PANAPRESS
Panafrican News Agency
Terrorist attack on Kenyan mall dominates Tanzanian dailies
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) – Last weekend’s terrorist attack on a shopping mall in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, not only sent shock waves to residents of neighbouring Tanzania but also raised fears about public gatherings that are likely to be easy targets of terrorism, local newspapers said this week.
As they made a continuous coverage of the event, including the losses and sufferings of its immediate victims, the Tanzanian papers warned the public to be on the alert, recalling the 7 August 1998 bombing of the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam by a terrorist organisation that was linked to Osama bin Laden.
“No part of the world is exempt from international terrorism,” said the government-owned Daily News, describing the latest attack on a packed shopping centre as “despicable much as it is highly condemnable”.
“It doesn't need street interviews to illustrate the shock and anguish that the people of East Africa have received the shocking news of the sad event from the Kenyan capital,” the daily wrote in its editorial.
Daily News went on: “This incident must have surely prompted memories of the dastardly terrorist attacks on the American embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam that left more than 300 people killed and hundreds injured [on 7 August 1998].
“Kenya has once again become prey to agents of Al-Qaieda international terrorism, sending shock waives in a region long accustomed to peace and tranquility.”
The daily lauded Kenyan authorities for their swift move to rescue shoppers who were held hostage by the terrorists, noting that the country was “unfairly paying a price due to its international duty and humanitarian gesture to deploy its armed forces inside Somalia to stop terrorists from causing more mayhem.”
“The Kenyan attack is a wake-up call to our defence and security forces to be always on the alert, guard our borders and identify all suspicious characters in our midst,” the paper said, calling for strengthened security at all places where people gather in Tanzania.
Meanwhile, a Kiswahili language private daily, Nipashe, saw the terrorist act in Kenya as a challenge to Tanzania’s public security institutions.
The paper said that the attack on the Nairobi mall was not only frightening and saddening because of its victims, but it also threatened peace and security in the East African region.
“This is not the first time that Al Shabaab agents have been linked to such barbarism because in 2010 they committed a similar brutality in Kampala, Uganda, when football fans were gathered to watch the World Cup finals on TV screens. At least 79 people were killed and many others injured in the attacks,” the paper recalled.
“Together with the appeals being made to the international community to come up with a more effective strategy and means for countering Al Shabaab, it is high time for security forces in Tanzania to re-examine their capability to deal with such terrorism,” Nipashe suggested.
According to the paper, it was difficult to determine why terrorists went for Tanzania and Kenya in 1998, but what is obvious today is that recent attacks on Kenya and Uganda can as well be directed to Tanzania.
Kenya is being attacked for no other reason than standing firm against the acts of barbarism that Al Shabaab commits in Somalia and beyond the two countries’ common border.
“While the partner countries of the East African Community are enhancing regional economic cooperation, it is saddening to see their efforts being frustrated by people who regard peace as a nuisance,” said the paper.
While expressing sympathy for Kenyan neighbours, a columnist writing for another Tanzanian daily, The Citizen, said: “No doubt terrorists are highly-skilled in whatever they do, let alone being extremely determined, but it is hard to comprehend how the Kenyan Defence Forces could take four days to figure out how to end the siege.
“The police, just like the military, was equally unprepared, clearly incompetent forcing the government to seek help from Israel and elsewhere.”
According to the columnist, Kenyans have been hit so hard by the terrorists that all the East Africans feel the pain in bones, muscles and heart.
Although Al Shabaab, the self-declared Al Qaeda franchise, may have chosen Kenya as a target for their own reasons, coincidentally they had chosen one of the hapless countries in Africa in terms of defence, security and intelligence.
Reflecting on the background of the Kenyan intelligence service, which should have been the leader in uncovering this specific terrorist mission, the columnist said the country reformed its apparatus in 1998, changing it from the colonial-styled special branch of the police to a modern security and intelligence outfit.
“That itself tells a lot even without delving deeper, and no wonder Kenyans are asking how terrorists could plan for months without being detected, then enter the mall in large numbers with a large amount of ammunition enough to sustain them for four days, then eventually manage to escape unnoticed leaving a few of them to finish the evil task.”
-0- PANA AR/VAO 28Sept2013
As they made a continuous coverage of the event, including the losses and sufferings of its immediate victims, the Tanzanian papers warned the public to be on the alert, recalling the 7 August 1998 bombing of the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam by a terrorist organisation that was linked to Osama bin Laden.
“No part of the world is exempt from international terrorism,” said the government-owned Daily News, describing the latest attack on a packed shopping centre as “despicable much as it is highly condemnable”.
“It doesn't need street interviews to illustrate the shock and anguish that the people of East Africa have received the shocking news of the sad event from the Kenyan capital,” the daily wrote in its editorial.
Daily News went on: “This incident must have surely prompted memories of the dastardly terrorist attacks on the American embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam that left more than 300 people killed and hundreds injured [on 7 August 1998].
“Kenya has once again become prey to agents of Al-Qaieda international terrorism, sending shock waives in a region long accustomed to peace and tranquility.”
The daily lauded Kenyan authorities for their swift move to rescue shoppers who were held hostage by the terrorists, noting that the country was “unfairly paying a price due to its international duty and humanitarian gesture to deploy its armed forces inside Somalia to stop terrorists from causing more mayhem.”
“The Kenyan attack is a wake-up call to our defence and security forces to be always on the alert, guard our borders and identify all suspicious characters in our midst,” the paper said, calling for strengthened security at all places where people gather in Tanzania.
Meanwhile, a Kiswahili language private daily, Nipashe, saw the terrorist act in Kenya as a challenge to Tanzania’s public security institutions.
The paper said that the attack on the Nairobi mall was not only frightening and saddening because of its victims, but it also threatened peace and security in the East African region.
“This is not the first time that Al Shabaab agents have been linked to such barbarism because in 2010 they committed a similar brutality in Kampala, Uganda, when football fans were gathered to watch the World Cup finals on TV screens. At least 79 people were killed and many others injured in the attacks,” the paper recalled.
“Together with the appeals being made to the international community to come up with a more effective strategy and means for countering Al Shabaab, it is high time for security forces in Tanzania to re-examine their capability to deal with such terrorism,” Nipashe suggested.
According to the paper, it was difficult to determine why terrorists went for Tanzania and Kenya in 1998, but what is obvious today is that recent attacks on Kenya and Uganda can as well be directed to Tanzania.
Kenya is being attacked for no other reason than standing firm against the acts of barbarism that Al Shabaab commits in Somalia and beyond the two countries’ common border.
“While the partner countries of the East African Community are enhancing regional economic cooperation, it is saddening to see their efforts being frustrated by people who regard peace as a nuisance,” said the paper.
While expressing sympathy for Kenyan neighbours, a columnist writing for another Tanzanian daily, The Citizen, said: “No doubt terrorists are highly-skilled in whatever they do, let alone being extremely determined, but it is hard to comprehend how the Kenyan Defence Forces could take four days to figure out how to end the siege.
“The police, just like the military, was equally unprepared, clearly incompetent forcing the government to seek help from Israel and elsewhere.”
According to the columnist, Kenyans have been hit so hard by the terrorists that all the East Africans feel the pain in bones, muscles and heart.
Although Al Shabaab, the self-declared Al Qaeda franchise, may have chosen Kenya as a target for their own reasons, coincidentally they had chosen one of the hapless countries in Africa in terms of defence, security and intelligence.
Reflecting on the background of the Kenyan intelligence service, which should have been the leader in uncovering this specific terrorist mission, the columnist said the country reformed its apparatus in 1998, changing it from the colonial-styled special branch of the police to a modern security and intelligence outfit.
“That itself tells a lot even without delving deeper, and no wonder Kenyans are asking how terrorists could plan for months without being detected, then enter the mall in large numbers with a large amount of ammunition enough to sustain them for four days, then eventually manage to escape unnoticed leaving a few of them to finish the evil task.”
-0- PANA AR/VAO 28Sept2013
