It may appear to be the concern of Kenya alone but terrorism remained a major security threat in the East African region during 2014 with regional leaders repeatedly calling for a united front against the menace.
No regional meeting - not even the sessions within the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) - have skipped discussing the security concerns, especially following endless attacks by Somali-based Al Shabaab militants against Kenya.
In his numerous visits to the region President Uhuru Kenyatta has emphasized the need for the security agencies in the bloc to tighten their cooperation as well as complement their capacity to respond firmly and quickly to the potential threats.
In his address to Eala here in March as the chair of the East African Community (EAC) Heads of State Summit, the Kenyan leader said modern terrorism knows no boundaries and that the EAC partner states were required to work together.
“Any approach to the problem that concentrates on keeping an individual country safe offers only the illusion of security,” he insisted, attributing growing insecurity in the region to instability in Somalia, South Sudan and the Great Lakes region.
Hundreds of people have lost their lives in Kenya in attacks blamed on Al-Shabaab which escalated after Kenya sent its troops to Somalia in October 2011 to fight the Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents alongside soldiers from Uganda, Burundi and Ethiopia.
Uganda has also suffered from assaults by Al-Shabaab for sending its soldiers to Mogadishu. In July 2010, over 70 people were killed after two popular entertainment centres in Kampala were bombed. The Somali militants claimed responsibility.
Fearing reprisals, Burundi has time and again said it was intensifying security but like Uganda and Kenya, Bujumbura has openly made its position clear that it has no immediate plans to pull out its troops from the troubled Horn of Africa country.
Instability in the countries bordering EAC and hence security threats blamed on elements originating from such countries e.g. Somalia, South Sudan and others has been a matter of concern for some years and there are reasons for that.
Somalia and South Sudan, for instance, have applied to join EAC and for the latter the initial stage for admission into the bloc was about to be finalized with the verification teams already sent to Juba to assess its readiness. Understandably Somalia’s application has not been worked out but during their extra-ordinary summit in Arusha in April, the EAC Heads of State said although Somalia was a regional neighbour, it has been eluded by law and order for two decades.
The on-going bloody conflict in South Sudan, a country which has nearly been given a green light to join the bloc given its growing links to EAC, also raised concerns for the leaders during the summit.
“The growing threat of terrorism means peace and security are critical for regional integration,” the summit resolved, insisting that the magnitude of terrorist attacks the region has endured in recent times called for increased vigilance.
The leaders’ warnings apparently did little to stem the Al-Shabaab forays into Kenya or bring together the warring parties in the South Sudan conflict. Towards the end of the year, Kenya was subjected to a chain of attacks from the militants while South Sudan conflict remained unresolved.
The East African Law Society (EALS), the umbrella regional bar association with an observer status to the EAC, also warned during the year that the growing insecurity in Kenya could have disastrous reprercussions to the business sector in the region.
James Aggrey Mwamu, the President of the Society regretted that terrorism will inevitably increase the cost of doing business in East Africa and dim its appeal as a preferred destination for investors and tourists.
Already the Kenyan authorities have reported a major drop in the tourist arrivals this year with hotel occupancy falling as low as 20 per cent in the coastal regions of Mombasa and Malindi. Negative travel advisories by Western countries have worsened the situation.
Eala, on its part, insists that the much-hyped terrorism threats in the region cannot be well addressed without the partner states Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Burundi and Rwanda expediting the ratification and implementation of all regional peace and security-related protocols and commitment.
There had also been calls on the EAC member countries to ratify the Protocol on Peace and Security in order to ensure its effective implementation. So far, only Rwanda and Uganda have ratified the Protocol.
