‘Good’ Shabaab - yaw-yaw over war-war - could be bad for Kenya and Uganda
Confining the attacks to northeastern Kenya and the borderlands means they don’t make the news on TV or in newspapers. Therefore, the rest of Kenya doesn’t get so worked up over it.
The Economist recently reported that Al-Shabaab attacks on Mogadishu have drastically reduced, with attacks dropping from 144 in the third quarter of 2022 to only five in the second quarter of 2026, highlighting a significant shift in regional security dynamics.
Security officials attribute the improvement to stronger intelligence and operations by Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency, but that could be the government claiming credit for something it is only partially responsible for: Al-Shabaab positioning itself for a political settlement.
