ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how Al-Shabaab threatens internal and external security in Kenya, the local triggers of violent extremism, the security measures that the government has put in place to counter violent extremism and the role of the media in the war on terror in Kenya. The chapter traces the historical dynamics of violent extremism in Kenya from the 1998 bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi up to the most recent, which was the January 2020 Riverside attack in Nairobi. It is argued that Al-Shabaab exploits the apparent socio-economic inequalities and the historical marginalization and exclusion of minority groups in Kenya to popularize its extremist ideologies.
