By HEIDI VOGT
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
President Kenyatta Said Shootings Were 'Politically Motivated Ethnic Violence'
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LAMU, Kenya—Kenyan security forces on Wednesday arrested five suspects in attacks that killed more than 50 people and fanned tensions along the country's contentious coastline.Benson Maisori, the deputy police commissioner for Mpeketoni, said the arrests resulted from "an intelligence-led action," but wouldn't provide details on the suspects or what led to their capture. More assailants remain in the area, he said, and about 300 security officers from surrounding Lamu County are participating in the search for them. "We have enough forces on the ground," he said.
Kenya's Red Cross on Wednesday confirmed that 58 people were killed over two days of attacks in the town of Mpeketoni—about 30 kilometers from the popular tourist destination of Lamu Island—and surrounding villages. In Sunday's assault, residents said, dozens of men in military uniforms shouted "Allahu akbar!"—Arabic for God is great—and hunted Christian men to gun down.
Somali militant group al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the assaults, and an early statement from the Kenyan government also blamed the group. But on Tuesday, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said the door-to-door shootings were "politically motivated ethnic violence against a Kenyan community" and "not an al-Shabaab terrorist attack."
That allegation has inflamed Kenya's political rivalries and complicated the government's security response in a region that could easily descend into further violence.
Though Mr. Kenyatta blamed local political networks for the assault, many politicians saw the statement as a swipe at the major opposition party. The Coalition for Reforms and Democracy party, or CORD, has organized rallies in recent weeks condemning the government for failing to improve security and called on the Kenyan government to withdraw forces from Somalia to prevent further al-Shabaab attacks in Kenya.
"Politicians are politicizing the security situation and it's not good for anyone," said J.M. Waiganjo, a parliamentarian who belongs to the president's Jubilee party.
Yet some analysts say the president's statement ascribing attacks to ethnic violence may reflect the growing Kenyan role in a Somali terror group that preys on internal fault lines. "They have tried to sow division and fear and dissent amongst Kenyan communities," said Cedric Barnes, a Horn of Africa analyst with the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank. He said al-Shabaab doesn't usually claim responsibility for attacks if it wasn't involved.
An al-Shabaab spokesman said the group maintains it was behind the attack and called the Kenyan president cowardly. "We are still active there and we can hit there again and again," the militant group's spokesman said.
The area around Mpeketoni is a caldron of ethnic, religious and political tensions.
The town of Mpeketoni was established as part of a government land grant to mostly ethnic Kikuyus—Christians who are a minority in a mainly Muslim country. The area has also long been a stronghold of the Mombasa Republican Council, which is a separatist group that has advocated independence for the mostly Muslim coastal region. And two years ago, a series of ethnic clashes in the nearby Tana River region killed more than 100 people.
Mr. Kenyatta is no stranger to ethnic tensions. The president and his deputy William Ruto are accused of being behind the ethnic violence in 2007-08 that killed more than 1,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands. The International Criminal Court has indicted both men for alleged roles in inciting the clashes.
Local officials acknowledge that ethnic and religious violence is a feature of the coastal region, where grievances among Muslims have mounted after the shooting deaths of several clerics. Lamu County Deputy Gov. Eric Mugo said he backed the president's claim on Mpeketoni, although he didn't dismiss an al-Shabaab role in the violence, either.
"Even if al-Shabaab is involved, it is sure that local politicians are involved," Mr. Mugo said. "It is clear that there are local issues, and there are these people who have been involved in organizing this."
— Abdalle Ahmed Mumin
in Mogadishu, Somalia,
contributed to this article.