Recent terrorism-related incidents in Kenya and Tanzania, according to security analysts, indicate spillover from Mozambique, creating a fresh issue for the region’s security authorities.
A lone shooter, 29-year-old Hamza Hassan Mohamed, killed four people in Tanzania on Wednesday, including three police officers, before being shot dead by police officers. The incident also resulted in the injuries of six other people.
On the anniversary of the killing of radical Muslim preacher Sheikh Aboud Rogo, who was shot dead on August 27, 2012, in Mombasa, police stated they were suspected of intending to blow up multiple installations.
Despite the fact that the two incidents are unrelated, both countries’ security agencies have increased their vigilance, fearing that former violent Cabo Delgado residents are returning to their home countries in East Africa after losing their five-year stranglehold on the gas-rich region.
John Elungata, Kenya’s Coast regional coordinator, stated last week that Muslim clerics must lead the fight against teenage radicalization in order to prevent young people from fleeing to Somalia and Mozambique.
Mr Elungata noted that religious leaders play an important role in preaching against false doctrines such as radicalization, terrorism, violent extremism, and youth gangsterism.
Njenga Miiri, Director of Kenya’s National Counter-Terrorism Centre, claimed that integrating local communities in intelligence collection has allowed Kenya’s National Strategy to Counter Violent Extremism to make significant progress in the battle on terror.
“Preventing and combating violent extremism is a community cohesion issue, necessitating collaboration with them to prevent people from traveling to terror-prone areas. You must approach this not from a security standpoint, but from a social cohesiveness, conflict resolution one, which does not draw an audit question “he stated
Mozambique has been fighting terrorists known as al Shabaab, who have been labeled as Islamic State affiliates by the US.
Terrorists from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Somalia, Yemen, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Rwanda have recently sought refuge in northern Mozambique.
After Sheikh Rogo was assassinated, a number of the youth were said to have escaped to Mozambique via Tanzania’s Kibiti district, where they had established a presence by 2015.
One of the sought men arrested this week, Salim Rashid Mohammed alias Chotara, 28, is alleged to have evaded the police ambush and is suspected of returning to Tanzania across the Lunga Lunga border.
Mr Mohammed was detained and released on bond in Mombasa in 2016 on terror-related charges. In 2017, he was apprehended once more and charged with terror-related acts. He allegedly skipped bail and vanished.
