Terrorists have three main objectives; create disharmony, acquire territory and destabilize the government. The terror organization Al Shabaab has not been able to achieve any of these three objectives within the East African region and Kenya in particular. In Kenya, this success against terrorism can be attributed to the mutual cooperative efforts between GoK and the Kenyan citizenry.
From a security perspective; KDF, intelligence agencies and the internal security forces deserve a commendation for their unrelenting efforts in ensuring that Al Shabaab and its affiliates are denied means, resources and territory for carrying out terror activities. The KDF in particular has degraded the overall capacity and potency of Al Shabaab as a standing and cohesive military force.
The intelligence services have conducted effective counter intelligence operations to uncover and smash terror cells and their corresponding terror plans. Using this available intelligence, both the NIS and the military intelligence have been able to avert lots of terror attacks, most of which were never reported in the media.
Unfortunately, some terror attacks were conducted inside Kenya by terrorists who were aided by their local allies and sympathizers. Nevertheless, the Kenyan citizenry showed a high level of patriotic maturity and mutual tolerance by presenting a cohesive front against terror. Al Shabaab has attempted repeatedly to exploit religious sentiments to divide Kenyans but its malevolence has always been forestalled by ordinary Kenyans who have remained solidly united, religious differences notwithstanding.
