Management Of International Terrorism Threats: A Case Study Of The Mombasa Republican Council In Kenya.

Abstract

Terrorism is a threat to peace and security internationally. The September 11,2001 terror attacks in the United States of America where over 3,000 lives perished in an Al-Qaeda coordinated attack using hijacked passenger planes, was a grim reminder to the world that terrorism was alive and capable of wreaking havoc anywhere in the world, including within the borders of the world’s super power. Similar attacks have occurred at US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar Salaam, Tanzania in August 1998; and simultaneously at two locations in Kampala, Uganda in July 2010. Kenya bore the brunt of a terror attack again on 21 st 2013 at Westgate mall, Nairobi. It was against this background that the study was undertaken on Management of International Terrorism Threats. The Mombasa Republican Council in Kenya was used as a case study,in an attempt to examine and establish the extent to which, the insurgent movement, answered to the definition of terrorism. The purpose of this study was therefore to examine the group, its objectives and activities with a view to establishing whether it contributes to terrorist threats for Kenya. The study further analyzed factors that fuel spread of international terrorism by examining fundamental issues that the group cites as the basis for their quest to break away from the Republic of Kenya to become an independent State. This portends a threat to Kenya’s national interests. The study used both primary and secondary data. Primary data was generated through the administration of questionnaires on Mombasa County chiefs while secondary data was collected through review of relevant literature. Data was both qualitative and quantitative. Quantitative data generated and analyzed was specific to the management of the group by security agencies as perceived by the chiefs in Mombasa County. Conclusions and recommendations were done based on the findings.