Kenya's Daily Nation: Al Shabaab a real threat , Al-Shabaab a real peril. Deportation Protest Leads to Widespread Arrests

Members of the Somali militia, al-Shabaab, may have infiltrated this country, and yet the security agencies appear to be taking the matter too casually.

It was no other than Internal Security minister, Prof George Saitoti, who conceded elements sympathetic to al-Shabaab took part in last week’s protest by Muslim youths over the planned deportation of Jamaican preacher, Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal.Though Prof Saitoti has promised investigations into the riots, the security apparatus seems to be reactive rather than proactive, in the face of a possible influx of extremists from across the border.Indeed, the security agencies have admitted they were alerted by Britain and the US that Sheikh Faisal is on a terrorism watch-list.But for the common person, it is the prospects that al-Shabaab could be influencing events in Nairobi that is chilling.Information from Mogadishu reveals that al-Shabaab are already in Kenya, waiting to strike. The challenge is that they are innocent-looking young boys of between 15-19 years who are allowed in, claiming their parents had been killed.Already, the National Security Intelligence Service has raised concern over the sudden rise in the population of northern Kenya.It would be wrong to brand everybody escaping the war in Somalia as an al-Shabaab sympathiser, but security agencies must redouble their vetting efforts.
 KENYA: Deportation Protest Leads to Widespread Arrests‎