Security Officials’ Perspectives on Reintegration Challenges for Former Al-Shabaab Foreign Terrorist Fighters in Kenya

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper situates the perspectives of selected Kenyan security officials on the reintegration challenges for former foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) (returnees) affiliated with the AlShabaab. The study reflects on the amnesty intervention program that was launched by the government in 2015 to rehabilitate AlShabaab returnees. This is a situation not unique to Kenya. Since the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (post-2015), the dilemma became what states and, more principally, how western nations that had the bulk of foreign fighters would react upon their return from conflict theatres. In the Kenyan context, the rationale at the time was an unconditional surrender and consequently rehabilitation interventions to reintegrate these individuals into society. The Al-Shabaab is an insurgent group based in Somalia that has contributed to insecurity in the Horn of Africa region. This study, relying on a securitization theory lens, reflects on qualitative fieldwork insights with select government security officials in Kenya’s Mombasa and Nairobi Counties. The study probes how these officials frame the security threat that FTFs pose to Kenya, and indeed the region, and consequently their perspectives of reintegration challenges. The study findings present three major frames. The first is their framing of returnees as security threats. The second is their framing of returnees as hampered by legal/policy gaps. The third is their framing around gaps in community acceptance. The findings contribute to the literature on reintegration and offer lucid insights into how such programmatic interventions can be adapted for peacebuilding practice. The findings may be applied in the realm of contextual best practices on what works and does not in reintegration initiatives.