The young man, who we believe is an al Shabaab recruit,
glared at me.
"If it wasn't for the cleric being here with us, I would cut off your head," he said.
His view is not unusual among his particular Muslim group in
the Kenyan coastal town of Mombasa.
Here, Michael Adebolajo is considered a hero, while British
soldiers and even, in some quarters, British people, are considered justifiable
targets because of what is perceived to be the British Government's aggressive
involvement in Islamic countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq.
It is the same terror network which British intelligence
believes Adebolajo plugged into when he set off from south London to try to
join the al Shabaab fighting brigade in Somalia in 2010.
It is the same network and the same people which the British
woman Samantha Lewthwaite, also known as the White Widow, connected with and
moved amongst. Lewthwaite is being hunted by Interpol in connection with a
string of terror incidents in Kenya.
The cleric he is referring to tells me he isn't a cleric,
although everyone else says he is.
He is undoubtedly an influential leader and he has delivered
several speeches inside a number of mosques. He is known by most people in
Kenya as Makaburi, meaning grave in Swahili, although his real name is Abubaker
Shariff Ahmed.
He is named by the United Nations as a recruiter and
facilitator of al Shabaab. His response to that accusation when I put it to him
is always: "Let them prove it. There is no proof whatsoever I even know
anyone from al Shabaab."
His views, and those of the young men who dote on his words,
are astonishingly similar to the 'defence' put up in court by Adebolajo: that
he, and others like him, are soldiers of Allah, fighting a Holy war.
So the young man in front of us tells us with absolute
conviction: "Britain is killing Muslims all over the world - in Iraq, in
Afghanistan, in Pakistan. We are just defending ourselves. Adebolajo is a hero
and he will receive glory from Allah."
And in Kenya, a significant number of Muslims feel
persecuted and vulnerable.
They are the ones who are bitterly opposed to Kenya's
military involvement across the border in Somalia, where soldiers are trying to
stop the flood of al Shabaab recruits from crossing the border.
They believe Britain's support of that action - in words as
well as in deeds through their training of Kenyan troops - justifies attacks
against British soldiers, British targets, British interests.
Al Shabaab's claim that it carried out the attack on the
Westgate shopping centre in Nairobi in September which killed nearly 70 people
has made some Muslims in Kenya only feel more at risk and hunted.
It has resulted in much more intensive attention on the
activities on the coast in Mombasa and further afield in Lamu County - the
favoured route for radicalised youths to travel through to Somalia.
The residents of Faza island on the Lamu archipelago where
Adebolajo stayed when he was trying to reach Somalia were very reluctant to
talk to us. The few who did spoke in no uncertain terms about how virulently
against al Shabaab they are.
The island is very much off the tourist trail. It is
undeveloped and remote. A perfect cover for those who want to disappear under
the authorities' radar and make their way to Somalia. It seems inconceivable
that a young man from south London would be able to get around without some
help and guidance.
Senior Supt Samuel Obara, the head of Lamu East Border
Police, told Sky News the border - part water and part land - is porous and
difficult to monitor.
"We need international help," he said. "This
is an international problem and we need other countries to help us."
He went onto say many of the border villages and towns were
now 'cleansed' of al Shabaab.
"You can walk around here safely now," he said.
But he admits it is still being used as a route by
extremists wanting to reach al Shabaab in Somalia, and British intelligence
services believe there are several hundred Britons with links to the terror
network.
Most have gone on to fight in Syria but there are concerns
about those who may return to Britain, like Adebolajo, to carry out attacks on
home territory.
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