Kenya Massacre Sparks Calls From Local Community Leaders For More Attention To Plight In Africa
By Dan Wing
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Following Thursday's massacre of nearly 150 people in Kenya, local African community leaders are calling for more attention to the ongoing struggles in Africa.
Dr. Eric Edi is president of the Philadelphia-based group AFRICOM, and he feels the tragedy in Kenya is an example of rising violence going on in many parts of Africa and the region in recent years, and the reasons why are numerous.
"Social-economic conditions in which people are living," Edi says, "it can be related to the unemployment rate, it can be related to despair due to deteriorating economic factors."
Dr. Edi feels that raising awareness is key, as is the involvement of the world community. He compares the attacks Thursday to the terrorist attacks on French satirical paper Charlie Hebdo, and the world-wide outrage and show of support that followed.
"It is my hope that the African leaders and world leaders can also support Kenya at this critical moment," Edi says, "because the number of people killed during that event is just phenomenal."
However he warns that a delicate balance is needed.
"For instance in Nigeria, or the Al-Shaabab group," he says, "that the reaction sometimes is from the involvement of foreign powers or western powers into the affairs of that country."
Dr. Edi feels that this is a good time for the African-union and the people of the nation to dedicate more resources and efforts to curbing this type of violence on their own.
