Second Kenyan Abduction in Three Weeks
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October 3, 2011 TheFreshOutlook  |
Foreign Office advises Britons against travelling to some of Kenya’s most popular coastal resorts after second woman abducted this weekend.
The UK Foreign Office has advised against all visits to Kenyan resorts within 150 km of the Somali boarder after a French woman became the second to be abducted.
66-year-old Marie Dedieu was taken after Somali gunmen stormed the private bungalow where she was staying in the Lamu Archipelago; a group of islands just off the northern coast of Kenya, close to the Somali boarder.
The Frenchwoman, who requires a wheelchair, was dragged from her bed in the early hours of Saturday morning before being carried off to a waiting boat.
Her partner, Kenyan John Lepapa Moyo, claimed six masked men, each heavily armed, stormed their beach house demanding the “foreigner”.
He recalled: “We just heard that everyone should lie down and they took her and drove off with her.”
Kenya’s Tourism Minister, Najib Balala, told Reuters news agency that the Kenyan coastguard managed to surround the kidnappers close to the Somali boarder, ensuing in a gunfight which reportedly wounded several of the gang members.
However, despite the efforts of the Kenyan security forces, the gang managed to escape in a speed boat and are thought to have taken refuge in southern Somalia which is under the control of militia fighters.
The district commissioner of Lamu West, Mr Stephen Ikua, confirmed: “She’s already in Somalia.”
In the wake of the second abduction in less than a month, the Kenyan government has been heavily criticised for its slow response, but the Foreign Affairs minister, Moses Wetang’ula, has said the government will do all it can to secure the country from any foreign attacks, promising to pursue the militants, “beyond our borders”.
No claim has yet been made for Ms Dedieu’s abduction, although Mr Ikua did allege: “It must have been the al Shabaab.”
The al-Qaeda affiliated al Shabaab militant group has previously been blamed for the kidnapping of Briton Judith Tebbutt in an attack which resulted in her husband’s death.
However, it has since been revealed that the claims were false with reports now suggesting that Mrs Tebbutt is currently being held in central Somalia by a pirate gang.
Last night, Kenyan authorities reported that they have arrested Mzee Aboudi, the security guard at Ms Dedieu’s resort who alerted the police, in connection with the kidnapping.
By Laura Beard
[Image courtesy of billhorka]
