Kenya's Muslims and refugees from Somalia are threatened with further marginalization and discrimination

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) fears that the terrible terrorist attack in Nairobi will have serious consequences for the Muslim population of Kenya and for the refugees from Somalia who sought refuge in the neighboring country. "The Muslims are now threatened to be labeled as terror suspects, although the Muslim Supreme Council repudiated the violence in Kenya," said the STP's Africa-expert, Ulrich Delius, in Göttingen on Tuesday. "The imported terrorism by Somali extremists might confound the efforts to work against discrimination and disdain."

The Muslims in Kenya make up about eleven percent of the 40 million inhabitants of the East African country. They have just begun to emancipate themselves politically and to address the Kenyan authorities and politicians with requests as an independent population group – trying to stop being treated as second class citizens and demanding equal access to the job market and social recognition. However, the Muslim organizations in Kenya had also demanded the anti-terror laws to be less restrictive to prevent the Muslim population from plain discrimination in the struggle against terrorism. "As president Uhuru Kenyatta will want to demonstrate his strength to the terrorist, a liberalization of the internal security policy is less likely than ever before," said Delius.

The Somali refugees now expect that there will be arbitrariness and more arrests by the Kenyan security forces in their camps. "But any arbitrariness against the refugees will only fuel the cycle of violence and encourage more fighters to join the extremist Al-Shabab militia," warned Delius. "The terror network has been trying to recruit new fighters among the tens of thousands of young people in the camps for years. Al Shabab's influence in the camps can only be reduced by offering better education and training to the young refugees in order to open up economic opportunities for them in Kenya and Somalia."