Based on a profound insight on the unsecure situation in Kenya and other conflict affected countries in Sub-Saharan-Africa, lessons and implications for Namibia have been discussed.

Guest speaker Miriam Tandy Ombogo from Kenya gave the attendees an insight on the daily life experience in Kenya and started the discussion on the situation in southern Africa concerning security. Dr.Bernd Althusmann (KAS Director) and Dennis Zaire (Programme Coordinator) opened the evening with a short overview of facts on the main conflict zones in Sub-Saharan-Africa. Besides the conflict with Boko Haram in Nigeria, the civil wars in Congo and Sudan and the terrorist attacks by Al-Shabaab in East-Africa have been addressed.

In order to get a better insight on the situation in East-Africa Mrs.Ombogo described the daily life and political situation in Kenya.

Kenya has been heavily affected by the engagement in the Somalian Civil War. Al-Shabaab, a terrorist organisation close connected to Al-Qaeda, chose Kenya as a main target for terrorist attacks. Due to an internal political instability connected to the post-election violence 2006 and the external threats, daily life in Kenya changed significantly over the last decade. Security checks, police controls and bomb-checks on private cars are normal daily experience for everyone living in Kenya. After years of peace, the terrorist attack and the internal situation have had drastic consequences on the economy and politics. International companies are shifting to Johannesburg as their preferred destination to do business. Some western countries have issued official travel-warnings which has a very negative impact on tourism.

To cope with a situation and to prepare for a similar scenario, the following discussion emphasised on the causes of these conflicts. At the end of the discussion there was consensus that most conflicts arise as a result of many factors both internal and external to the concerned country. The evening concluded on a positive note.