12 Kenya Telecommunications Masts Destroyed by Terrorists, Signals Increased Targeting of Critical Infrastructure and Exploitation of Political Terrorism by Hormuud Telecom.

Insight

• The Republic of Kenya, a powerful East African democracy, has lost 12 critical telecommunication masts and BTS to terror attacks conducted and claimed by the Al-Qaeda branch in Somalia, Harakat Shabaab Mujahideen (HSM), in the past 6 months. Within the context of risk, terrorist attacks targeting critical infrastructure (in this case, telecommunications assets, systems, and networks) along the Kenya-Somalia border are at all-time high, posing a direct threat to security and economy of the Republic of Kenya besides Somalia.
• Executives of Mogadishu, Somalia based telecommunications company, Hormuud Telecom, a company largely owned by Kenyans and some members of the Somali diaspora, issued a statement claiming unidentified military units of Kenyan troops in Somalia destroyed its communications tower, BTS, and entire structure at Aws-Kurun village in Gedo prefecture. The company did not reference Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) rather ambiguously blamed non-specific army troops, making the claim incredible.
• S.I reports on the latest attack by Al-Qaeda branch in Somalia, Harakat Shabaab Mujahideen (HSM) on various critical infrastructure in what seems to be keeping its promise of extensively revenging the attacks on New-Zealand Mosques earlier this year. It’s a drumbeat of terror, slowly increasing, rooted in Somalia’s large and rapidly growing population.
• Intelligence officials view the increased targeting of telecommunication masts along the border as both subversive and sociopolitical activity by either, a non-state or state actor originating from Somalia. While Shabaab Mujahideen terrorists issued warning early this year urging fighters to target critical infrastructure in retaliation to the New-Zealand terrorist attack that targeted a Mosque, the attacks bear the insignia of both non-state and state sponsored terrorism. Often, non-payment of protection fees prompt the terror group to aggressively confront companies leading to destruction of property and in other cases, loss of life.

Analysis

 

“Terrorism: The unlawful use of violence or threat of violence …to instill fear and coerce governments or societies in pursuit of goals that are usually political.”

The claim by Hormuud Telecom is not only an act of terrorism but an affirmation of its involvement in both transnational and political terrorism targeting the Republic of Kenya with tactic support from FGS. It is a big day for political terrorism, with wins for the terrorists in Somalia and away. On the other hand, Shabaab has audaciously and consistently issued statements claiming destroying telecom masts located in frontier villages belonging to giant Telco, Safaricom.

The community involved in managing risks to critical infrastructure is wide-ranging, composed of partnerships among owners and operators; State, local, tribal, and territorial governments; regional entities; non-profit organizations. The terrorist attacks occurred against the backdrop of a complex political situation in Somalia besides a vital social process in Kenya, the National Census exercise. Should the trend continue, Kenya, may push for better controls on the border as redress. 

Somali National Intelligence Agency (NISA) linked Hormuud Telecom to both the Federal Government and Shabaab Terror group. In its intelligence reports, NISA Claims Hormuud is an FGS and HSM paymaster. It also provides communications solutions to aid organizations. As stakeholders these organizations besides public and local security, haven’t provided insight on the destruction of the Hormuud infrastructure, further making the claim incredible. NISA has questioned why FGS allowed Hormuud Telecom to issue a statement affronting a foreign and sovereign neighboring country since it’s a direct threat on Somalia’s national security and diplomatic ties.

Perhaps the attackers’ original intention was probably to conduct a disruptive attack in the area to influence the outcomes of census process in the NEP region of Kenya, an area where Somalia’s clan politics often play out, or maybe, sought to exacerbate the already bad maritime conflict between the two neighbors. We expect the players both in and outside Somalia to tone down their heated rhetoric about the incident, and hopefully, unwound their narrow perspective. Such narrow views can factor bilateral frictions with catastrophic ramifications.

Developments in terrorism are driven by various factors and the events along the Kenya-Somali border are interesting nodes in review. Some drivers, such as ideology and politics, are inherent to terrorism, and S.I strongly links both ideology and Politics in the recent events. Political developments is also a driver of terrorism and can work to increase the terrorist threat, an outcome well reflected in the terrorists propaganda as they criticize the conduct of target governments. Hormuud Telecom has been adversely mentioned as a sponsor of terrorism, both directly and indirectly. The company also funds FGS, directly and indirectly subsequently directly linking it to possible acts of political terrorism. The publicizing and subsequent sensationalizing of the destruction of its mast in Gedo region is an act of political terrorism.