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Issue 20: The Threat of Kenyan Al Shabab Recruits and Returnees

Photo Credits: The Threat of Kenyan Al Shabab Recruits and Returnees
Content by HORN Institute
Published February 27, 2026

This brief explores the question of radicalization, recruitment, and involvement of Kenyan youth in al Shabab’s terror. It examines motivations behind these trends and pathways to recruitment of Kenyan youth by foreign terrorist groups. To stop home-grown terror, Kenya should roll out a comprehensive Counter Violent Extremism (CVE) strategy which includes expanding access to education for formerly marginalized regions, establishing an effective community policing architecture, offering amnesty for Kenyans recruited into al Shabab, accompanying the amnesty with DDR programs, monitoring the movement of Kenyan youth to and from Somalia, promoting social cohesion and inter-faith relations, and mainstreaming CVE education in schools and institutions of higher learning.

The HORN International Institute for Strategic Studies is a non-profit, applied research and policy think-do tank focusing on research and providing evidence-based analysis and strategic interventions to address political, security, economic, and environmental challenges affecting the greater Horn of Africa region.

© 2026 by The HORN International Institute for Strategic Studies. All rights reserved.

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