| Thursday, February 08, 2007 |
| Rising violence in Kenya: US, UN issue travel advisories |
An increase in the crime rate in Kenya has compelled the United States and the United Nations to issue travel advisories to US citizens and UN employees, respectively, visiting the country.
In separate statements, both the US and the UN condemned the high rate of insecurity in Nairobi, the capital, and other parts of Kenya.
"Violent criminal attacks, including armed carjacking and home invasions and burglary, can occur at any time and in any location, and are becoming increasingly frequent. The Kenyan authorities have limited capacity to deter and investigate such attacks," a statement from the US Embassy in Nairobi said.
The advisory was distributed to thousands of delegates attending an international conference at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), headquartered in Nairobi.
Both the US and the UN are alarmed by increasing violent attacks on diplomats by armed gangsters. In the last one month alone, 53 people, among them an American woman and her daughter, have been killed in carjacking incidents.
Several other diplomats have been seriously injured in violent robberies and incidents of carjacking.
But diplomats are not the only target. In the first week of February 2007, young gangsters murdered Professor Job Bwayo, Kenya's leading AIDS researcher and university don. Prof Bwayo was the lead researcher at the ongoing HIV/AIDS vaccine trials being jointly conducted by the Kenya Aids Vaccine Initiative (KAVI), the Oxford University, and the United States National Institute of Health.
The US has, in act, maintained a travel advisory against Kenya since 1998, the focus has mainly been on terrorism. In August 1998, US embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam were simultaneously bombed by suspected Al-Qaeda terrorists, resulting in the deaths of about 300 people, most of them Kenyans and Tanzanians.
In November 2002, terrorists struck at an Israeli-owned hotel located in coastal Kenya, in which 15 people lost their lives.
The negative travel advisories have always hurt the Kenyan tourism industry, a leading foreign exchange earner.
Following Wednesday's travel advisory, the Kenya government accused the US and the UN of blowing matters out of proportion, stressing that South Africa is more violent-prone than Kenya, yet no travel advisories have been issued against it.
Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki has ordered the police to seize illegal arms in an effort to check the rising tide of insecurity. He said the country has the capacity to deal with crime.
However, both Kibaki's Cabinet colleagues and the Opposition have demanded the resignation of Security Minister John Michuki following the rising sense of insecurity in the country.Labels: Travel |
| posted by a correspondent @ 11:19 PM |
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