In a single day of brazen and senseless killing, we have
lost 147 innocent bright young lives. Lives whose only mistake was seeking a
bright future for themselves and their country. If the magnitude of this attack
is yet to register in your mind, please just close your eyes and count 1..2…3..4…5
to 147. It is just mind boggling and
devastating. The attack was claimed and bears all the hallmarks of the militant
group Alshabab.
Alshabab are cowards. They always go for soft targets.
Targets that are innocent and defenseless. If they are men enough, they would
have attacked the military barrack that is less than 2kms from the university.
But they won’t although it seems the entire country called Kenya is now a soft
target for them. We need to ask why always us? We have lost count of the number
of attacks and lives lost .Ethiopia, Uganda, Djibouti and many other countries
have troops in Somalia. But these countries are safe. Only Uganda had one
attack in 2010 and none since then. Even attacks in Somalia are currently small
scaled and far apart.
Ethiopia is an interesting case Study. In my view,everything
held constant they would have borne the brunt of Alshabab attacks. Ethiopia
played a direct role in the creation of Alshabab. They invaded Somalia and
uprooted the Islamic courts union from power. The ICU was effective in
restoring some semblance of normalcy in Somalia and was peaceful. Alshabab was
a member of this union and consisted mainly of young, violence inclined chaps. However,
they were subdued within the larger group. Once the ICU disintegrated, Alshabab
splintered and became independent to pursue its violent tendencies and lust for
power.
Ethiopia has troops
in Somalia and constantly conducts incursions in to Somalia. Somalia and
Ethiopia have been perpetual enemies long before the colonial era and to date. Majority
of Somalis habour long held grievances against Ethiopia and attacking her would
have given the Alshabab some base support within the Somalis. There are many
insurgencies within Ethiopia. The oromo rebels, the ethnic Somali ONLF and the
Amahras are all seeking either independence or the toppling of the minority
Tigre led government.
All these factors are ingredients for Alshabab to target
Ethiopia. But they can’t because they know better. Ethiopia is a very bad
country to benchmark ourselves against but on this Alshabab menace we must
learn something from them. So what are we doing wrong that others are doing
right? Here are my views.
