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Defeating Al-Shabab Requires Kenya-Somalia Cooperation

The terrorist attack at the Kenya shopping mall on Sept. 21 signals that al-Shabab has reconstituted itself in East Africa.
Kenyan soldiers hold their rifles near the Westgate shopping centre in Nairobi September 23, 2013. Thick smoke poured from the besieged Nairobi mall where Kenyan officials said their forces were closing in on Islamists holding hostages on Monday, three days after a raid by Somalia's al Shabaab killed at least 62 people. It remained unclear how many gunmen and hostages were still cornered in the Westgate shopping centre, two hours after a series of loud explosions and gunfire were followed by a plume of blac

The news from Nairobi following the attack on Westgate Mall on Sept. 21 has been appalling. But given the frequency of attackers al-Shabab’s grenade-throwing in Nairobi, the incident should not have come as a surprise to regional experts. Yet, despite the magnitude of the death toll, the Kenyan government has shown a remarkable sangfroid, both in managing the crisis and taming the potential for ethnic flare-ups. 

While investigations are still in progress, analysts and experts have choreographed the attack into different interpretations, but it seems to me that the focus has been misplaced.

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