On 2 April the Kenyan government launched Operation Usalama Watch (Peace Watch) to eradicate the threat of terrorism from the country, after a series of violent and explosive attacks in March. About 100 people have been killed in attacks since mid-June. Operation Usalama Watch, however, has little to do with fighting terrorism and more to do with pacifying unstable regions through which massive economic projects are expected to pass.
Operation Usalama Watch has been characterised by blatant discrimination, racial profiling, arbitrary arrests, looting, extortion and systematic targeting of Somalis and Muslims in general regardless of their immigration status – Kenyans of Somali heritage and Somali refugees with legal papers have been attacked – a collective punishment of the entire ethnic Somali community. Kenya frequently blames Somalia’s al-Qaida-linked al Shabaab (and sister organisations in Kenya) for attacks in recent years especially in Nairobi, coastal towns including Mombasa and northern regions. Kenya, under the guise of hunting al Shabaab, invaded Somalia in October 2011 to annex Jubaland, a semi-autonomous region in southern Somalia, using the kidnappings of foreign nationals as a pretext to launch a pre-planned operation to create a buffer state (see FRFI 232).
By the end of April, over 4000 people had been arrested in Mombasa and the Nairobi suburb of Eastleigh, an area mainly populated by ethnic Somalis. Hundreds of refugees have since been deported either to Somalia or to refugee camps. There are over 550,000 Somali refugees in Kenya. Most of those arrested are being held at Kasarani Stadium, now temporarily converted into a police station. This racism has been propagated/encouraged by the media, the so-called ‘war journalists’. One example is Mutuma Mathiu, senior editor of one of Kenya’s leading newspapers The Daily Nation: ‘Are we just going to sit around and wait to be blown to bits by terrorists?…[every] two-bit Somali has a big dream – to blow us up, knock down our buildings and slaughter our children…[Kenya’s security forces should] start shooting.’ (SomaliaNewsroom.com) Kenyan police have been issued with shoot-to-kill orders.
Kenya’s ‘war on terror’ has the support of the US, Britain, Canada and Australia whose envoys including UK High Commissioner Christian Turner, visited 5 April to pledge moral and material support for President Uhuru Kenyatta, only a year after warning of ‘consequences’ for Kenya if Kenyatta and Vice President William Ruto (awaiting trial at the International Criminal Court suspected of inciting election violence in 2007) were elected. A year on, ICC witnesses are rapidly withdrawing and economic interests are becoming more pressing.
Kenya is embarking on a host of new infrastructure projects it hopes will strengthen its role as a regional oil transit hub against rivals Uganda, Ethiopia and Tanzania. Thanks to recent oil and gas discoveries in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique (and the secession of South Sudan), the East African Rift System (EARS) is tipped as the future hotbed of oil exploration (exploitation?) in Africa. Kenya has received multi-million dollar investments to improve the productivity and throughput capacity at Mombasa Port, the main sea transport hub for East Africa. Mombasa refinery is one of the largest petroleum refineries in East Africa. Kenya plans to replace/upgrade the aging Mombasa-to-Nairobi pipeline, and plans new oil transit pipelines: from Uganda (with future extension to Rwanda) and possibly South Sudan. Kenya also launched the Lamu Port and South Sudan and Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) project in 2012. LAPSSET includes the construction of a new deepwater port and oil refinery in Lamu, pipelines from Lamu to Ethiopia and from South Sudan to Lamu, a LAPSSET highway, and a railway line. Tanzania has also raised billions for infrastructure developments. Sadly for the imperialists most of the investments for these projects has been coming from Chinese and Middle Eastern companies.
The planned Kenyan oil pipelines pass through unstable regions in Nairobi and northern Kenya to coastal regions, where recent attacks have occurred, attacks blamed on Somalia’s al Shabaab. That is why Operation Usalama Watch has been launched – to cleanse the targeted areas of potential opposition to these plans. Operation Usalama Watch is supported by the imperialists because East Africa and the neighbouring Gulf of Aden are strategically and economically vital to the world economy, and British and US imperialism aim to dominate the region including this crucial waterway, which transports much of the world’s oil. That is why the imperialists support Kenya’s invasion and occupation of Somalia and intervened there themselves, support the racist Operation Usalama Watch and work to undermine China, Turkey and other rivals in the region.
