Al-Shabaab: The Threat to Kenya and the Horn of Africa

The Republic of Somalia gained independence on 1st July 1960 and nine years later General Mohamed Said Barre took power through a coup. In 1991 anarchy ensued after his expulsion and since then Somalia has been in a protracted conflict for over twenty four years with a lack of proper institutions for governance and the political capacity to function as a state. Fighting among leaders of rival factions and the lack of a stable functional government enables the Islamist militia, al Shabaab, w...