Analysis into the influence of violent extremism financing in Kenya’s defence policy with Somali from 2002- 2022

Abstract

Following the increasing violent extremism attacks by the Al-Shabab, Kenya citing Article 52 of the UN charter started a military operation in Somalia dubbed “Linda Nchi. Before October, 12, 2011 the Kenya Defence Forces had never gone on an offensive missions except for the usual UN Peace keeping mandates. This was a major foreign policy shift by the government to protect her citizens. This was however followed by, building of Kenya-Somalia border wall, and closing down of Daadab refugee camp all aimed at targeting violent extremist’s sources of finance, thus the justification of the study, analysis into the influence of violent extremism financing in Kenya’s defence policy with Somalia from 2002 to 2022. The research objective was: How violent extremism financing has influenced Kenya’s defence policy with Somalia. Study site was Nairobi with the target population of: Kenya Defence Forces, National Counter Terrorism Centre, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Department of Immigration officials. Sampling was through purposive and simple random sampling methods, instrument was questionnaire forms. The study established that, Kenya’s defence policy with Somalia was influenced by: violent extremism financing in the period under review. The research recommended that: The Kenya and Somalia governments should work together in targeting and freezing of assets of Al-Shabaab: The public-private partnerships in countering financing of terrorism should be encouraged in both countries: Kenya- Somalia border, needs around the clock monitoring to safeguard and discourage the proliferation of illegal goods such as sugar, milk etc. whose proceeds can’t be traced or accounted for hence end up being laundered and financing violent extremism. Financial Intelligence Gathering and Analysis should be done by Kenya and Somalia to monitor transactions and discourage violent extremism financing: There is need for constant patrols in the national parks and wildlife conservancies to preserve wild animals from sophisticated poachers looking for game treasures like elephant tusks, pangolin, and game meat.