Mario B Posted October 13, 2012 The latest bombing in Kenya's capital spells a foreboding future for resident Somalis. Kenya's Somali intervention in its quest to crush the terrorist group al-Shabaab is producing a potentially devastating dynamic for ethnic harmony in Kenya. For two weeks now, I documented an average of two to three daily articles in Kenyan papers extolling the mighty powers of the Kenyan Defence Forces (KDF) and their defeat of Somalia's al-Shabaab in many parts of Southern Somalia. Nationalistic flashy titles such as "Kenya's Military Has Proven Its Might in Somalia" are found not only in printed news, but also in TV and radio programmes. Juxtapose this to the twin bombs that shook parts of Eastleigh - a residential district in Nairobi - within the span of one hour last night. Unknown persons succeeded in detonating two powerful explosions near the site of another deadly attack less than a fortnight ago. As a Somali who has lived in Canada and the US for over two decades now and who has been fortunate enough not to have personally experienced the nightmare of violence and forced migration of millions of my compatriots, this was the first "lived" experience of terror. This latest bombing took place just a hundred metres from a church on Juja Road that was targeted on September 30 in a different bombing attack, resulting in the death of a child. Fortunately, there were no deaths last night - only a few injuries. The reaction from these explosions amongst the Somalis that I was with - who all fled from their houses and apartments for fear of a follow up bombings - was mostly one of disgust at the perpetrators. Many I have spoken with really expressed a heighted sense of panic about the devastating repercussions that they fear they will face. I heard tremendous distress of bearing the wrath of the Kenyan law enforcement agencies, but also fear of mobilisation of other ethnic groups within the Kenyan mosaic against all Somalis. Link below http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/10/2012101395739742147.html Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mario B Posted October 16, 2012 Apophis;879601 wrote: The KDF did prove its might by systematically defeating Shabab. With a smaller force and resources, they did more in a year than Uganda has done in 5. Ah, the mighty Kenyan army, assisted by the French Navy and airforce, US drones and Israel special forces. Kudos to them though, there was a time, early this year, that I was going to advice Kenya to give up it's standing army ( like Costa Rica) and use those saved resources to provide services to it's citizens. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
