UK terror list: Makaburi, Rogo still inspire terrorism

Although they are long dead, Sheikh Aboud Rogo and Sheikh Sharif Ahmed alias Makaburi are still listed as threats on the latest United Kingdom (UK) list of sanctioned and designated terrorists.

Makaburi was killed on April 1, last year while Rogo was gunned down on August 27, 2012.

The two were suspected of plotting various terror attacks in Mombasa and Nairobi. In July 2012, both were placed on UN and US sanctions lists.

The report also says an Ethiopian terror suspect born in Garissa and holding a Kenyan passport is a leading terrorist in the region.

Makaburi‘s name appears first while Rogo‘s is the 12th on a list published on the UK‘s Foreign and Commonwealth Office website on March 3. The report does not state why Makaburi and Rogo remain on this list or are still considered people of concern in the war against terror.

Other key but dead terrorists like Fazul Harun Abdullah are not on the list. A 2013 UN report on terrorism in Somalia suggested that although terrorists may die, they still exert influence from the grave through assets or associates. The 2013 UN report, compiled about a year after Rogo‘s death, says the slain radical cleric was „kept on the list pending clarity about his assets and given the ongoing investigations into Al Hijra and the activities of Mr Rogo‘s former associates.“

The report identified Rogo‘s associates as Makaburi and detained British terror suspect Jermaine Grant, alleging that through Al Hijra, an alleged Kenyan franchise of Al-Shabaab based in Nairobi‘s Pumwani slums, these two had, after Rogo‘s murder, exerted control of Al-Shabaab in East Africa and extended its influence into Burundi and Tanzania.

Makaburi was accused of lending material support to Pumwani‘s Riyadha Mosque and Al Hijra, which he denied.

Meanwhile, intelligence sources in Mombasa said some of Makaburi‘s relatives live in the UK. Early last year, intelligence sources discovered that Grant and four other detainees at Shimo la Tewa Prison were planning a jail break and had roped in a civil servant and key members of the controversial Musa Mosque in Mombasa.

Yesterday, an intelligence officer told The Standard on Sunday that cells created by Rogo and Makaburi remain active. The officer claimed many of those detained over terror are ideologically and financially linked to Rogo and Makaburi.