Kenya: Terror attacks could be linked to religious and ethnic tensions

The attacks occurred shortly after 10am local time as prayer services were in progress at the African Inland Church (AIC) and the Catholic cathedral in the town. All 17 deaths occurred in the AIC church.

The government announced it was sending 700 more police officers to the area to beef up security. Senior police officers and government administrators were transferred – without any explanation as to how that would improve security for the residents.

Kenya at the weekend was a veritable police state. Officers mounted security checks at most churches in towns around the country, frisking worshippers before they entered. Church leaders had castigated the government for not taking security around churches seriously.

The twin attack has been attributed to the armed Somali Islamist group Al Shabaab, which the Kenyan military has been pursuing inside Somalia since last October. Over 4,600 Kenya Defence Forces troops are in Somalia, but now under the African Union force, AMISOM.

All the grenade and gun attacks that have occurred in Kenya, many of them in Garissa, over the last nine months have been attributed to Al Shabaab, although only one person has so far been convicted of belonging to the terror group.
Often, suspects arrested after an attack are arraigned in court and then released for lack of evidence. But police persist in giving unconvincing assurances that the people are safe.

The line trumpeted by the government, politicians, religious leaders and the media here is that Al Shabaab want to provoke religious turmoil between Muslims and Christians. Muslims comprise about 10 per cent of the population, while most Kenyans are either believers in African religion or Christianity (often both).

But with the attacks in Garissa questions have emerged over the past week about whether, indeed, Al Shabaab are solely responsible for all the attacks, mostly targeting churches and entertainment spots – which are patronised by Christians.

The Catholic bishops of Kenya issued a statement condemning the acts of violence but wondered why churches were targeted.
‘While reaffirming our belief that this is not a religious war, we are disturbed that the attacks were carried out in Christian churches,’ the bishops said. It was the first time church leaders were openly suggesting that the attacks might have a religious element that has nothing to do with Al Shabaab.

And then a day after the incident, the Star newspaper quoted anti-terrorism police as saying that Al Shabaab might not have been responsible for the attacks, after all.

The paper said: ‘Anti-terrorism investigators have ruled out the involvement of Al Shabaab in the Sunday attacks on two churches in Garissa. They are now focusing on fresh leads that the attacks were motivated by either local tensions between Muslims and Christians, or a politically motivated crime.’

The attacks have caused panic among non-indigenous residents of Garissa who fear that they are being targeted, the paper reported. ‘James Mwangi, a tuk tuk driver in Garissa, said they had lately witnessed a lot of hostility from residents based on their religion and for being non-Somalis.’

It is something that few people would like to admit. Nearly everyone routinely talks about how peaceful Christians and Muslims co-exist in Kenya. Yet, evidently, all is not well.

Garissa is mostly a Muslim town but in recent years, it has witnessed an increase in the number of Christians, especially those belonging to evangelical groups.
Evangelical preachers typically deliver caustic sermons peppered with disparaging references to other churches and religions. AIC, which was attacked in the latest incident, is an evangelical church.

In 2006, Hope FM, an evangelical radio station in Nairobi, was petrol bombed by masked armed men, suspected to be Muslim militants, who entered the premises and shot dead one of the guards manning the main gate and injured two others.
The attack followed the airing of a controversial episode of a weekly radio programme focusing on Islam and Christianity.

Sources tell Pambazuka News that Christian-Muslim tensions in Garissa are common knowledge. On some occasions Muslims have disrupted Christian open-air prayer rallies, alleging offensive sermons.

There have also been claims of Muslims sending their children to throw stones on the tin roofs of churches during prayer services. So, at any one time there are religious-based tensions between Muslims and Christians in Garissa.

Muslims are not only angered by fiery sermons against their religion but also fear that Christians are engaged in aggressive proselytism.

They also see Christians as part of the political architecture that has marginalized Muslims since independence. Kenya’s three presidents as well as most senior public officials have all been Christian. Northern Kenya and the Coast, where many people are Muslim, have been neglected by successive governments.

‘There are always tensions between Christians and Muslims,’ a Kenyan journalist with considerable experience in the region said. ‘Muslims are uncomfortable with Christians whom they see as spies or agents of the West.’

But the tensions in Garissa are not only religious; they are ethnic based as well. Garissa is inhabited by ethnic Somalis, but recent years have witnessed an influx of people from other communities in Kenya, especially Kambas from neighbouring Eastern Province. It is instructive that 14 of the 17 people killed in the recent attacks were Kambas.

In a newspaper commentary last week, Hassan ole Naado, the CEO of Kenya Muslim Youth Alliance (KMYA) and deputy secretary general of the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (SUPKEM) wrote that:

‘But as we condemn this senseless attack on innocent people who had presented themselves before the mercy of God in prayer, there is a growing feeling, and justifiably so, that some people might be intending to cleanse Garissa of people from other parts of the country.’

This view echoes sentiments expressed at a peace and security forum organised by KMYA and SUPKEM last December. A report of the forum, referring to frequent grenade attacks, noted that:

‘While security agencies have been quick to link the attacks with Kenya’s military operation in Somalia, several stakeholders believe that there could be more than meets the eye.’

One of the concerns raised at the forum, according to the report, was that the attacks targeted a particular group:

‘KMYA has noted that if this wave of attacks against perceived “outsiders” in Garissa is not addressed, it could easily escalate into a full-blown inter-ethnic [and"> inter-religious conflict in Kenya.’

Knowledgeable sources speaking to Pambazuka News confirmed that this indeed is the case.

Ethnic Somalis are worried about the growing population of ‘outsiders’ in Garissa, attracted by economic opportunities arising from infrastructural development in the region.

There have been bloody conflicts over the sale of land to ‘outsiders’. In November, leaflets were dropped in the town by unknown people threatening the new landowners.

Kenya is heading to another hotly contested election, possibly next March. Ethnic Somali politicians are said to be concerned about the political implications of the votes of ‘outsiders’ in Garissa.

‘In the last two general elections, similar attacks were witnessed within the area,’ a source said.

So, why is Al Shabaab always blamed for the violence even when some evidence appears to point elsewhere?

First, the government is careful not to change the narrative about the military adventure in Somalia, which is part of the Western-backed ‘war on terrorism’ in eastern Africa. To sustain Western interest and support, Al Shabaab must be portrayed as a powerful terrorist network that threatens not just Kenya but the entire region and the Western interests therein. This is the same narrative used to justify the Western-backed plan to create a pliant state in southern Somalia called Jubbaland.

Second, Kenya’s military incursion into Somalia is illegal, as it was not approved by parliament as required by the constitution. All the propaganda since the invasion last October has sought to silence critical debate by justifying the decision. To turn around and admit that Al Shabaab might not be entirely responsible for the grenade and gun attacks in the country, that the violence could be linked to internal conflicts, would open the government to blistering criticism about the justification for going to war inside Somalia.

And lastly, some commentators have linked the decision to go to war with the elections next year. Military expenditures are not open to any kind of public scrutiny in Kenya. Analysts think some powerful people could be making money through irregular deals connected to the war against Al Shabaab to finance the campaigns.

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* Henry Makori, a Kenyan journalist, is editorial assistant for Pambazuka News.
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