Samar Al-Bulushi is interviewed by Jaisal Noor on the recent Westgate mall terrorist attack by Al-Shabaab. Al-Bulushi argues that it is not widely known that the Kenyan government has arisen as a prominent partner of the US government in its war on terror

In a letter to Hollywood actor George Clooney regarding his activism on Sudan, Samar Al-Bulushi raises a number of concerns around the motives, accountability and politics behind the Satellite Sentinel Project.

The recent US bill aimed at achieving peace in Uganda by militarily eliminating the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) is rigorously critiqued by Samar Al-Bulushi. It is a bill, she argues, that will serve to prop up Uganda’s government. Al-Bulushi highlights the questionable origins of the bill: It is a response to the calls of a few US organisations – who coincidently emerged at the same time as AFRICOM – for peace in Uganda rather than the Ugandan people, who advocate non-violent paths to finding peace. She goes on to emphasise the vagueness of the US’s strategy to bring about this peace. And she aptly points out that, in supporting the Ugandan government, the US is buffering a regime that not only has a poor human rights record, but has actively prevented peace in Uganda. Al-Bulushi concludes that ‘Propping up a militaristic regime risks not only exacerbating the conflict, but also deflecting attention away from crucial discussions and demands for internal reform.’