U.S. Secretary of State in East Africa Signals Tacit Acknowledgment of Global Jihadist Threat

U.S. Secretary of State visited both Nairobi Kenya (Monday) and the airport in Mogadishu Somalia (yesterday) just weeks after al Shabaab attacks in each country respectively.  Much fanfare was made of the first visit of a U.S. Secretary of State to Somalia.  Despite poor relations early on with Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta, Kerry’s visit was ultimately an acknowledgment that both Kenyatta and  Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud are the two regional leaders that the U.S. must support, invest in, and reply upon to counter the global threat posed by al Shabaab.  The management of overflowing refugee camps was a focal point in the visit with Kenyatta as it is believed that the Garrissa attack in Kenya was planned from there.

The overall impetus for the U.S. to acknowledge the realities of the threat by the global jihadist movement to both human life and U.S. national security came at a great cost to East Africans.  The bumbling policies driven by John Kerry and Susan Rice have ranged from idealistic moral prescriptions to callous indifference.  The median of the range has been generally poor judgement where strategic long term forethought has been replaced by petty favoritism.

Taken in turn, the administrations approach to both the Boko Haram crisis in Nigeria and early relations with the Kenyatta administration prioritized social agenda’s and arbitrary human rights contentions that delayed counter terrorism cooperation by months.  In both cases each Islamist movement racked up a body count before the U.S. engaged in true partnership with regional leaders.  Rice’s record in dealing with M23 rebels backed by the U.S. supported Rwandan government was to first repress the connection in a U.N. report and then eventually threaten the tapering of U.S. military aid but only after political pressure and the loss of African lives.  Kerry’s efforts to rehabilitate genocidier, Ali Karti, of Sudan into a statesman combined with the undermining of South Sudan’s democratically elected leader at the outbreak of civil war left China as the significant power broker in the once hopeful nation.

Somalia is the very heart of the al Qaeda linked al Shabaab’s strong hold and it is a place where African Union forces have fought hard to take and hold ground.  Let’s hope that Kerry’s symbolic support to Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Uhuru Kenyatta signifies a real commitment to a basic level of statecraft where the U.S. acts a strong and reliable ally.  let’s also hope it s a departure from the amateurish and culturally ignorant insensitivity to the deadly realities faced by U.S. partners in Africa.