The Failures of Hashtag-tivism: #NousNeSommesPasGarissa?

Less than two weeks have passed since an Al-Shabaab attack on Garissa University in Kenya claimed 148 lives, largely students of the university, and already Kenya has faded from the headlines faster than you can say “Je Suis Garissa.” The attack raised fears of further strikes in Kenya, however, and a power transformer explosion mistaken for a terrorist attack at the University of Nairobi over the weekend caused a stampede that killed one and injured more than 100.

Kenyans mourn the victims of the Garissa attack.

This is the second major Al-Shabaab attack in the last two years, and the worst since the Westgate Mall attack in 2013 claimed 67 lives. A smaller Al-Shabaab attack on a quarry near the border last December also killed at least 36 people. Al-Shabaab is an Al Qaeda-linked terrorist group operating out of Somalia that grew out of the Islamic Courts Union, a relatively stable central government that was kicked out of Mogadishu by an international intervention in 2011. Al-Shabaab has been targeting Kenya ever since the country joined the African Union peacekeeping force in 2011, and transformed from a governing body into a terrorist group.

Terror in Kenya: A Firsthand Account from Nairobi

On April 15, 2013, shock hit me as I sat at work reading 140 unbelievable characters on Twitter. Tweets claiming that a bomb had gone off at the finish line of the Boston Marathon were unbelievable. Immediately I scrambled, were my friends OK? Who was in that area? What is the situation? Information could not come quickly enough to my office across the river in Cambridge.

On September 21, 2013, I was enjoying the largest rugby tournament in Kenya just north of Nairobi, when I received a call informing me there were gunshots near Westgate Mall in Westlands, Nairobi (.5 miles from the city center). Not thinking too much of it, I pledged I would avoid that area and be vigilant about my security the rest of the day. The rugby tournament turned out to be an amazing event with over 45,000 Kenyans attending, mostly between the ages of 18-35. It was lively, welcoming, and fun.

One my way back home, I was required to pass through Westlands, the part of town where the attack was occurring. Besides minimal traffic for a Saturday night, nothing seemed to be out of place. The bars two miles away from Westlands seemed full judging by their parking lots. I wouldn’t have suspected that a hostage situation with 30 plus dead (at the time) was ongoing within walking distance.

Smoke rises from the Westgate Mall. Courtesy AP.

Immediately, when getting home I realized the gravity of the situation: the numbers of the dead, the hostage situation, the ongoing nature of the conflict, and the possibility that someone I worked with or knew was in the building. Westgate is one of the most popular malls in the city. The news has not exaggerated its popularity. It’s probably the most well maintained shopping center and has some of the best restaurants in town. It’s a classic place to go for lunch during the week, perhaps because the restaurants would rival Europe and the US.  I found myself often having a meeting over coffee at ArtCaffe or Java, and often found myself at the Sushi restaurant Onami, which is one of my Somali colleague’s favorite places to go.