A farewell to arms: Over 900 Mombasa youth exit extremism

More than 900 youth have been saved from the shackles of violent extremism in Mombasa in the past two years, the Nation has established.

Radicalisation has been a thorn in the flesh of security agencies for more than two decades in the region, once a popular tourist destination but now the epicentre of religious intolerance in the country.

Recruited by fiery Islamic preachers in a predominantly Muslim community, most of the youth end up joining the Somalia-based terror group Al-Shabaab.

But thanks to the development of deradicalisation and disengagement programmes, there’s hope for grieving mothers and families living in constant fear of terrorism and police brutality.

Speaking to the Nation Thursday, Mombasa County Commissioner Gilbert Kitiyo said hundreds of young men have been deradicalised and are now peace-loving, law-abiding citizens.

Non-state actors, such as local youth organisations and human rights groups, have largely been responsible for the transformation.

“Since the beginning of our disengagement programmes, almost 1000 men have been deradicalised. Our methods have been successful. For the last two years, we have had peace in the region. We will continue working hard to end violent extremism,” said Mr Kitiyo.

The rescued youth have been trained in different income-generating activities to make them productive to the society, such as fishing, transport in the boda boda sector and other small-scale businesses.

“We are doing this because we want to stop them from returning to the terror groups. We want to end religious intolerance so that our future generations can live without fear of attacks,” said Mr Kitiyo.

Al-Shabaab, whose activities in Kenya go back to the August 7, 1998 bombing of the US Embassy, has been successful in luring marginalised men due to the high rate of unemployment and historical injustices.

300 Kenyan youths opt out of Al-Shabaab, surrender to security agencies 

Expressing resentment

The youth join the militants to express resentment towards the government, which is blamed for the collapse of economic institutions in the region, a situation that has left many in dire straits.

While Mr Kitiyo admitted that many young people were vulnerable due to biting poverty, he remained hopeful that the change of tack would stop them from embracing radical ideas.

“Our partners had to be creative to counter violent extremism among the youth. We used to arrest them and take them to court, but that didn’t work because it only created more radicals. We had to come up with better ways to give them hope, not to punish,” said Mr Kitiyo.

On political violence, the administrator said most leaders enjoy the support of the youth, but not criminal gangs.

“There are many politicians with youthful supporters but not criminals. We have no evidence they sponsor violence,” said Mr Kitiyo.

He said the government has put in place arrangements to fight miscreants and political elements who may want to either cause mayhem in the campaigns or sabotage the 2022 General Election.

“We are prepared more than ever. We have learnt our lessons. There was unrest in the 2007 and 2013 elections, so we are not just idling. We will ensure everything moves smoothly. I can assure you the 2022 polls will be peaceful,” said Mr Kitiyo.

“We have had meetings with other agencies, such as the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC), and done our mapping in vulnerable areas. We have already started engaging local politicians in meetings.”

The local administration has also registered all men operating boda bodas and tuk-tuks in a bid to curb criminal activities.

“We are aware there are some people using boda bodas and tuk-tuks to commit crime. We have addressed the operators’ leadership and they are helping us with lists of their members as well as identifying the rogue ones,” said the administrator.

Countering violent extremism is the magic bullet in war on terror

Haki Africa executive director Hussein Khalid said violent extremism in the region is driven by historical injustices and a sense of hopelessness due to lack of support from the national government.

“We are united to fight extremism. We are using art to fight this issue. We must save our youth from radicalisation. Enough is enough,” said Mr Khalid.

He blamed it on social media, radical religious institutions and radio programmes.

The National Counter-Terrorism Commission representative, Njenga Miiri, said at least 20 counties are implementing the action plan against violent extremism.