Travel advice to and from Kenya’s coastal areas near Somali has been increased to ‘all but essential’ after a second kidnapping in weeks happened in the region.
The FCO has now set the warning to areas 150km from the Somali border, while resorts further in the south are notaffected. A French woman living in Kenya was kidnapped by Somalis on Saturday on Manda Island, although far from the tourist resort of Manda Bay. Two gunmen took the woman away by speedboat and although Kenyan security immediately pursued the boat, it could not be stopped. The abduction follows a killing and kidnapping in Lamu three weeks ago.
Hon.Najib Balala, minister for tourism in Kenya said the authorities were working with British, French and international forces to find those kidnapped and ensurethat Somalis do not affect its country further. He said business was usual ino ther areas and encouraged tourists to continue visiting unaffected regions.
“We wish to point out to all our international visitors and our friends in the travel trade that the recent despicable acts of Somali pirates have onlyaffected a small part of our territory,” explained Balala. “A glance at the mapwill show that these events have occurred hundreds of kilometres away from thecoastal and inland destinations which are so popular with the majority of ourvisitors. With the small exception of the northern coast none of our visitordestinations are in any way affected by the changes in some country’s traveladvisories which were announced overnight”.
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