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Kenya lashes out at the U.S., Britain over ‘unfriendly travel advisories
Kenya has rebuked Britain, the United States, Australia and France on Thursday for issuing warnings about travel to the east African country and particularly its main port city, after a series of attacks there.
Kenya called the alerts “unfriendly”, saying they would increase panic and play into the hands of those behind the terrorist attacks.
Kenya has blamed bomb blasts in the capital Nairobi and the main port city Mombasa this month, as well as other attacks, on the al-Qaeda-linked Somali group al-Shabaab.
The Islamist movement killed at least 67 people in a raid on a Nairobi shopping mall in September last year.
The warnings may further damage Kenya’s tourism sector, one that President Uhuru Kenyatta said is “on its knees” following the raids in the capital and along the Indian Ocean coastline. Karanja Kibicho, the principal secretary at the foreign affairs department, said Kenya was assuring its visitors of “utmost security and safety”, and lamented the advisories by countries also involved in its fight against the militants.
“The advisories therefore are obviously unfriendly acts coming from our partners who have equally borne the brunt of global terrorism and no doubt understand the repercussions of terror menace,” Kibicho said. “The challenges arising from acts of terrorism require concerted efforts to fight it and not behaving in a manner that accelerates it by causing fear and panic.”
Kenyan authorities say they do not know of any imminent threats.
Britain’s Foreign Office had told its citizens they should avoid travel to Mombasa and the surrounding area because of “recent terrorist attacks and the continuing terrorist threat in the area,” unless travel was essential. The U.S. Embassy warned its citizens of the continued threat of “potential terrorist attacks in the country,” citing targets include hotels, nightclubs and malls.
Source: Reuters