Uhuru Kenyatta disregards al-Shabaab claims it carried out twin strikes that left 60 dead and instead blames “local political networks”
Back-to-back attacks close to Kenya’s
coast that killed 60 people over two days were the work of local political
activists and not international terrorists, Kenya’s president has said.
In a live televised statement, Uhuru Kenyatta ignored claims from Somalia’s
al-Qaeda army that it was behind the raids and instead attempted to shore up
his political standing by blaming opposing politicians.
“Local political networks” had arranged the “ethnic violence” to force people
from Mr Kenyatta’s Kikuyu tribe from the town that was targeted, Mpeketoni
near Lamu. He named no one and gave no details of investigations against
anyone.
There was immediate disbelief and outrage at the president’s statement in
Lamu, the string of islands popular with international tourists that lie to
the east of Mpeketoni.
He is crazy, he is trying to turn all Kenya against him and his Kikuyus. This
is like 2007,” said Hassan Ahmed Ali, a retired bank worker watching Mr
Kenyatta’s speech in Lamu. He referred to the intertribal violence that
swept Kenya following the 2007 elections.
Fears of a return to similar ethnic tensions and worries over terrorism have triggered growing concerns over the safety of the world’s favourite safari destination.
Although tourists were not the targets of the attacks in Mpeketoni on Sunday and Monday nights, al-Shabaab, the regional affiliate of al-Qaeda, warned that “Kenya is officially a war zone”.
Hotels on the country’s beaches were already struggling following new travel advice from Britain and others. Safari guides also now worry that the recent terror attacks could cause a ripple inland and keep tourists away.
“I’d already had half of my clients for this year cancel,” said Isaac Rotich, one of Kenya’s leading private safari guides.
“All of us are worried. It’s very difficult to reassure people. We are vulnerable and we need to see much better security measures in place not just at malls in Nairobi, but all over the country, including in the national parks.”
Tourism drives more than 10 per cent of the economy, and supports more than half a million jobs.
However, senior tourism industry figures have tried to reassure tourists that national parks and wilderness areas are far off the Islamists’ radar.
No successful terror attack has specifically targeted tourists since 2002, when al-Qaeda sent a suicide bomber into a hotel north of Mombasa popular with Israelis, and simultaneously tried and failed to down a holiday jet bound for Tel Aviv.
Residents make a bonfire to barricade a main road as they protest
(Joseph Okanga/ Reuters)
But the Westgate Shopping Centre siege in the capital, Nairobi, last September
appeared designed to include foreigners among its victims.
An improvised bomb left in a hotel near Mombasa in May failed to explode as planned but suggested terrorists once again planned to strike hotels.
“We only need one more of those to succeed, and we’re off the map for half a decade or more,” one hotelier in Lamu said privately.
Axel Lohwasser owns Kilima Camp in the Masai Mara, part of a small group of Kenyan boutique lodges in national parks, Nairobi and at Msambweni on the coast.
“People are calling and asking, ’Is it really safe’,” he said. “Nowhere can be completely safe, but really everything is being done to ensure there is no risk in the safari areas.
“Kenya has had problems before, the visitors come back. This time, unless there is some other Westgate, or a bomb in a tourist hotel, it will be just the same.”
The Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) pointed out that the two attacks this week took place in areas with “no international tourist facilities” and said that nearby Lamu was “in no way affected”.
“Tourism activity continues as normal throughout the country with holidaymakers visiting the country’s safari circuits and popular coastal resorts of Diani, Malindi, Watamu, Kilifi and Lamu,” the KTB said in a statement.
Kenya’s government is aggressively selling the country as a holiday destination to new markets in Asia, which will help cushion losses from Britain, Europe and the US.
The number of Britons visiting Kenya fell from a peak of 203,290 in 2011 to 149,699 last year, the KTB said.
Between 2009 and 2012, the number of visitors from China more than doubled from 20,339 to 41,303, although the figure dipped slightly in 2013.
Fears of a return to similar ethnic tensions and worries over terrorism have triggered growing concerns over the safety of the world’s favourite safari destination.
Although tourists were not the targets of the attacks in Mpeketoni on Sunday and Monday nights, al-Shabaab, the regional affiliate of al-Qaeda, warned that “Kenya is officially a war zone”.
Hotels on the country’s beaches were already struggling following new travel advice from Britain and others. Safari guides also now worry that the recent terror attacks could cause a ripple inland and keep tourists away.
“I’d already had half of my clients for this year cancel,” said Isaac Rotich, one of Kenya’s leading private safari guides.
“All of us are worried. It’s very difficult to reassure people. We are vulnerable and we need to see much better security measures in place not just at malls in Nairobi, but all over the country, including in the national parks.”
Tourism drives more than 10 per cent of the economy, and supports more than half a million jobs.
However, senior tourism industry figures have tried to reassure tourists that national parks and wilderness areas are far off the Islamists’ radar.
No successful terror attack has specifically targeted tourists since 2002, when al-Qaeda sent a suicide bomber into a hotel north of Mombasa popular with Israelis, and simultaneously tried and failed to down a holiday jet bound for Tel Aviv.
An improvised bomb left in a hotel near Mombasa in May failed to explode as planned but suggested terrorists once again planned to strike hotels.
“We only need one more of those to succeed, and we’re off the map for half a decade or more,” one hotelier in Lamu said privately.
Axel Lohwasser owns Kilima Camp in the Masai Mara, part of a small group of Kenyan boutique lodges in national parks, Nairobi and at Msambweni on the coast.
“People are calling and asking, ’Is it really safe’,” he said. “Nowhere can be completely safe, but really everything is being done to ensure there is no risk in the safari areas.
“Kenya has had problems before, the visitors come back. This time, unless there is some other Westgate, or a bomb in a tourist hotel, it will be just the same.”
The Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) pointed out that the two attacks this week took place in areas with “no international tourist facilities” and said that nearby Lamu was “in no way affected”.
“Tourism activity continues as normal throughout the country with holidaymakers visiting the country’s safari circuits and popular coastal resorts of Diani, Malindi, Watamu, Kilifi and Lamu,” the KTB said in a statement.
Kenya’s government is aggressively selling the country as a holiday destination to new markets in Asia, which will help cushion losses from Britain, Europe and the US.
The number of Britons visiting Kenya fell from a peak of 203,290 in 2011 to 149,699 last year, the KTB said.
Between 2009 and 2012, the number of visitors from China more than doubled from 20,339 to 41,303, although the figure dipped slightly in 2013.
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