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National Security and Foreign Policy: Interventions, Regional Peace and Terrorism

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A Contemporary Analysis of Kenya’s Foreign Policy

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Abstract

This chapter addresses Kenya’s national security, through the lenses of the foreign policy sources and implications of security, the occasional perception of the need for intervention, Kenya’s role in global, continental, and particularly regional peacekeeping juxtaposed against its security interests, which often collide with its international obligations, and the growing susceptibility to the less discerning terrorism. Beginning with independence, the chapter examines Kenya's slow road to involvement in regional, continental, and global peace-keeping activities, driven by OAU and later AU's position on sovereignty and non-interference in the domestic affairs of other countries. It examines African deliberations and discourses regarding continental security infrastructure and administration. Among other issues was whether to have an African High Command, or some standing military force, particularly after the experiences of the first peacekeeping mission in Chad in the early 1980s. In the context of Kenya’s security, the chapter examines Kenya's foreign policy positions, effect from terrorism and susceptibility to external threats, including the traditional inter-state conflict. These range from Uganda’s own actions towards Kenya, and those of its ‘allies of convenience’ (i.e., the Palestinians, with attempted downing Israeli airliners and the Entebbe hostage crises) retaliation and Kenya being drawn into global security issues. The discussion examines the responses that often make it choose sides, then suffering for the same (e.g., the Norfolk Hotel bombing, Mombasa attacks, the US embassy bombing, among others). It also examines Kenya’s engagement with Somalia, its neighbor, perennial rival, and eternal nemesis. It also highlights the cost the country has paid for its foreign policy especially towards Somalia and more broadly, the Global War on Terrorism that includes Somalia.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Bruce Kuklick, “Killing Lumumba.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 158, No. 2 (2014): 144–52 http://www.jstor.org/stable/24640202

  2. 2.

    Monica Kathina Juma, Ed., Compendium of Key Documents Relating to Peace and Security in Africa, (Cape Town: ABC Press, 2006), 1.

  3. 3.

    Juma, Ed., Compendium of Key Documents, (2006), 2.

  4. 4.

    Monica Kathina Juma, Ed., Compendium of Key Documents Relating to Peace and Security in Africa, (Cape Town: ABC Press, 2006), 2.

  5. 5.

    Juma, Compendium of Key Documents, (2006), 2.

  6. 6.

    Juma, Compendium of Key Documents, (2006), 2.

  7. 7.

    Francis Kofi Abiew, “Article 4(h) intervention: problems and prospects,” In Dan Kuwali and Frans Viljoen, Eds., Africa and the Responsibility to Protect: Article 4(h) of the African Union Constitutive Act, (New York: Routledge, 2014), 131.

  8. 8.

    Chuka Onwumechili, African Democratization and Military Coups, (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1998), 107.

  9. 9.

    Onwumechili, African Democratization, (1998), 107.

  10. 10.

    Onwumechili, African Democratization, (1998), 107.

  11. 11.

    Adebayo Oyebade, “The End of the Cold War in Africa: Implications for Conflict Management and Resolution,” In Adebayo Oyebade and Abiodun Alao, Eds., Africa After the Cold War: The Changing Perspectives on Security, (Trenton: Africa World Press, Inc., 1998), 173–4.

  12. 12.

    Oyebade, “The End of the Cold War,” (1998), 174.

  13. 13.

    Chuka Onwumechili, African Democratization and Military Coups, (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1998).

  14. 14.

    Onwumechili, African Democratization, (1998), 106.

  15. 15.

    Onwumechili, African Democratization, (1998), 106.

  16. 16.

    US Department of State, US Department of State Dispatch, Department of State Publication 9804, Vol. 7, No. 27, July 1, (1996), 510.

  17. 17.

    US Department of State, US Department of State Dispatch, (1996), 510.

  18. 18.

    US Department of State, US Department of State Dispatch, (1996), 510.

  19. 19.

    US Department of State, US Department of State Dispatch, (1996), 510.

  20. 20.

    Christine D. Gray, International Law and the Use of Force, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), 398.

  21. 21.

    Gray, International Law, (2008), 398.

  22. 22.

    Gray, International Law, (2008), 398.

  23. 23.

    Terry M. Mays, Africa's First Peacekeeping Operation: The OAU in Chad, 1981–1982, (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2002), 2.

  24. 24.

    Timothy Parsons, The 1964 Army Mutinies and the Making of Modern East Africa, (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2003), 42.

  25. 25.

    Parsons, The 1964 Army Mutinies, (2003), 42.

  26. 26.

    Parsons, The 1964 Army Mutinies, (2003), 42.

  27. 27.

    Parsons, The 1964 Army Mutinies, (2003), 43.

  28. 28.

    Parsons, The 1964 Army Mutinies, (2003), 43.

  29. 29.

    Parsons, The 1964 Army Mutinies, (2003), 43.

  30. 30.

    Ministry of Defence, “Kenya’s Peace Keeping Missions,” Republic of Kenya—MOD, n.d., Accessed on 6/25/2023 from: https://mod.go.ke/kenyas-peace-keeping-missions/

  31. 31.

    Ministry of Defence, “Kenya’s Peace Keeping Missions,” (n.d.).

  32. 32.

    Ministry of Defence, “Kenya’s Peace Keeping Missions,” (n.d.).

  33. 33.

    Steven Carol, From Jerusalem to the Lion of Judah and Beyond: Israel’s Foreign Policy in East Africa, (Bloomington: iUniverse, Inc., 2012).

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    IDF Editorial Team, “Operation Entebbe,” Israeli Defense Forces—Wars and Operations, 2 January 2018, accessed on 6/25/2023 from: https://www.idf.il/en/mini-sites/wars-and-operations/operation-entebbe/

  35. 35.

    Simon Dunstan, Entebbe: The Most Daring Raid of Israel s Special Forces, (New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., 2011), 15.

  36. 36.

    Dunstan, Entebbe, (2011), 15.

  37. 37.

    Carol, From Jerusalem to the Lion of Judah, (2012), 257.

  38. 38.

    Dunstan, Entebbe, (2011), 15.

  39. 39.

    Marc E. Vargo, The Mossad: Six Landmark Missions of the Israeli Intelligence Agency, 1960–1990, (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2015), 179.

  40. 40.

    Dunstan, Entebbe, (2011), 17.

  41. 41.

    Dunstan, Entebbe, (2011), 30.

  42. 42.

    Dunstan, Entebbe, (2011), 30.

  43. 43.

    R. G. Gidadhubli, “Russia after Beslan,” Economic and Political Weekly. Vol. 39, No. 43 (2004): 4704 http://www.jstor.org/stable/4415705

  44. 44.

    Robert Bonnet, Stargazers, (Conneaut Lake, PA: Page Publishing, Inc., 2020).

  45. 45.

    Dunstan, Entebbe, (2011), 58.

  46. 46.

    Carol, From Jerusalem to the Lion of Judah, (2012), 247.

  47. 47.

    Carol, From Jerusalem to the Lion of Judah, (2012), 247.

  48. 48.

    Carol, From Jerusalem to the Lion of Judah, (2012), 247.

  49. 49.

    R. G. Grant, 1001 Battles That Changed the Course of History, (New York: Chartwell Books, 2011).

  50. 50.

    House of Representatives, Should the United States Significantly Increase Its Foreign Military Commitments? Intercollegiate Debate Topic, 1980–1981, Pursuant to Public Law 88—246, House of Representatives/96th Congress/2nd Session/Document 96–366, (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1980), 23.

  51. 51.

    House of Representatives, Should the United States Significantly Increase, (1980), 23.

  52. 52.

    Bruce Wayne Henion, USS Coral Sea CV-42 CVB-43 CVA-43 and CV-43 History and Those Aircraft Carriers Operating With Coral Sea During Her Tour of Service and a Tour of Duty in the U.S. Navy (August 1977 to February 1983), (Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse, 2008).

  53. 53.

    US Navy, Naval Aviation News, Vol. 75, No. 6 (September–October 1993), 12.

  54. 54.

    John-Mark Iyi, Humanitarian Intervention and the AU-ECOWAS Intervention Treaties Under International Law: Towards a Theory of Regional Responsibility to Protect, (Cham: Springer, 2016), 4.

  55. 55.

    United Nations General Assembly, “Resolution Adopted by the General Assembly—[on the report of the Sixth Committee (A/49/743)],” Forty-ninth session, Agenda item 142, A/RES/49/60, (17 February 1995), 4, accessed on 6/26/2023 from: https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N95/768/19/PDF/N9576819.pdf.

  56. 56.

    United Nations, “The Arab Convention For The Suppression Of Terrorism,” The Arab League, (April 1998), 2, Accessed on 6/26/2023 from: https://www.unodc.org/images/tldb-f/conv_arab_terrorism.en.pdf.

  57. 57.

    United Nations Digital Library, “Security Council resolution 1566 (2004) on Threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts,” United Nations Security Council, (59th Year: 2004), S/RES/1566 (2004), 5053rd Meeting, 8 October 2004, accessed on 6/26/2023 from: https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/532676?ln=en.

  58. 58.

    D. Pal S. Ahluwalia, Post-colonialism and the Politics of Kenya, (New York: Nova Science Publishers, 1996), 75.

  59. 59.

    Irving Kaplan, Margarita K. Dobert, Barbara J. Marvin, James L. McLaughlin and Donald P. Whitaker, Area Handbook for Kenya, (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1976), 383.

  60. 60.

    Wunyabari O. Maloba, The Anatomy of Neo-Colonialism in Kenya: British Imperialism and Kenyatta, 1963–1978, (Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017), 262.

  61. 61.

    Maloba, The Anatomy of Neo-Colonialism, (2017), 263.

  62. 62.

    Maloba, The Anatomy of Neo-Colonialism, (2017), 263.

  63. 63.

    Maloba, The Anatomy of Neo-Colonialism, (2017), 263–4.

  64. 64.

    Raymond Muhula, “Kenya and the Global War on Terrorism: Searching for a New Role in a New War,” In John Davis, Ed., Africa and the War on Terrorism, (New York: Routledge, 2016), 54.

  65. 65.

    Anders Oehlenschlæger, The Kakamega Incident, (Copenhagen: Books on Demand GmbH, 2013), 177.

  66. 66.

    Oehlenschlæger, The Kakamega Incident, (2013), 177.

  67. 67.

    John Davis, “Introduction: Africa's Road to the War on Terror,” In John Davis, Ed., Africa and the War on Terrorism, (New York: Routledge, 2016), 7.

  68. 68.

    Davis, “Introduction: Africa's Road,” (2016), 7.

  69. 69.

    David W. Throup, “Kenya’s Intervention in Somalia,” Center for Strategic and International Studies, 16 February, 2012, Accessed on 6/26/2023 from: https://www.csis.org/analysis/kenyas-intervention-somalia.

  70. 70.

    Luckystar Miyandazi, “Kenya’s military intervention in Somalia: An intricate process,” ACCORD, 11 November, 2012, Accessed on 6/26/2023 from: https://www.accord.org.za/publication/kenya-s-military-intervention-in-somalia/

  71. 71.

    David K. Tarus and Gordon L. Heath, “Introduction,” In David K. Tarus and Gordon L. Heath, Eds., Christian Responses to Terrorism: The Kenyan Experience, (Hamilton, ON: McMaster Divinity College Press, 2017), 6.

  72. 72.

    John Campbell, “Justice, Terrorism, and Nairobi's Westgate Mall,” Council on Foreign Relations, 9 October 2020, Accessed on 6/26/2023 https://www.cfr.org/blog/justice-terrorism-and-nairobis-westgate-mall.

  73. 73.

    Paul Cruickshank, “Learning terror: the evolving threat of overseas training to the West,” In Magnus Ranstorp and Magnus Normark, Eds., Understanding Terrorism Innovation and Learning: Al-Qaeda and Beyond, (New York: Routledge, 2015).

  74. 74.

    Tarus and Heath, “Introduction,” (2017), 6.

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  1. Norfolk State University, Norfolk, Virginia, USA

    Stephen Magu

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Magu, S. (2024). National Security and Foreign Policy: Interventions, Regional Peace and Terrorism. In: A Contemporary Analysis of Kenya’s Foreign Policy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-67344-3_6

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