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Not immune to terror
Somalia, Kenya and their neighbouring countries are increasingly being haunted by extremist violence. This essay assesses why this region has become a hotbed of Islamism and why one-dimensional military interventions by external forces have not delivered the desired results. By Emmanuel Kisiangani
In eastern Africa, the Islamic faith has been used for political purposes for a long time. Muslim groups were active in various movements, including the mostly secular liberation struggles against the colonial powers in places such as Tanzania (then Tanganyika), Sudan and Somalia.
In national politics, adherence to a particular faith often defines allegiances and roles in politics. In a short essay of this kind, however, it is impossible to convey the entire complexity of the matter. This essay is, therefore, concerned with a more recent phenomenon of political Islam in eastern Africa: violent extremism, which will be called Islamism here. Its intolerant ideology i