Publication

This brief examines the threat the terrorist group Al-Shabaab poses to Kenya and how the Kenyan government, security services and political elite have responded to it. The authors suggest that one year on from the Westgate Mall terrorist attack in Nairobi, Al-Shabaab is more entrenched and a graver threat to Kenya. However, they suggest that this threat comes less from the terrorist cells that carried out the act than from the communal tensions and historic divides that Al-Shabaab has worked to agitate. They also provide recommendations for Kenya's government, political opposition and Muslim leaders on how to improve the country's counterterrorism approach.