Leaders from North Eastern region have launched a football tournament to address radicalisation and violent extremism among youth.
North Eastern regional commissioner Mohamed Birik said young people from the region should be encouraged to engage in sporting activities in order to avoid being lured into joining terror groups.
Youth, especially from refugee camps in Garissa, are easy targets for those recruiting youth into gangs and radicalization by terror groups.
Birik who was speaking on Thursday during the launch of the inaugural RC Peace Tournament in Boystown Primary School grounds said sports will go a long way in addressing violent extremism among youths.
He said that the tournament will also seek to bring residents closer to security forces which will enable the residents to be well protected and share vital information.
Birik said sporting activities is a good way of keeping the youth busy and will help them to be productive and avoid being idle.
“Most importantly, the tournament seeks to make vulnerable youths in the communities unavailable for Al Shabab radicalisation and recruitment,” Birik said as quoted by the-star.co.ke.
County Secretary Abdi Sheikh said the programme will provide a platform to create awareness and also educate the youth on adverse effects of terrorism.
“With the help of family networks, religious leaders, social workers and all other stakeholders we shall use sport to fight extremist ideologies, radicalisation and drug abuse among our valuable youth,” said Sheikh.
Sponsors of the tournament include Garissa Department of Youth and Sport, the department of Cohesion and CVE and the Garissa Football Kenya Federation office.
Twenty-four local football clubs will participate in the tournament that will see the winning team walk away with a Sh100,000 prize money.