi construction billionaire
joined the Mujahedeen, along with Pakistanis and Afghanis to fight the Soviets.
In 1998, Osama bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zahawiri, a
surgeon, combined the prodigious wealth of his Saudi heritage with the
formidable philosophical foundation of a leading Egyptian radical Islamist,
Sayyid Imam al-Sharif (Dr. Gadl), and Al-Qaeda was born.
Osama attacked the Saudi Royal family over the use
of Saudi Arabia territory to execute the first Gulf War. He fled to Sudan in
1992, where he lived until 1996, from where he directed the bombing on World
Trade Centre and is he is associated with Black Hawk Down – which persuaded the
US to move out of Somalia.
Bin Laden’s message when US troops pulled out of
Somalia was, “we can defeat this great power because they're not used to
hardship and tragedy, so if we can inflict that they'll retreat”.
Bin Laden moved to Afghanistan to support the
Taliban’s Mullah Omar. He declared American citizens and interests legitimate
targets for attack. De-classified documents show that US State Department
analysts warned the Clinton administration in July 1996 that Osama bin Laden's
move to Afghanistan would give him an even more dangerous haven as he sought to
expand radical Islam.
And we know the story; August bombing of US Embassy
buildings in Kenya and Tanzania; US retaliatory strikes in Sudan and
Afghanistan; September 11 2001, when hijacked planes were flown into the Twin
Towers and the Pentagon.
And the reaction was swift, reckless, and wrong
headed and thoughtless.
On March 20th 2003President Bush invaded
Iraq in a “Shock and Awe” attack, toppling Saddam Hussein. But Saddam's demise
and The mismanagement of the occupation led to widespread sectarian violence
between the Shias and the Sunnis, as well as protracted insurgency against the
US and coalition forces.
Here at home, after the Kibaki government launched
Operation Linda Nchi, Al-Shabaab vowed retaliation against the Kenyan
interest. But we did not listen. Like the US we displayed hubris and
intensified conventional military assaults against “enemy ranks”.
Al-Shabaab has stepped up local recruitment,
creating an active fighting cell referred to as “Kenyan Mujahedeen”, with 25%
of its ranks drawn from recent converts of Islam population. These are largely
poor unemployed disaffected youth, mindless foot soldiers who often blend
easily in the local population.
Since 2011 terrorist attacks on our soil have
escalated. Starting with an attack at Mwaura’s bar on Mfangano Street and
numerous other attacks in Mombasa, North Eastern and in the densely populated,
less affluent neighborhoods. As long as Al-Shabaab was killing and maiming the
ordinary Kenyan it was not a big deal.
But things changed on September 21st
2013, when 69 people were brutally executed at an upscale mall. The Westgate
Mall attack demonstrated the bold resolve and ambition of Al-Shabaab. The
political, business elite and the upper classes of the Kenyan society listened
up.
And, once again we got it wrong. The Kenyan
government rounded up and brutalized innocent Kenyans and executed Muslim
clerics.
And this year, April 2, the beastly attack on
university students underlined the vicious cruelty of Al-Shabaab.
The response this time again was mindless. Close
down Dadaab refugee camp and forcefully repatriate all Somalis by bus back to
their country.
Decades after the US declared war on terror,
Afghanistan is far from stable, Iraq is in a state of collapse; Somalia is
unresolved; Al- Shabaab remains virulent; ISIS is on the march; Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi is the first caliph in generations.
All of this implies that world needs to begin to
understand a new enemy and wage the right war; the war of hearts and minds.
Radical extremism and the new form of terrorism is
not a war in the traditional or conventional sense and cannot be countered
militarily, with armies and airforce and naval fleets.
It requires that we understand and counter the
ideology and the logic of radicalism.
It also requires responses that emphasize
rationality over emotion. The first step to developing rational responses is to
understand the nature of modern radical extremism or modern terrorism.
Military force can be used but only sparingly, and
in support of law enforcement and active and inclusive socio-economic
empowerment of youth and women. There is no psychological pattern of a
terrorist and no single path to radicalization.
Rather, all types of people follow multiple trails
to terrorism. One of the best tools in the anti-terrorist arsenal is to develop
law enforcement agencies that act as extensions of neighborhoods.
And most of all, we must strengthen rather than
alienate civil society organizations from across all faiths. They are the best
weapon we could fashion against extremism.
There is no such thing as ethnic Muslims or ethnic
Christians. We are all Kenyans and the demented ideology of violent extremism
appeals to the most base urges of all humankind.
We are
all in this together and must foster dialogue among communities and transcend
the clash of ignorance and promote interfaith understanding and love.
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