Youth in Mombasa who were recruited by Somalia based Al Shabaab militant group will be retrained before being integrated back to society, a Muslim cleric has said.
East Africa Sufi Council Chairman, Sheikh Abdulkadir Al-Ahdal on Tuesday said the aim is to ensure the youth Al Shabaab fundamentalist ideas imparted to the you people are erased in their minds before being allowed to join their families.
The program, according to Abdulkadir will entail holding fresh Islamic religion classes that will be held in conventional classrooms as well specific Mosques in the Coastal town.
By 2015, he said over 1,500 Kenyan youth had been recruited by Al Shabaab and had undergone rigorous training with the militant group that has close connections with Middle East based Al Qaeda.
"We are reaching to all radicalised youth in Mombasa. If need be we will role out the program to cover other affected counties including Lamu, Kilifi, Kwale, Tana River and Taita Taveta," Abdulkadir said.
Al Shabaab in the recent years has succeeded in recruiting more youth than any other country i Africa, a move the government described as a threat to national security.
Most of those recruited undergo training in Somalia before being dispatched to carry out attacks in Kenya's major towns, mostly Nairobi and Coast based town including Mombasa.