On Saturday, terrorists attacked Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya. Sixty-one victims have been confirmed dead after President Uhuru Kenyatta announced yesterday that the four-day attack is over.
Staff writer Kate Grise spoke with Bereket Selassie, a UNC professor of African studies, about the attacks and potential repercussions for the region and the United States.
The Daily Tar Heel: Can you give me a run down of what happened in Nairobi, Kenya over the past few days?
Bereket Selassie: (Westgate) is a very popular mall. It is new, but it is where many middle class people gather to have coffee, to meet as family and friends and so on. So from the point of view of the terrorist, it was a well-chosen place for maximum damage, as they imagined.
Apparently, (in addition to the civilian deaths) there have also been deaths among the security people who were sent to rescue the victims — the hostages — so it is evolving.
We don’t know the exact details, but President Uhuru Kenyatta made a speech yesterday in which he said the attack is over. He made a very emotional statement about how sad and tragic this event was, but that he assured the international community and the people of his nation that the terrorists will not prevail and that they will continue to fight against terrorism.
DTH: Can you tell me more about the group responsible for the attacks, al-Shabaab?
BS: The word ‘shabaab’ means youth in Arabic. They are mostly under 30, some even in their late teenage years. These are people who are connected to al-Qaeda, and they have been beaten back to one remote area by the new government of Somalia.
The president of Somalia came to give a speech at the United Nations … (and said) he’s quite confident that they will be defeated.