Kenya 2014 Religious Freedom Report

The State Department has released the Kenya 2014 International Religious Freedom Report.  According to the Kenyan government, Kenya is about 82 percent Christian and 11 percent Muslim.  There are also small minorities of Hindus, Sikhs, and Bahais. 

Religious tensions were high in some areas of the country, usually following attacks by the Somali-based terrorist group al-Shabaab.  Some Muslims, especially ethnic Somalis, stated their communities were the target of government-directed extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrest and detention, and deportation, charges the government denied.  Muslim leaders and human rights organizations stated "Operation Usalama Watch" unfairly targeted Somali and some other Muslim communities.

Responses to Insecurity in Kenya

The Institute for Security Studies (ISS) published in April 2015 a report titled "Responses to Insecurity in Kenya: Too much, Too Little, Too Late?" by Andrews Atta-Asamoah, ISS Pretoria.

Many of the threats to Kenya's security come from criminal groups and armed civilians operating as bandits.  However, since Kenya deployed troops in Somalia to combat incursions by armed groups from that country, chiefly al-Shabaab, attacks on soft civilian targets have increased significantly.  The Kenyan government has announced several initiatives to counter the growing security threats, but none of them has yet been put fully into practice. This report examines the nature and potential effects of these initiatives. 

Kenya, Extremism, and Domestic Politics

The Nairobi office of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) published an analysis on 4 July 2014 titled "Politics and Terrorism: Kenya's Ticking Time Bombs" by Peter Aling'o, senior researcher at ISS.  He argues that Kenya's response to recent terrorist attacks in Kenya's coastal region where al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility is becoming mired down in domestic political in-fighting. 

Foreign Affairs published on 9 July 2014 an analysis titled "Kenya Divided: Why the Showdown between Kenyatta and Odinga Is Empowering al-Shabaab" by Paul Hidalgo, an analyst of politics and extremism in the Horn of Africa.  The author makes an argument that is similar to the one made by Aling'o.  You must subscribe to Foreign Affairs to see the entire article or you can register for free to receive up to three articles.

The weekly radio program known as Global Journalist, an NPR affiliate out of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, did a half hour program on this topic on 10 July 2014.  The panelists were Uduak Amimo, who has a radio show in Nairobi, Harrison Misiko, former editor of Kenya's Daily Nation and currently with the Washington Post, and myself.  Click here to access the program.