The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2014

42 JULY-AUGUST 2014 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL The Consequences of War Unfold The war gradually made itself felt in Nairobi. The first wave of terrorist reprisals by al-Shabaab was a series of poorly executed grenade attacks that only killed one or two, but stirred palpable fear. After all, violent attacks once reserved for distant, tiny towns along the Somali border were now happening in the crown jewel of East Africa, the most modern and progressive city on this side of the continent. Still, they were confined to impoverished andmarginalized sections of the city—far from the rich andmiddle-class havens of the “other Nairobi” located west of Moi Avenue, the road cutting across the central business district that has become symbolic of the city’s social divide. East of Moi Avenue is characterized by conges- tion, dirtier streets and less safe neighborhoods; west of it are tall, modern buildings housing nongovernmental organizations and corporations from all over the world, glamorous night life, mani- cured lawns and, of course, shopping malls. As the attacks increased over the next year, security measures increased. The guards (“askaris”) who once stood outside the doors of supermarkets and office buildings armed with little more than nightsticks and flashlights, added hand-heldmetal detectors to their arsenal. These were meant to deter the potential grenade attacker through early detection of the device, should it be hidden in a pocket or a handbag. Each person was to be screened before entering a building. Because the number of people to be screened was very high and the procedure was cumbersome, it came to be seen as some- thing of a formality meant only to give the impression that the organization was up to date on security. One could easily tell that the poorly paid security guards had no idea of what, exactly, they were looking for and were powerless to stop an attack in any case. (Kenyan security guards do not carry guns.) Meanwhile, the attacks were becoming more sophisticated. In one, at a busy section of Moi Avenue, an improvised explosive device went off inside a building that housed a number of stalls where shopkeepers sold clothes andmobile phone handsets. Just one person was killed, but the fact that it had occurred in the heart of the business district—closer to the “other Nairobi” than ever before—set off alarmbells. As reflected in the Kenyan press, only good news came from Somalia: the terrorists had been decimated and were now on the run, reduced from a rebel faction to a mere insurgency, greatly weakened by the overwhelming force of our troops under the banner of the African Union. The reality of how close jihad had come to our doorstep never fully evaporated from the back of our minds. Yet life went on as if none of the attacks had ever happened. It wasn’t that we didn’t knowwe were in the crosshairs; we just preferred not to speak about it. The Bubble Bursts On the afternoon of Sept. 21, 2013, however, that became impossible. When gunmen enteredWestgate Mall brandishing heavy weapons and ammunition strapped across their chests, witnesses are reported to have thought it was an ordinary bank robbery. This idea was shattered when the terrorists began indis- criminately shooting in every direction, killing dozens and leaving dozens more injured in their path. Suddenly, the words “Westgate” and “Nairobi” began trending on Twitter worldwide. Tweets could also be read fromdesperate survivors trapped inside the mall. Police and ambulance sirens could be heard across the city as emergency services rushed to the scene. The rest of the country watched the events unfold on their TV screens. We had been warned of this day, but it all seemed unreal. We were used to a bomb or a grenade going off and seeing footage of the destruction afterwards. This time live television confronted us with the sounds of sporadic gunfire and victims, journalists, police and emergency medical technicians alike all shouting and ducking for cover. Nairobi’s cosmopolitan nature became evident in news footage showing people of every race and ethnicity running out of the mall. This may be one of the reasons the event drew somuch attention from international news agencies: the fact that along with Kenyans, people from their own countries may have been trapped in the mall. Another reason could have been the scene itself. Westgate Mall, in the leafy, upscale suburb of Westlands (west of Moi Avenue, of course), is a popular spot for middle-class and rich Kenyans and also for the expatriate community of journalists, tourists and employees of the United Nations and numerous other interna- tional NGOs operating in Nairobi. Inmany ways, Westgate epito- mizes the “other” Nairobi—an oasis of fine dining, coffee houses It wasn’t that we didn’t know we were in the crosshairs; we just preferred not to speak about it.