September 21,2013 Nairobi: The attack on the upscale Westgate shopping
mall that lasted for almost a week leaving 67 people dead.
Posted Monday, October 28 2013 at 07:58
In Summary
Analysts say intelligence failures, corruption, and police rivalry is bane of anti-terror efforts
The
intelligence sees high degree of likelihood that Al Shabaab would carry
out attacks in other countries in the East African region
The East African region faces another serious
terrorist attack, according to a leaked US security report, whose
authors claim to have “thoroughly studied the nature of the Nairobi’s
Westgate siege,” The Citizen has learnt.
The report, whose details were first published by UK’s Independent
newspaper, also says intelligence failures, weaknesses in
anti-terrorism laws, corruption, excesses and rivalry among police and
army units, created the conditions for the Nairobi shopping mall siege.
It says there is a “high degree of likelihood”,
that al-Shabaab, the Somali terror group behind the siege in the Kenyan
capital last month, would carry out attacks in other countries in the
East African region.
Though the report doesn’t clearly name Tanzania or
any other country as the next target, it uses the phrases like, “high
degree of likelihood” in the East African region.
In Tanzania, 11 youths suspected to be Al Shabaab
followers were arrested in the gas-rich region of Mtwara early this
month. Two more suspects were also netted last week, and are believed to
be accomplices the “Mtwara 11”.
Though The Citizen hasn’t independently
verified whether the Mtwara suspects are indeed members of Al Shabaab,
or the reason for their choice of the gas-rich region which in recent
months has seen unrest cast a bleak future for the area.
This is because in the past, al-Qaeda members in
West Africa region, especially Algeria, have targeted the gas and oil
rich areas with plans to kill Western workers.
Tanzania has no soldiers in African Union
Peacekeeping Mission in Somalia, a role that could have attracted Al
Shabaab’s wrath, but the warning by US security analysts insists that
“there would be another serious attacks” in the region.
A quick survey by The Citizen has
established that since the Westgate Shopping Mall attack, all major
hotels and upmarket business facilities in Dar es Salaam, have been
placed under tight security with owners being instructed to install arms
detectors at all entries.
All vehicles entering any such facilities have to undergo special security checks for hidden bombs or firearms.
Police spokesperson Advera Senso has said that in
maintaining security while at the same time trying to forestall attacks,
the police force is banking on cooperation from people.
“People must report to security organs any people
or foreigners with suspect behaviour,” Ms Senso said in an interview
with The Citizen yesterday. She added that the force is currently
training the public, especially on the border regions, in crime
prevention, starting from family level.
She reminded owners of big hotels and malls to continue with
screening customers entering their premises, besides installing CCTVs.
In 1998, several innocent Tanzanians died and
others sustained injuries when al-Qaeda operatives bombed the US embassy
in Dar es Salaam.
And this year in Arusha, the country’s tourist
hub, suffered two major attacks believed to have been carried out by
terrorists. While no group has claimed responsibility, two rival
political parties, CCM and Chadema, accused each other of plotting and
executing the senseless attacks.
The report, which the UK paper claims to have
seen, was compiled by a security agency in the US which has a military
presence in the East Africa region. Samantha Lewthwaite, the British
jihadist known as the “White Widow”, has been the subject of huge
publicity, but intelligence analysts maintain she is only of “symbolic”
and “propaganda” value to Islamist terrorists. They said there was
little evidence to show she has any meaningful knowledge or experience
of terrorist operations.
The analysts note that there had been several
warnings about a possible attack in Nairobi, going back to the beginning
of the year. They point out that the Kenyan media had revealed that
security forces were at the shopping complex just 24 hours before the
assault, but had failed to discover the weapons stashed in a store by
the insurgents.
The Israeli government had also voiced concern
over a possible atrocity during that period, but, the report says, its
focus was on the Lebanese Shia group, Hezbollah.
The leaked report, according to The Independent,
states: “The current reviews being carried out should show why the leads
were not properly followed up.”
It adds, however, that “the veracity and provenance of some of the material was of a variable nature” and “confusingly sourced”.
The Kenyan authorities had initially stated that
up to a dozen people carried out the Westgate attack, with witnesses
claiming a woman was one of them, leading to speculation that it was Ms
Lewthwaite, who had been married to Germaine Lindsay, one of the
attackers who executed the 7/7 London suicide bombings. However, the
analysts who compiled the report say there was no evidence that she was
present at the scene.
More recently, some Kenyan officials changed the
number involved in the armed attack to no more than four. Western
analysts who compiled the dossier say the figure is too low, and
accounts at the time that some of the killers fled masquerading as
civilians are supported by testimonies as well as other means gathered
subsequently.
Additional reporting by Alex Bitekeye
SOURCE: THE CITIZEN
SOURCE: THE CITIZEN
