Wednesday
9 January 2008: Security Update 11.00 a.m.
Following the Presidential announcement of the appointment
of cabinet ministers yesterday evening there were some concerns
that there might be protests and public demonstrations from
opposition supporters. However in Nairobi and Mombasa all
is quiet and there has been no change to the situation of
calm which has prevailed for the last few days. There have
been no reports of any protests or disturbances in Narobi
or Mombasa and all roads between airports and hotels are open
and traffic is flowing as normal. All safari departures took
place as usual with no problems reported on any of the roads
to the parks and reserves.
There are reports that there were some demonstrations in
Kisumu last night but currently the Kisumu-Kericho-Eldoret
areas are off-limits for tourists so no visitors are affected.
It is expected that discussions will be taking place between
the political leaders over the next few days to attempt to
end the political differences. The President of the African
Union arrived yesterday to meet both sides in an attempt to
assist in settling the differences. Parliament reopens on
Tuesday next week and the country is moving back to normality.
A serious issue of concern is the need to support the displaced
persons who are being cared for in Red Cross Camps until they
can return to their homes or be re-housed. The tourism sector
is joining with the business fraternity to provide financial
contributions to buy and transport food. There is no food
or fuel shortage within Kenya but there have been transport
and distribution problems which are now being resolved.
Jake Grieves-Cook
KTF Spokesman
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Tuesday 8 January 2008: Security Update 7p.m.
Nairobi
Throughout the day the situation in Nairobi was completely
normal, with public transport operating and all offices and
banks open as usual.
There were no problems for any tourist vehicles driving through
the city and all transfers to and from the airport and to
the Nairobi hotels operated as normal.
There were no reports of any incidents affecting tourists
anywhere in the city.
Mombasa
Once again all was back to normal and there were no reports
of any problems affecting tourists in any of the beach resorts
or in Mombasa. All transfers and safaris continue to operate
as normal from Mombasa. The British consular representative
on the Mombasa south coast has written to express his appreciation
of the work of the Tourist Police Unit over the last few days
in helping to ensure good security for tourist visitors at
the coast.
Parks and Reserves
There were no reports of any problems anywhere in the parks,
reserves or tourist routes. All national parks and reserves
may be visited by road or air as normal. The daily scheduled
services linking all the parks continue to operate as normal.
Western Kenya
Once again there were no reports of any problems in Western
Kenya today. However we continue to recommend that the areas
around Eldoret, Kericho, Kakamega and Kisumu should remain
off-limits to tourists for the time being. However these are
not areas normally visited by tourists as part of their safari
itinerary. Kenya Airways continue to operate scheduled flights
to Kisumu and have also operated a number of ad hoc flights
to Eldoret during the last few days.
During the last 24 hrs the German security advisory has been
toned down and it is anticipated that other countries will
be amending their travel advisories shortly to reflect the
fact that calm has been restored.
Jake Grieves-Cook
Spokesman, Kenya Tourism Federation
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