300 Kenyan Youths Leave Al-Shabaab Terror Group, Surrender to Authorities
At least 300 Kenyan youths aged below 30 years have left Al-Shabaab terrorist group and surrendered to the authorities.
The youths, who had sneaked into Somalia to receive military training under Al-Shabaab, have been brought back to the country over the past six months by the Kenyan government in collaboration with civil society organizations and other stakeholders.
Al-Shabaab wanted to train the young people from the Coast region to use them to stage terror attacks in their own country.
Speaking in Mombasa on Friday, Canon Harun Rashid from the National Counter Terrorism Centre said the returnees are currently being deradicalized and disengaged from their terrorist actions and ideologies.
“The government has profiled them and is now guiding them so that they don’t slide back to terror activities. This has been made possible by engaging several civil society organizations, which have initiated reform programs for the benefit of the returnees,” he said.
“We are doing quite well. We used to see lots of youths being lured to join terror groups in Somalia and many would cross border almost every day but of late the number has really gone down, courtesy of this initiative.”
The young unemployed Kenyans had been lured to Somalia by Al-Shabaab with financial offers.
"We shall continue to follow up and bring back as many youths as possible from the terror groupings," Nyali Deputy County Commissioner Harun Kamau said.
In the past few years, there has been an increase in radicalization of desperate unemployed Kenyan youth by the Al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Shabaab terrorist group which operates from Somalia.
This was after Kenya sent its troops to Somalia in 2011 to fight the terrorist group following the kidnapping of foreigners on its soil.
Comments (16)
Lets be careful here folks.Those between 30,and 21 are not children.Infact we can go down to 18. These are men who knew very well that they were betraying their country,and fellow citizens. They should be jailed.Greed for Money radicalized them.Even the promise of 72 virgins paled in comparison to lust for financial gains...
Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto are the people who everyone should be afraid of.
They were behind 2007-2008 post election violence. They knew better.
These youth made a mistake of joining that organization.
Biden is president will not hesitate causing damage to LOW class UGLYNESS of Somalia
Somalia is a minus for Africa adds NOTHING worthy
Outside Africa Somalians dont consider themselves black ( negroes) PEOPLE
After thousands of years of inbreeding they rival royals in mental retardation and autism. Shetani ashindwe
@ Rotten,to a white man, all subsaharans with any shade of darkness is a negro(black).I dont know how many people are aware that somali bantus who migrated there are treated very badly.And I dont understand why AU is silent on this issue.
the goberment shld provide jobs for our kenyan youth to stop them from subjecting themselves to such dangerous al-shabaab..ni shida haki iliwapeleka huko
Youth of today have become greedy and dream of easy money and want to start at the top. The youth should also try to start something on their own...organize themselves into groups that generate income. He who waits on government dies poor and hungry.
Beatraying? The government of kenya has beatrayed kenya by stealing and killing the very people she is supposed to serve. These boys are patriots as far as im concerned
@ Muturukana,by your reasoning,I take it that Alshabab is"patriotic" When they bomb schools,buses,houses,and kill christians because they dont waship Alah,that's show of patriotism to you?
"We create the disease, and then create a pill" - Very interesting!!
Micro chipped just like talibanites. Easy monitoring
That's a great achievement but needs a lot of commitment on creating jobs for many youths to avoid them being idle leading to poverty which gives the terrorist chances to take advantages on our youth. It's heartbreaking when they take our CHILDRENS train them to fight their own Country. This is hatred and have no chances on our lives.
This is based on FAILED economic policies.
When a child is born in poverty,they have 2 choices..
1] accept that life.
2] do whatever it takes to get out no matter the cost.
Good job.
I hope the Kenyan government that is full of seasoned criminals and that pushed them into joining Al shabab does not turn around and kill them.
The Kenyan government has been pushing youth from the North Eastern part of Kenya and the Coast region to join terrorist organizations for years.