Kenya Riots Expose Growing Political And Economic Rifts

By Richard Lough & Joseph Akwiri

3 September, 2012

THE assassination of a Muslim cleric in Kenya's port of Mombasa and deadly riots that followed have exposed deep social, political and sectarian divides that could unleash more violence ahead of a presidential election next year.

Unidentified gunmen sprayed bullets into the car of Aboud Rogo on Monday, killing a man accused by both the Kenyan government and the United States of helping Al-Qaeda-linked militants in Somalia. Rogo's supporters fought running street battles with the security forces in the hours after his death, and sporadic violence continued over the following days.

The government says the violence was organized by Kenya's "enemies" and blames extremists, including the slain cleric, for supporting Al-Shabab, the radicals that Kenya's military has been battling since invading Somalia last year.

Muslims, who predominate in many neighborhoods of Kenya's second largest city, blame the authorities for the cleric's killing, and say it is part of a campaign against their community and faith.

They say the spontaneous outpouring of fury was a natural response, both to the assassination and to decades of political and economic marginalization in an area where shanty towns cluster in squalor alongside luxurious white sand beach resorts.

"Incited? I don't need to be incited to riot when I have eyes to see my sheikh has been killed by the government," said Otieno Ramadhan, 25, a Muslim convert who sells charcoal. "We youth from the coast don't have anything to show, no jobs — yet other people get employed daily at the port. All they have brought us here is drugs to kill us slowly," he added. "I will riot. They can shoot us dead if they wish."

Coastal Swahili Muslims complain that they have lost land and jobs to settlers from inland, while seeing little of the wealth generated by tourism on their beaches and traffic at their port, which serves most of east and central Africa. "The Kenyan coast faces historical injustices such as limited job opportunities, and this has led people to believe this government is against Islam," said Phyllis Muema, who runs a community group operating programs for unemployed youth.

In Mombasa's Kisauni and Majengo districts, youths idle in the rubbish-strewn streets lined by dilapidated housing and open gutters. Unemployment is rampant; so is drug addiction. An outlawed coastal group, the Mombasa Republican Council (MRC), wants to secede from Kenya. It has threatened to stage unrest if its demands for independence are not met by next year's presidential election.

The group has distanced itself from the violence that followed Rogo's assassination and denies government assertions that it is linked to Islamic radicalism or support for Shabaab. "We are not involved with these issues. It is not our arrangement, it is not our project," MRC Secretary-General Randu Nzai said.

Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga said it was clear the violent reaction to Rogo's killing was organized. He blamed the country's enemies for seeking to "create religious animosity."

A senior government official told Reuters police were hunting for three Muslim clerics allied to Rogo, and suspected of fanning the unrest. He declined to disclose their identities.

A UN investigation last year found that the Somali rebels had created extensive funding, recruitment and training networks in Kenya. An unknown number of Kenyan Muslims have crossed the border to fight alongside the Shabab.

After Kenyan troops crossed the frontier last October to fight the Shabab, the Somali Islamists vowed to carry out revenge attacks in Kenya. Since then there have been attacks on churches in Kenya as well as soft targets like local bars. The government has announced an amnesty for Kenyans who fought alongside the Somali rebels. Muema, who runs the youth groups at the coast, said Kenyan Muslim youth have returned from combat in Somalia with radical views and no job prospects.

"We have worked with elders who tell us the youth are coming back and are only waiting to be given instructions and they act. And they are armed," Muema said. Civil unrest on the coast raises memories of tribal violence that killed more than 1,200 people and nearly tore Kenya apart after a dispute over the results of the last presidential election in 2007-08.

Source: http://www.arabnews.com/kenya-riots-expose-growing-political-and-economic-rifts

URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-terrorism-jihad/kenya-riots-expose-growing-political/d/8552