( CNN ) The terrorist group Al-Shabaab has claimed an attack on Garissa University College in eastern Kenya , in which many people have been killed and still more taken hostage . The attack is another step in the ongoing escalation of the terrorist group 's activities , and a clear indicator that the security situation in East Africa is deteriorating fast . Somalia-based Al-Shabaab has been behind a string of recent attacks in Kenya , the most well-known of them being the massacre at the Westgate Shopping Centre in Nairobi in 2013 . Cross-border raids into Kenya by the group , however , date back to 2011 . Al-Shabaab incursions triggered a military response by the government in Nairobi , which sent troops to Somalia as part of an African Union mission in support of Somalia 's internationally recognized government that had been under pressure from Al-Shabaab and other militants for several years . Al-Shabaab is predominantly driven by the same radical interpretation of the Koran as al-Qaeda and ISIS ( also known as Islamic State ) , but also employs more opportunistic approaches to shoring up local support . Its origins lie in Al-Ittihad al-Islami ( Unity of Islam ) , one of several militant factions that emerged in the wake of the fall of Siad Barre in 1991 . These disparate groups fought each other and a U.N. peacekeeping mission in the Somali civil war that led to the complete collapse of the country , from which it has yet to recover almost quarter of a century later . Al-Shabaab ( literally `` the Youth '' ) split from Unity of Islam in 2003 and merged with another radical Islamist group , the so-called Islamic Courts Union . As their alliance obtained control of Somalia 's capital Mogadishu in 2006 , Ethiopia , the only majority Christian country in the region , took military action against the group . The offensive weakened Al-Shabaab and pushed it back into the rural areas of central and southern Somalia , but it failed to defeat it . To the contrary , Ethiopia 's invasion and occupation of parts of Somalia -- although invited by the Somali government and backed by the African Union -- enabled Al-Shabaab to partially re-invent itself as both an Islamist and nationalist force opposing a foreign `` Christian '' invasion . Initially , the group primarily attacked Ethiopian forces , but soon began to `` expand '' its activities against the Somali government as well . The first attack outside Somalia was an attack in the Ugandan capital of Kampala in 2010 . Soon after this , cross-border raids in Kenya began , predominantly targeting Christians there . Increasing its links with al-Qaeda , Al-Shabaab declared its full allegiance in 2012 -- and it is not clear whether it will switch allegiances to ISIS . Much will depend on how the relationships between al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula ( AQAP ) , a long-time ally of Al-Shabaab based in Yemen , and ISIS develop . The key point is that Al-Shabaab 's attack in Garissa is part of a broader regional context of instability fueled by a huge number of factors . It must not be interpreted simply as another act of garden-variety fundamentalist terrorism . Clearly , the presence and activities of terrorist groups in the region is a major concern , and it is undoubtedly driven by radical and exclusivist interpretations of Islam . But the entire region also suffers from a range of other problems : from economic development challenges to environmental degradation ; from organized crime to inter-tribal and inter-communal violence ; from corruption to serious deficits in human rights and good governance . These entrenched inequalities help Al-Shabaab appeal to a wide variety of potential recruits , who may sympathize with and actively support the group for any number of reasons . Attacking a university in northern Kenya and separating Christian from Muslim students epitomizes the way Al-Shabaab advances itself by exploiting religious , tribal and nationalist identities . Ultimately , though , this all comes down to a struggle for control -- over people , over territory , and over resources . As long as the majority of people in the region remain excluded from any meaningful political , economic , and social participation in their societies -- which are dominated by primarily self-interested elites that put their own advance before that of their communities -- human lives matter little in the pursuit of selfish interests . It is important to counter Al-Shabaab directly , including by military means . But there wo n't be any lasting solution to the wider region 's security problems without a more comprehensive and concerted effort to address the deeper problems of exclusion suffered by the citizens of the countries challenged by Al-Shabaab . As Garissa shows , these problems are still providing oxygen for nihilistic ideologies and their deadly fruit . Copyright 2015 The Conversation . Some rights reserved .
Terrorist group Al-Shabaab has attacked a Kenyan college , killing and taking hostages . It is a clear indicator the security situation in East Africa is deteriorating , says Stefan Wolff . German : Die Kommission hat sich dazu verpflichtet, die humanitäre Hilfe