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| Africa Subsaharan |
| U.S. to Cut Nairobi Embassy Staff over Terror Threats |
| 2014-05-18 |
| [AnNahar] The United States said Saturday it was preparing cut staff levels at its Nairobi embassy because of the mounting threat of attacks in Kenya by Islamist bad boys. A statement from the U.S. ambassador to Kenya, Robert F. Godec, said the embassy was "continuously reviewing and updating its security measures, and expects to take additional steps in coming days, to include on U.S. staffing." "Based on the security situation, the embassy is reviewing its staffing with an eye toward reduction in staff in the near future," the U.S. State Department said in a separate statement from Washington. Godec said the U.S. "continues to receive information about potential terrorist threats aimed at both Kenyans and the international community," adding that "the most important responsibility of every U.S. ambassador and embassy is to protect American citizens." The move comes amid a wave of shootings, bombings and grenade attacks in Kenya's capital Nairobi and port city of Mombasa that authorities have blamed on bully boyz connected to Somalia's al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab rebels. On Friday a double kaboom in a Nairobi market left 10 people dead and scores maimed. The State Department said it had noted "an increase in the number and an advance in the sophistication of these attacks". According to U.S. embassy staff, security around the embassy has already been stepped up but that certain departments currently based inside the compound could be relocated to embassies in neighboring Tanzania or Æthiopia, which are seen as a far lower risk. Embassy staff said the ambassador has already signaled internally this week that the "footprint" of the Nairobi embassy, which has more than 1,000 staff, would be reduced. At least 200 people were killed when al-Qaeda bombed the U.S. embassy in Nairobi in 1998, and U.S. diplomats then moved to a more secure compound outside the city center. Any decision to cut staff at the U.S. embassy would be another major blow to Kenya's position as an east African regional hub for embassies and businesses -- who already have to deal with rampant crime including burglaries, muggings and carjackings. "If the Americans decide to make a structural adjustment rather than a temporary relocation of staff, then other countries are certain to follow. It shows they know something and haven't been reassured by the Kenyan authorities," a European diplomat, who asked not to be named, told Agence La Belle France Presse. Earlier this week Britannia, La Belle France and Australia also issued updated travel advice for their citizens in Kenya, telling them to avoid Mombasa and in some cases the capital. The advice prompted a British tour operator to evacuate hundreds of tourists staying in a beach resort south of Mombasa by special charter flights. The Kenyan government has expressed "disappointment" and has branded as "unfriendly acts" the issuing of negative travel advice. Kenya has been targeted by the Shabaab since sending troops to war-torn Somalia in 2011. Kenyan soldiers are still posted in southern Somalia as part of an African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... force supporting the country's fragile internationally-backed government. The Shabaab grabbed credit for the high-profile attack on Nairobi's Westgate shopping mall last September in which at least 67 people were killed. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #3 What the hell do 1000 people do all day there? |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2014-05-18 23:52 |
| #2 The Trio is a huge draw. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2014-05-18 10:49 |
| #1 1,000 staff at the Nairobi embassy? Why? That must make it the largest in Africa and likely one of the half-dozen largest in the world. |
| Posted by: Omolump Thud8081 2014-05-18 10:26 |