Katy Fentress, Nairobi Community Manager
The September 2013 Westgate crisis was the most recent in a slew of attacks that have rocked Kenya since it began military operations in Somalia two years ago.
The blame for this and previous attacks has generally been pinned on the Islamist group Al Shabaab, who claim to be retaliating against what for them is an unjust invasion and occupation of their country.
While Eastleigh, a neighborhood in the east of Nairobi that houses most of the city’s Somali immigrants, has borne the brunt of most of these attacks, residents have also experienced a rise in hostility from local Kenyans and harassment at the hands of the police.
Somalis in Nairobi live as urban refugees escaping from harsh realities back home. In their daily lives they invariably are affected to some degree by three overwhelming challenges. These, according to Kenyan-based film producer Vincenzo Cavallo, are discrimination, corruption, and terrorism.
In an attempt to address these three symbiotic challenges, a movie is currently being produced by Cultural Video Foundation (CVF), a Nairobi-based film production company that is run by Cavallo and fellow-filmmaker Alessandra Argenti, with the support of an Italian NGO called the International Committee for the Development of Peoples (CISP) and funding from the European Union.
The aim of the film, named Wazi FM, is to speak out about discrimination against Somali refugees at the hands of police and the connection between this and the rise in terrorist attacks. The film also attempts to send a message on the topic of corruption, as it highlights how it is this widespread practice that allows terrorists to cross the border into the Kenya in the first place.
In Cavallo’s view, in order to prevent future terrorist attacks in Kenya and Somalia, it is essential to find a way for refugee communities and the police to work together on reporting suspicious activities and building trust where at the moment there is none.
With Wazi FM, CVF has attempted to create a Kenyan Somali thriller. Filmed entirely in one location, the film is, according to Cavallo, a surreal take on the genre and one that aims to compete with commercial productions by providing the public with a breathtaking and compelling story.
The aim of the production is to speak to both Kenyans and Somalis about how it is corruption and not immigration that is the main cause of insecurity in the country. Allowing Kenyan authorities to keep on with the extortion, harassment, and targeting of Somalis residents only serves to increasingly marginalize them and to create fertile territory where would-be terrorists and attackers can operate.
Wazi FM was initially conceived as a twelve-episode TV series. Unfortunately, due to budgetary constraints, this was later cut down to a one-off feature film. CVF remains optimistic that they will succeed in broadening the reach of the show and that at some point it will be picked up by a local television channel brave enough to broadcast such a controversial message, or by an international distributor that is keen on covering sensitive topics of this kind.
Countries like Kenya that have signed the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights are required to uphold the rights of all people to liberty and security of person. They are also expected to guarantee non-discriminatory minority rights and equality before the law. It is thus imperative that the issue of corruption be adequately addressed both from the bottom up and through institutional processes, in order to guarantee that Kenyan citizens of Somali origin, and Somalis who are living in Kenya, are not subjected to discrimination on the part of those who are tasked with upholding their rights.
Photo credit: Lorenzo Misselari