Somalia: Male Power, Insecurity, and Inequality

The Rift Valley Institute published in March 2017 a briefing paper titled "Somalia: A State of Male Power, Insecurity and Inequality" by Judith Gardner and Judy El-Bushra.

The study identified kinship after 1991 as an organizing force for state-building and security in Somalia. Male domination of government and politics has become more entrenched. Accountability is between the individual male leaders and his close kinsmen who promoted him on the expectation of personal gain, creating a new dominant form of masculinity based on wealth and control of resources.

Teaching Anti-extremism in Kenya

The New Yorker published on 26 May 2016 an interesting if pithy piece titled "Teaching Anti-extremism in Kenya" by Alexis Okeowo. It looks at an effort in Eastleigh (a heavily Somali-inhabited section of Nairobi) to deal with the issue of extremism at a boys' secondary school.

Nairobi's Little Mogadishu under Siege

Foreign Policy published on 14 April 2015 an article titled "Little Mogadishu, Under Siege" by Amanda Sperber.  The author argues that in the wake of the Garissa University attack, Somalis living in the Eastleigh neighborhood of Nairobi are caught between an increasingly indiscriminate al-Shabaab and a heavy-handed Kenyan police force. 

The Somali Factor in Urban Kenya

The Rift Valley Institute in Nairobi, Kenya, published in March 2015 a summary of conference results titled "Eastleigh and Beyond: The Somali Factor in Urban Kenya."  The conference took place in September 2014 in Nairobi.

Key points included the realization that Nairobi's Eastleigh neighborhood hosts one of the largest ethnic Somali communities outside Somalia.  It includes Kenyan Somalis as well as those who have migrated from Somalia.  With the rise of al-Shabaab, Eastleigh's Somalis are now often associated with terrorism.  In 2014, the Kenyan government targeted Eastleigh in a massive security sweep.  Thousands were detained and an estimated 500 were deported. 

Many Kenyans question  the right of Somalis to live outside refugee camps.  Somalis in Eastleigh, many of whom are Kenyan by birth and descent, resist their narrow stereotyping as interlopers in Kenya and as agents of terrorism and continue to assert their right to live and work in the neighborhood.

Kenya's Roundup of Somalis Likely to Backfire

The International Crisis Group (ICG) published on 16 April 2014 a commentary titled "Losing Hearts and Minds in Kenya" by Cedric Barnes, ICG Horn of Africa project director.  Barnes concludes that Kenya's roundup of Somalis looks like collective punishment of a minority group that will only marginalize and radicalize Somalis.  

Repatriation of Somali Refugees from Kenya

The Mogadishu-based The Heritage Institute published in February 2013 a study titled Hasty Repatriation: Kenya's Attempt to Send Somali Refugees Home.  The report is critical of Kenya's plan to repatriate more than a half million Somali refugees in spite of continuing instability in Somalia.  It also argues that the Somali government is not ready to accommodate all of these refugees.

Kenya, Terrorism, Radicalization and Al-Shabaab

The October 2012 issue of West Point's CTC Sentinel contains two articles on the recruitment and radicalization of youth in Kenya in support of al-Shabaab.

The first article is by Christopher Anzalone, a doctoral student in the Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University, titled "Kenya's Muslim Youth Center and Al-Shabab's East African Recruitment." The article examines al-Shabaab's regional recruitment drives in East Africa and profiles the Muslim Youth Center (MYC), which he believes is probably the Somali militant group's most reliable source of regional foreign fighters. He concludes that one of the MYC's primary goals is encouraging violent action inside Kenya and notes that it has claimed credit for numerous attacks on Kenyan security forces and government targets.

Click here to access the article.

The second article is by Frederick Nzes, a journalist based in Nairobi, titled "Terrorist Attacks in Kenya Reveal Domestic Radicalization." The article details recent terrorist attacks in Kenya and identifies the factors behind the radicalization of Muslims in Kenya. Nzes concludes that as al-Shabaab continues to weaken in Somalia, the Kenyan government must also focus on finding suitable approaches to deradicalize the small number of Muslims who have been lured into extremism and are waging jihad in Kenya.

Click here to access the article.