Responses to insecurity in Kenya: Too much, too little, too late?

The Kenyan government has announced several initiatives to deal with growing security threats. This report examines the nature and potential effects of these initiatives.

Many of the threats to Kenya’s security come from criminal groups and armed civilians operating as bandits. However, since Kenya deployed troops in Somalia to combat incursions by armed groups from that country, chiefly the Islamist group al-Shabaab, attacks on soft civilian targets have increased markedly. The Kenyan government has announced several initiatives to deal with growing security threats in the country, but none of them has yet been put fully into practice.

About the author

Andrews Atta-Asamoah is a senior researcher in the Conflict Prevention and Risk Analysis Division at the ISS in Pretoria. He holds a doctorate in political studies from the University of Cape Town and an MA from the Legon Centre for International Affairs in Ghana. Before joining ISS, he worked with the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre in Accra, Ghana. His areas of research interest include drug trafficking, peacekeeping, natural resource conflicts and African peace and security.