The secret formula: How African countries can combat terrorism

Kenyan soldiers. Photo: Forward.com

On Saturday morning I switched on my TV to see pictures of the horrible massacre as it happened in the Nairobi shopping mall in Kenya. Today, 62 people are dead and over 200 injured.
What is this world turning into? Today, no where is safe. It is risky to walk on the streets anywhere in the world. Acts of terror are now becoming so common place that it is quite sad. Why do people have to kill others in the name of religion? Why would anyone kill innocent people in cold blood? In 2013, one would have thought that such atrocities would have been long forgotten. 
Several countries including Nigeria have fallen prey to modern style 'Jihads' by Islamic sects such as Boko Haram and failed to contain these attacks. After three days of a stand off in Kenyan, the army is still not closer to ending this awful event.

So, is Africa fully equipped to combat this new wave of terrorist attacks?
Looking at video footage from Kenyan, the nation's soldiers look under dressed  - wearing camouflaged uniforms but without head protection or bullet-proof jackets, some even using hand guns.
Arms look outdated and not one military aircraft has been seen around the site of the Kenyan attack.

How can African countries fight terrorism?
Fighting terrorism successfully means that people will be safe to move around, to walk the streets, to go shopping, to sleep in their homes, to travel around the world in safety.  Without security, economic activities can not develop, poverty escalates and people even move away.

Next steps
In order to conquer terrorism, African countries need to revise their national and international policies,  focus on the needs of their people and secure the country with highly trained security force and modernized technological gadgets - fingerprinting and photo-recognition. Countries should stop meddling in each others matters and focus on their own growth and peace. African leaders must realise that Africa is made up of thousands of different people with different cultures. They should understand that the artificial borders created by the Europeans during the colonisation era, has forcibly put different peoples together - people with different cultures, agendas and ideologies. What Africans need to do now is to learn to live together peacefully and respecting each others differences.

Peace
For peace to prevail in Africa today, people should begin to love and tolerant each other.


Keeping safe:

• be aware
• look around 
• walk away when you see suspicious activity
• pray