Is al-Shabaab forcing teens to join its fighting ranks?

Somali-based terror group al-Shabaab has started to forcibly recruit youths in Kenya, according to the country’s chief of defense forces. But analysts are skeptical, claiming the report is part of the Kenyan government’s strategy to shut down Dadaab, the world’s largest refugee camp.

Gen. Samson Mwathethe said youths in the East African region are starting to lose interest in joining al-Shabaab. The terror group has resorted to coercing youths to join the fighting, especially around Kenya’s coastal region, Mwathethe said.

“Terror groups like al-Shabaab have changed their tactics of recruiting and training people,” he claimed. “Apart from the normal process of radicalizing the youth, the groups have now shifted to actually forcing the youths to join them.”

Mwathethe told Kenyan communities to remain vigilant, as the country continues to face threats. He said the Kenyan government is determined to hunt down remaining al-Shabaab members in the country.

The radical Islamic militants, whose insurgency began in Somalia, have carried out attacks across several East African countries. The group continues to target Kenya and other countries contributing troops to the African Union peacekeeping force combating the terror group.

Ebrahim Deen, a researcher with the South Africa-based Afro Middle East Center, said Mwathethe’s claim fits the official Kenyan narrative about the need to shut down Dadaab, which hosts mainly Somalis.

“Al-Shabaab no doubt has some sympathizers, but the statement has more to do with Kenya’s attempt to close down Dadaab,” Deen said. “I don’t think al-Shabaab would want to do that, and I don’t think it has the capacity to do it.”

Kenyan officials in May announced the plan to close Dadaab, home to more than 328,000 refugees. Officials claim the camp serves as a recruitment center for al-Shabaab fighters. The plan prompted international criticism from several governments and humanitarian groups, who say it’s impractical.

“To force 340,000 people to a place where they have nothing, to go back after 25 years of absence, you wipe out all the goodwill that you have got from these refugees,” Somalia’s Ambassador to the United States, Ahmed Awad, told Aljazeera.