Kenya Shuts Down 500 Groups In Anti-terrorism Crackdown

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Kenya has shut down not  less than 500 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) including 15 groups it posits had links to financing terrorism, though critics opined that the government was silencing critics under the guise of security. Reuters report:

Kenya has been hit by a spate of attacks by Somali Islamist militants al Shabaab, including in September last year where gunmen killed 67 people at the Westgate shopping mall in the capital Nairobi, and two attacks in recent weeks near the country’s border with Somalia that killed 64 people.

Kenya’s NGOs Coordination Board, a state agency, said on Tuesday that “some groups were being used for criminal activities, including as conduits of terrorism financing in Kenya and the Horn of Africa”, but did not give their names.

It said it had also frozen the bank accounts for the NGOs and asked the government’s securities agencies to investigate them further.

The agency also revoked foreign staff work permits for the groups, while the rest were de-registered for non-compliance with the law, such as failing to file annual returns.