The Kenyan Government launched a new counter-terrorism strategy aimed at addressing the emerging threats and especially challenges facing parts of the country including violent extremism.
The new CT approach aims at strengthening information sharing (especially human intelligence – HUMINT) at the grassroots in regions identified as flashpoints and hotspots for possible recruitment and radicalization by terrorist groups especially members of the Al-Shabaab militant group.
The Kenyan joint counter-terrorism unit lead by Kenya Defense Forces and in partnership with the National counter-terrorism center. The training that also involved groups of law enforcement groups drawn from Kilifi County took place in the same county covered strategies on countering violent extremism (CVE). Similar exercises have taken place in Kwale and Mombasa counties.
According to lead trainer from the Counter-terrorism Unit, Colonel Harun Rashid, the lesson entailed on critical lessons on countering violent extremism and threats posed by Al-Shabaab insurgents. Col. Rashid underscored that the aim of the training is to come up with a unified approach in the fight against the terror threat in the country.
Its notable that terrorism remains a major threat in the country as some of the terrorists are domiciled within communities. Its also notable that youth remain vulnerable and easy prey to the terror agents who recruit terrorists besides radicalise them as the county has a long border with Somalia, the home-base of the Al-Qaeda affiliate, Al-Shabaab.
The trainer noted that insecurity has affected negatively the terrorism sector especially within the coastal regions of the country. NEP Kenya has also suffered brunt from sporadic threat posed by the Islamists Al-Shabaab.
The shared training between the multi-security agencies will bring vital knowledge towards arming the officers with prerequisite knowledge in the war against terrorism.
