In colonial times, their status as native Africans was at best ambiguous and in the run-up to independence, a push towards greater autonomy at the coast and the desire of the Somali population in then Northern Frontier District to join Somalia, heightened perceptions of these communities as traitors to the Kenyan cause. The paranoia of the upcountry elites who took over from the British simply served to reinforce these views. As the report of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission showed, for most of independent Kenyas history, the government has systematically marginalised and oppressed these populations. Its policy towards them has been one of demonisation and collective punishment. It is a history replete with rape, massacres and other human rights abuses, one in which the differences magnified according to frameworks invented elsewhere became defining features of a permanent and necessary hostility. It has to be noted that the same treatment, though not necessarily to the same extent, was meted out to other communities, such as the Luo, who were also perceived as a threat to the Old Establishment. Seen within the context of this history, the current administrations actions are perhaps not surprising. Today the language of counter- terrorism is being employed to continue this tradition of dehumanisation and delegitimisation. It is a tradition that allows Kenyans to identify with the tragedy and triumph of baby Satrin Osinya while remaining blind to the suffering of Somali infants spending their nights in police cells. Refugee has been made synonymous with illegality and terrorism, with a status undeserving of rights. Like the Kenyan Somalis and the Muslims of the coast, their presence has been shown to be merely tolerated rather than accepted, and deeply suspect to boot. In these populations, as marginalised at the centre as they were in the periphery, the government has found a convenient scapegoat for its failures. According to a report titled Kenya and the Global War on Terror by Samuel Aronson of the London School of Economics, The current anti- terrorism strategy in Kenya neglects the history and geopolitics of the nation and is thus flawed in its most basic capacity. But I think the reality is a lot more sinister. The government doesnt ignore this history. It exploits and fortifies it. What it deliberately ignores is that Wahhabism is being rejected by most Kenyan Muslims and that of the roughly 200 mosques in Mombasa, maybe five [can] be considered extremist. What it is unwilling to acknowledge is the difference between radicalised terrorists and theologically conservative Muslims, or that the predominantly Sunni coastal population takes issues with Shia and Wahhabi foreigners who, according to many on the coast, lure the lesser educated and financially needy Africans away from the true faith. It is more convenient to believe the coastal [and Somali] population is mainly terrorists. That makes it easy to distract from the real failures - corruption and incompetence. Counter-terrorism efforts have been more about racial profiling and less about intelligence gathering and actual police work. But worse than that, by following in the footsteps of previous regimes, the government not only makes us all less safe, it perpetuates the very logic of exclusion that led to the terrible events in Rwanda 20 years ago.
Posted on: Tue, 15 Apr 2014 19:15:28 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015