Publication: Analysis of the influence of violent extremism in Kenya’s defense policy with Somali
Total Views 15
total viewsTotal Downloads 44
total downloadsDate
2024-04
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Mount Kenya University
Cite this Item
Abstract
Violent extremism has been a problem to Kenya in her efforts to reach sociopolitical height, with
constant attacks from VEG the Al-Shabaab. In order to protect her sovereignty, nations interests it
had to use both soft and hard diplomatic tools and approaches against VEG. Kenya’s tradition of
non-interference in other nation’s affairs, peace-making, peace-building, non-aligned and respect,
changed dramatically in October 2011. The KDF had never gone on an offensive military missions
except for the usual UN Peace keeping mandates. However, with the increase in violent extremism
activities from Al-Shabab. Kenya citing Article 52 of the UN charter, shifted her foreign policies
to protect citizens through military operation in Somalia dubbed “Linda Nchi”, building of Kenya-
Somalia wall, and repatriation of refugees. Thus the justification of the study, the analyze of the
influence of violent extremism in Kenya’s Defense policy with Somalia from 2002-2022.The
research objectives were: how border raids/attacks, how violent extremism financing has
influenced Kenya’s Defense policy with Somalia and lastly how violent extremism has impacted
Kenya’s relations in the international arena. The descriptive research design was used as the
research focused on Audience Cost theory. The study site was Nairobi with the target population
comprising of, Kenya Defence Forces, National Counter Terrorism Centre, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and Department of Immigration officials. The study sampling was through purposive and
simple random sampling methods. The instruments used were, key informant interviews and
questionnaire forms. Data was analyzed by use of NVIVO. This was done by categorizing main
themes, putting each objective to test. The study established that, Kenya’s defence policy with
Somalia was influenced by: Violent extremism financing, cross border attacks / raids and violent
extremism influenced Kenya’s defence policy shift in the International realm. The research
recommended that: Kenya and Somalia governments should have a bilateral agreement on
identification, tracing and profiling of all the legal businesses or illegal sources of finance for
violent extremist group sanctioned and closed down permanently. Formation of drugs enforcement
units within the KDF to control, track and trace drugs and narcotics flow in the country especially,
in the northern and coastal parts of the country. Kenyan and Somalia governments to collaborate
in border security by border monitoring, sharing of intelligence and control the movement of
people to deny entry of violent extremist groups. Use of modern equipment of hi-tech surveillance
and armed unmanned aerial vehicle to secure the vast borderline between the two countries. A
multilateral training and collaboration in the formulation of foreign policy approaches which are
non-militaristic or punitive in nature to the neighboring countries. International collaboration and
benchmarking with other nation states coping with violent extremism, such as the Philippines,
United States of America and France, should endeavor be fostered to come up with the best
solution.
Description
Keywords
Violent, extremism, problem, Kenya