Terrorism in Kenya fails to deter church-planting strategy

Not long ago, Non-Government Organizations saw Kenya as a safe place to establish a beachhead for projects in the surrounding countries.

To some degree, that remains true, as Kenya provides ready access to hotspot areas and has a reliable infrastructure. However, there is rising concern over the recent increase in attacks by Al-Shabaab in northern Kenya.

They’re an extremist group running raids between the border of Kenya and Somalia. Under the evaluation of the Fragile State Index (formerly the Failed State Index), Somalia ranks number two on the list due to the lack of a functioning government.

FMI’s Bruce Allen explains the lawlessness and piracy issues neccesitated a response. “There is a multinational peacekeeping force on the ground in Somalia, trying to keep the peace between rival warlords; terrorist groups like Al Shabaab, which is an offshoot of al Qaeda. Kenya is a part of that multinational peacekeeping force.”

The warlords and terror groups running rampant in Somalia want the peacekeepers out, Allen says. “Kenya happens to be a real easy target because they neighbor Somalia, so there’s that proximity so that they can launch attacks and raids across the border into neighboring Kenyan counties.” Al Shabaab’s goal is to motivate Kenya’s government to withdraw peacekeeping forces from Somalia. Kenya wants to stabilize the region.

Source: MNN Online