Terrorism and Critical Infrastructure in East Africa: Threat Dynamics and Security Responses in Kenya, Tanzania, and Somalia

This paper will look into how terrorist actors strategically target critical infrastructure in East Africa and specifically in Kenya, Somalia and Tanzania. It contends that infrastructure attacks are not devoid of purpose, but are planned actions that are influenced by political context, state capacity and opportunity structures. By adhering to a qualitative comparative design and a document-based study, the piece of research creates specific threat pathways in the three cases. In Somalia, state-undermining efforts are carried out through infrastructure attacks that are a part of a more extensive insurgency. In Kenya, the infrastructure is aimed at causing disruption in the economy and political pressure, and this is usually associated with a military action in the region. Tanzania is more secretive in its approach to threats, placing more focus on facilitation networks, recruitment, and slow penetration as opposed to direct attack. The results indicate that target selection is not exclusively motivated by ideology but is based on strategic choice, and infrastructure provides a great symbolic and economic payoff. The research advances the current body of knowledge on terrorism by applying the strategic choice theory, opportunity structures and symbolic legitimacy and the importance of context specific security measures to ensure the security of critical infrastructures in the rapidly growing and vulnerable.