Terrorism in Kenya Essay -- A Level Essays

Terrorism in Kenya Introduction Kenya has been the battlefield of tragic terrorist attacks on western interests twice since 1998 – once in 1998 when the US embassy was attacked and a second time in 2002 when a Israeli-owned Paradise hotel was bombed. In 1980, Jewish-owned Norfolk hotel was attacked by the PLO. Every single attack shared a common thread of irony: the majority of the lives lost were Kenyan, even though the ideology behind the attacks suggests that Kenyan and Kenyans were not involved in the political dynamic that precipitated the attacks. The paper seeks to understand the political, social and cultural variables that have thrown Kenya into the geo-political limelight insofar as the so-called ‘War on Terrorism’ is concerned. The paper ends by discussing the security and economic implications of Kenya’s foreign policy positions as they relate to the evolving Middle-East conflicts. Precipitating events The following are the major events that have been categorized as terrorist activities in Kenya. These are the events that actually transpired. There could conceivably be more that were and still are on the drawing board but never executed. In 1976, the famous Entebbe hostage crisis was witnessed in neighboring Uganda. Members of the Baader-Meinhof Group and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) seized an Air France airliner and its 258 passengers.They forced the airplane to land in Uganda. During a 35-minute battle, 20 Ugandan soldiers and all seven hijackers died along with three hostages. when Israeli commandos rescued the passengers. Uganda’s President and dictator Idi Amin arrived at the airport to give a speech in support of the PFLP and supplied the hijackers with extra troop... ... The Daily Nation (Nairobi), 1 December, 2002. [8] â€Å"US War With Iraq Could Be Averted† The East African Standard (Nairobi), March 2, 2003 [9] â€Å"Sudanese plant bombed by Pentagon was civilian† By Sarah Sloan, Worker's World Newspaper www.endiraqsanctions.net/resources/el-shifa.htm [10] â€Å"Sudanese plant bombed by Pentagon was civilian† By Sarah Sloan, Worker's World Newspaper www.endiraqsanctions.net/resources/el-shifa.htm [11] â€Å"The Mombasa Attack could Damage the Process of Tourism Recovery in Kenya† Professor Thea Sinclair and Dr. Guntur Sugiyarto, Christel DeHaan Tourism and Travel Research Institute [12] â€Å"An analysis of reactions to a U.S. government policy regarding compensation for African victims.† by Anthony Kuria, Advocate of the High Court of Kenya, www.africanconnections.com/AnthonyKuria.html