300 young people from the Coast region who had been lured by the Somalia-based militants to undergo training with a view to using them to stage terror attacks in their own country, have been rescued and brought back home.
Speaking in Mombasa, Canon Harun Rashid from NCTC said that a multi-agency team has been working over the last six months to bring the youths home, most of whom are aged 30 years and below. “The government has profiled and is now guiding them so that they don’t to slide back to terror activities. This has been made possible by engaging several civil society organisations (CSOs), which have initiated reform programmes for the benefit of the returnees,” said Canon Rashid.
The government, through a multi-agency team working with the civil society, has over the past six months been bringing back the youths, most of whom are aged below 30 years.
Speaking at Frere town in Mombasa, Canon Harun Rashid from the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) said the government had unconditionally accepted back the youths after they opted out of the terror group.
“The government has profiled and is now guiding them so that they don’t to slide back to terror activities. This has been made possible by engaging several civil society organisations (CSOs), which have initiated reform programmes for the benefit of the returnees,” said Canon Rashid.
The CSOs involved in the returnees’ reintegration programme include Mombasa Women of Faith Network, Haki Africa and Kecosce. The groups have been working under the Inter Religious Council of Kenya, alongside others.
Mr Rashid said the initiative had reversed a trend where youths would cross over to Somalia almost daily to join al-Shabaab.
“We are doing quite well. We used to see lots of youths being lured to join terror groups in Somalia and many would the cross border almost every day but of late the number has really gone down, courtesy of this initiative,” he said.
