Anniversary of the East African terror attacks:      

Last week saw a flurry of activities in Kenya and Tanzania marking the tenth anniversary of the simultaneous terrorist bombings of US embassies in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi.

This was an occasion not only to remember and honour the innocent victims of the attacks but also a moment for deep and serious reflection on the challenge of international terrorism globally. Such reflection should focus on at least three dimensions i.e. the root causes of international terrorism; the responses and the lessons learned.    

The attacks on the two embassies in 1998 were traced to al Qaeda elements in East Africa and attributed to Islamic fundamentalism. This was mainly because of the region’s proximity with the Middle East and the sizeable Islamic populations.  In response, US and local efforts were directed at introducing counter-terror legislation, building security institutions and close surveillance of citizens. 

The result has been growing resentment, intensified internal repression, extra-judicial disappearances and regional tensions. Little compensation has gone to the local victims.

 The 9/11 terror attacks in the US were carefully planned over a long period suggesting deep-rooted and long festering grievances on the part of the perpetrators. The civilian aircrafts-turned-bombs were directed at three highly strategic targets. One targeted the World Trade Centre in New York which was literally pulverised resulting in over 2700 deaths. The second hit the Pentagon which was still burning over one week after the event. 

A third, which crashed, had targeted the White House. These targets symbolize the main third-world grievances against the US – Twin-Towers-(economic exploitation); Pentagon-(military aggression) and White House-(political domination). One would expect that any rational response would be designed to pay some attention to these issues which call for dialogue rather than confrontation.

In the wake of the attacks however, the US has literally been on the war path. President Bush made this clear when he declared to the rest of the world “you are either with us or against us”. This statement, itself, amounts to terror and intimidation. Afghanistan, now a quagmire, was swiftly attacked. Before too long, Iraq was invaded on false pretexts and without UN Security Council authorization. 

The latter operation was tellingly code named: ‘Operation Shock and Awe’- precisely what terrorism is all about - inflicting shock and instilling fear. Unfortunately this has become the hall-mark of the US war on terror. Witness Falujja, Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo!  

Africa is witnessing a new wave of US  soldiers on the continent on training and other missions, as Washington reshapes Africa to better serve America’s security interests. This has since taken the form of the US Africa Command – Bush’s principal preoccupation. The focus on U.S. interests in oil and guns will progressively stand in stark contrast to the rhetorical concern with human rights, Darfur and global health challenges like HIV/AIDS. 

Currently, US naval forces are patrolling the East African coast under a  Joint US-European Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) backed by US Central Command. The task-force is based at the former French base at Camp Lemonier in Djibouti, not just to fight terrorism, but also with an eye to oil and other resources. It is from this base that the US launched an air strike on Southern Somalia in January 2007 purportedly to snuff out al-Qaeda elements linked to the Dar es Salaam and Nairobi US Embassy bombings. In the event many innocent civilians were killed. 

Strangely, in the wake of the U.S. raid on his country and against a background of condemnations by the AU, UN and even EU, Somalia’s interim President Ahmed said that the US “…had the right to bomb those who had attacked its embassies.” It is instructive that the American raid was coordinated with the Ethiopian intervention in Mogadishu to combat the Union of Islamic Courts ‘administration’. [Now, they have to contend with a more deadly Al-Shabab].  

Rather than assisting Somalia to reconstruct its national society, this has exacerbated the conflicts by deepening Somali polarization and plunging the whole region into a number of real and proxy wars. The US is squandering all opportunities to recruit allies in its ‘War against Terror’. Instead, it’s making the region more insecure and volatile.

 

*Professor Mwesiga Baregu lectures at Saut