Prime Minister Netanyahu inspecting a guard of honour on Tuesday. he has promised to cooperate with Kenya and other African countries to fight terrorism. [Photo|@Netanyahu/Twitter]
Terrorists in Kenya and the continent will soon have to deal with Israeli skills if the country’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s promise is anything to go by.Israel is known for its success to remain safe despite being surrounded by hostile nations and being a pariah to many countries around the world.During his visit to Kenya on Tuesday during President Uhuru Kenyatta’s inauguration, Netanyahu said, “Now there is a challenge. The challenge that we face is also security. There is a savage disease, it rampages so many countries, Boko haram, Al shabaab, the awful jihadists in the Sinai.”He added, “This is a threat to all of us and I believe that we can cooperate with other countries, between us and with others and if we work together we will defeat the barbarians.”If the cooperation works, this could give Kenya which has been hard hit by Al shabaab the technical and skills to counter the terrorists. Kenya has suffered the brunt of terrorism with the worst being Garissa University which left 148 people dead and injuring 79 or more in April 2015. On Saturday, 21 September 2013, unidentified gunmen attacked Westgate shopping mall which resulted in at least 67 deaths, and more than 175 people wounded.
The upscale mall in Nairobi's Westlands area is majority owned by Israelis which could have a major reason why it was attacked. Even though Netanyahu did not give specifics of the plan, his country’s know-how would go a long way in making Kenya’s borders safer.According to johnstonsarchive.net, the total reported casualties from terrorist attacks from 1948-2017 are 3,699. During this period 14,734 people have been injured in figures including terrorists.The site details that in these terrorist attacks at least 222 children have been killed and 240 injured. These figures may, however, be incomplete.During this almost 70-year-period, the 2001-2006 wave of terrorism in Israel is the worst to date.Netanyahu also promised cooperation in water and food security among other areas.“We love Africa and I would like very much not only to cooperate on the individual basis with each of your countries, with Kenya and with each of your countries but also with the African Union and I hope that we all find a way to have Israel become an observer status in the African Union because we can help, we cannot only observe but we can help build together a better future for Africa. This is our goal and I thank you all, I thank you all for your great friendship.”