Dusit

During January, Nairobi experienced a rather significant terrorist attack at a prominent hotel. It made national news. I happened to be in Nairobi at the time (an increasingly rare occurrence during a typical work week), planning to go to Mogadishu the next day. I was sitting in my office when I heard what sounded like an explosion. The reason I say "sounded like" is that being in a noisy urban area, there are frequent loud noises, some resembling things like gunfire and/or explosions and one often never knows if it is or if it is something else. I feel like after several years in Burundi I became pretty adept at picking out the sound of gunfire, grenades and so forth. But in an urban setting, the sound can bounce back and forth off of buildings, distorting it from how it originally sounded. It also makes it hard to tell where it's coming from. Can't imagine how crazy and disturbing urban warfare must be. In any case, being in Mogadishu so much I've heard quite a bit of such noise as well. Admittedly, and thankfully, Nairobi has considerably less.

The first indication that what I heard was significant was when my phone began to light up with security messages. My heart sank as it gradually became clear that it was likely a significant terrorist attack. At first I received a text suggesting that it was possibly a bank robbery. Later a call and multiple texts confirmed that it was an attack at the Dusit hotel and that it was still ongoing. In fact it began in the middle of the afternoon and would drag on until the next morning.

To be honest, we’ve sort of been expecting something like this for some time. We’ve heard rumors over the past couple of years that some fairly significant attacks have foiled by police and the security teams of potential targets like shopping malls, hotels and so forth. But since the big attack on the Westgate Mall back in September 2013, most people I know have anticipated another one to come.

Why Kenya?

It does beg the question as to why. The stated claims as to why terrorists target Kenya are attributed to their passion for global jihad and to pressure the Kenyan government to remove its troops from Somalia. But, an article I read recently says that evidence suggests that it is also driven by different strategic concerns and highly rational reasons. According to the Global Terrorism Database (GTD), attacks in Kenya go back to May 2008. They recorded 14 attacks before September 2011, 49 in 2012, 35, in 2013, 80 in 2014, 42 in 2015, and 45 in 2016. Evidence shows that of the 302 cross-border attacks perpetrated from 2008-2016, 3 occurred in Ethiopia, 5 in Uganda, 2 in Djibouti and 291 in Kenya. In another recent article I read, the authors argue that beyond sharing a border with Somalia, terrorists target Kenya more than other frontline states because of the opportunity linked to Kenya’s international status and visibility, its relative free and independent media that widely publicizes terrorist attacks, a highly developed and lucrative tourism sector that provides soft targets, expanding democratic space and high levels of corruption. In sum, these variables provide motivation and assist in the planning and execution of acts that aim to fulfill the terrorists’ quest to survive and maintain relevance on the global stage. 

According to these article, these attacks over the past several years made international headlines and this visibility serves to attract the attention of terrorist financiers, potential recruits and allies. As Kenya offers an array of convenient targets, this is likely to continue. For its part, the Kenyan government has made considerable strides in fending off such attacks. It's hard to know how much given that this information normally is not made public but intel has been a big part of their successes. 

The Scapegoat

The one thing that crops up periodically is the potential that Somali refugees in Kenya (and there are many) are increasingly summarily targeted in government crackdowns, resulting in overarching changes to refugee policy. Though there is evidence of considerable illicit activity in the camps, and security-related arrests have been made, refugees can be used by politicians because they are easy targets. Singling out perpetrators is one thing but demonizing the entire group is not only unfair, it can fuel the very fire they're supposedly trying to put out. We saw this in Tanzania many years ago where refugees were blamed for criminality throughout the country as the government wanted to be seen to be taking action. The forced closure of camps was used as a political move and statistically had no effect on the level of crime. Governments continue to take such draconian measures regardless of whether it is supported by any evidence. Some would say this applies to the situation in Tanzania even now. I suppose this applies to the US and other countries as well. 

In any case, there's no easy answer to either the terrorist threat or the long-standing refugee situation. Hopefully authorities will resist the temptation to irrationally conflate the two issues. 

"I'm not afraid of the bullet with my name on it, but I don't want to be killed by the one that says 'to whom it may concern'.” Mohamed Amin, Kenyan photo-journalist

Mogadishu and the Mayor

Almost caught up with this blog. I was way behind and just couldn’t seem to find (allocate) the time to pick it back up again. I do this more for me than anyone. I am seeking to have at least some record of life’s adventures. It has already proven useful as a reference but I suspect it will be even more useful in years to come.

Back to Somalia

Soon after returning to Nairobi, I needed to get back to Somalia. After being away for some time, I needed to reconnect and continue pushing forward the transition of our Nairobi office to Mogadishu. It’s a tricky thing to do. Over the years I’ve opened operations and I’ve closed them down, depending on what our humanitarian mandate required. The latter is obviously the more challenging. In this case we're doing both - we’re scaling down in Nairobi and trying to scale up on the Somalia side, build capacity of staff and to focus on moving positions rather than people. Moving our Kenyan team to Somalia is not a viable option for most positions. We want the jobs to go to Somalis who desperately need them. It’s also cheaper. And from a security standpoint, it’s far safer to have Somali staff given the more precarious status of foreigners in the country. 

So we forge ahead. Most of the “heavy lifting” is done. We only have a few people left in Nairobi and almost all core functions are already in Somalia. I’m now in Mogadishu with a work permit and paying my taxes. We have no international staff in country except me. Lots still to do, however. Much more capacity development, building systems and making sure that the team has what they need to be successful. All the while we need to keep doing our main job which is to provide services to the Somali people. These are busy times, needless to say.

In January I had a meeting with the Mayor of Mogadishu. It was connected to some other meetings that I had with the regional authorities. I took advantage of the time to seek out a meeting with him and he was kind enough to oblige. In fact I ended up being on national TV. You might have missed it.

I found out later that many organizations’ security protocols don’t allow them to attend such meetings or even enter this part of the city. It’s a shame, really. Not that it doesn’t present security risk. It certainly does. But wherever you are in the world you need to strike a balance between being irresponsibly careless or irresponsibly cautious. Both can be problematic. The risk of being careless is obvious. The risk of being cautious, less so. 

meeting the mayor

Somalia is extremely complex. The social structures are difficult to understand for outsiders and they have a tendency to change over time. The security situation is the same. You have to surround yourself with a skilled, trusted team. You need to do your homework. And you need to accept the fact that this is what you signed up for and you just need to do your job. In my opinion, you cannot isolate yourself from the people you are serving. They, and your team, need to know you are committed to them. If you can’t, you probably need to do something else.

Admittedly this is not always easy. In the background is the awareness that one of our counterparts from another organization is still being held hostage, going on one year now. There is the frequent sound of gunfire and the occasional sound of explosions. It’s certainly not for everyone. But I can honestly say that I’m committed to our work serving Somalis and as long as I’m in this role, I’ll do what I have to do.

A Bit of History

In my meeting with the mayor he started off by welcoming me to his historic office. I smiled and told him that I had been fascinated by the history of the country, and in particular the city, over the past two and a half years that I had been working there. I think he appreciated seeing deeper interest in his country from an outsider, something that isn't super common in the international community. So here is a very brief background of the building that we were in. 

The city of Mogadishu came under Italian control in the 1880s after the Kingdom of Italy acquired what was called the territory of Italian Somaliland. Over the next several decades, thousands of Italians settled in the city.

the Palazzo degli Uffici back in the day - back when walls were decorative

Long before it became the current regional administration/city hall, the building had a bit of a storied past. Built in the late 1920s, the "Palazzo degli Uffici dell' Amministrazione Fiduciaria Italiana della Somalia ", a neoclassical Italian style building, was one of the most significant and enduring architectural structures created by the Italians in “Mogadiscio”. It served the Italian government until World War II. In the north, the British occupied what is today called Somaliland. During the East African Campaign in February 1941, Mogadishu was captured by British forces. Though Italy had lost the war, the Italians were allowed to continue to oversee Somalia and the Palazzo degli Uffici served as the headquarters of the Italian administration. When the country gained independence in 1960, administration of the city was turned over to the Somalis.

the regional administration/city hall building in 2012...

During the 21-year civil war of the 1990s and early 2000s, the city took a pounding. The city hall, unlike many of the surrounding buildings in the old city, somehow was able to remain standing, at least enough for it to eventually be restored. I was told that the renovations were completed in 2015. Though much of the surrounding area still remains in ruins, this building is a striking symbol of progress. It's my hope that effort will be made to preserve the dozens and dozens of other beautiful structures that remain in ruins.

...and how it looks today