Home Afsomali Slum Gods: The Kenyans Steering Young Radicals Away From Terrorism

Slum Gods: The Kenyans Steering Young Radicals Away From Terrorism

It’s morning in Majengo, a poor neighbourhood of Mombasa. The palm trees and swimming pools of the tourist resorts scattered around the coastal Kenyan city seem a world away from these narrow, rubbish-strewn streets and tin-roofed homes. In a small community centre, a small group sit on the battered wooden benches in the searing summer heat talking of extremism, police violence and gangs – and hope and courage.

Majengo already had a bad reputation before Islamist militants killed 21 in an assault in January on a luxury hotel, office and restaurant complex in the capital Nairobi, 500km away. The neighbourhood has long been known as a fertile recruiting ground for al-Shabaab, the Islamist extremist organisation based in neighbouring Somalia that is responsible for a bloody if intermittent terrorist campaign in Kenya.

The suicide bomber who led the assault in Nairobi has been identified as Mahir Khalid Riziki, 25, from Majengo. Investigators are still trying to understand exactly howhe was recruited, trained and then returned to Kenya by al-Shabaab, an affiliate of al-Qaida.

In Majengo, locals have a good idea how it might have happened. Rukiya, 27, describes how he came close to being recruited. With a group of friends, he attended local extremist mosques that were later shut down by authorities. “We felt [going to fight with al-Shabaab] was a religious duty. We were looking forward to being martyrs,” he said. “My mother did not want me to fight but my father was supportive. Many people I know went to Somalia, but I was lucky. I ended up in a religious school where a different teacher made me realise that my ideas about holy war were all wrong.”

Rukiya is now part of an innovative £2.5m programme run by Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) , a thinktank in London. Most efforts to tackle extremism aim to “de-radicalise” existing militants but these have had only patchy success since they were first pioneered a decade or so ago. The Rusi programme is different. It has its origins in crime prevention and focuses instead on stopping people becoming drawn into extremism. Since 2016, it has funded dozens of mentors in Kenya who work with more than 200 people seen as vulnerable to recruitment efforts and dangerous ideologies. Thirty-two individuals have “graduated” from the programme.

Along with extremism, Majengo also suffers from soaring levels of unemployment, drugs and gangs. Martine Zeuthen, the team leader, said a wide network of social workers, local clerics and teachers referred those thought to be at risk. There are several indicators: a close friend or relative who had joined al-Shabaab, actively advocating violent extremism in the community, membership of a gang or a recent incarceration. Coming from an abusive family, dropping out of school or converting to Islam were also risk factors, Zeuthen said, though of less relevance.

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