Uhuru launches counter-terrorism strategy, names special envoy
Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery (left) receives a task force report from Mr Joseph W Irungu who the chairperson of the team spearheading the repatriation of Daadab refugees at Harambee House in Nairobi on May 31, 2016. On the extreme right is Dr Martin Kimani, the director of National Counter-Terrorism Centre. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- The President said the fight against terrorism in the country will use several approaches, among them the disengagement and rehabilitation of returning foreign terrorist fighters.
- President Kenyatta said terrorists had committed unspeakable atrocities, murdering tens of thousands of innocent people on every continent.
President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday launched the National Counter-Violent Extremism Strategy and named National Counter-Terrorism Centre Director Martin Kimani as its special envoy.
The President said the fight against terrorism in the country will use several approaches, among them the disengagement and rehabilitation of returning foreign terrorist fighters.
He said disengagement from Al-Shabaab accelerated sharply following the 2014 government amnesty pioneered by Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery.
“The National Counter-Terrorism Centre will be the focal point for the coordination of processes managing returnees in the country,” President Kenyatta said.
STATE OF TERROR
He added that the results of its coordinating efforts would be reported regularly to the national leadership.
President Kenyatta said terrorists had committed unspeakable atrocities, murdering tens of thousands of innocent people on every continent.
“They impose a state of terror on populations within their control, and even reinstituting the evil practice of enslavement in the 21st century,” he said.
Kenya is one of the countries that has been hit hard by the terror group Al-Shabaab, with many people killed and property worth millions of shillings destroyed over the past few years.
President Kenyatta said the strategy he rolled out was an articulation of Kenya’s prevention efforts against terrorism and violent extremism.
The strategy was developed through a consultative process involving government agencies and county governments, religious leaders, civil society, the private sector, researchers, and regional and international partners.
