Kenya/Somalia - arrests

Kenyan police arrest 300 immigrants after Muslim protests

Article published on the 2010-01-18 Latest update 2010-01-18 18:03 TU

Suspected Somali illegal immigrants sit in the dock at a magistrates court in Nairobi after being arrested on 17 January.
Photo: Reuters/Noor Khamis

Police in Nairobi have arrested 300 people believed to be illegal Somali immigrants in a raid late on Sunday. The arrests come days after Muslim protesters took to the streets to demand the release of a controversial Jamaican imam, Abdullah al-Faisal, who is currently in custody in Kenya after authorities tried unsuccessfully to deport him.

Kenya's government claims that the radical Somali Islamist group Al-Shebab was behind the protests on 15 January, which ended in violent street battles between demonstrators and police that left five people dead and several others wounded.

The alleged Al-Shebab link is believed to be behind Sunday's raid on the Somali-dominated suburb of Eastleigh, in eastern Nairobi.

Officers from Kenya's paramilitary General Service Unit and anti-terrorism division detained 300 people in the area, who they accuse of staying in Kenya illegally.

"It's an immigration sweep to look for people who are in this country illegally, because we realised that the people who were taking part in the demonstrations on Friday were not actually Kenyans," government spokesperson Alfred Mutua told RFI.

"The majority of them were foreigners who are here and who are supporting the terrorist organisation Al-Shebab [...] And so this is a step being taking to protect the national interest, the security of this country."

Mutua denies that the raid targeted either Somalis or Muslims.

"It is targeting individuals who are here illegally and who have ties to illegal activities," he insists - including, he says, Pakistanis, Eritreans, Ethiopians and Ugandans as well as Somalis.

Among those arrested were 16 Somali MPs and government officials. A prominent Kenyan Muslim leader, Al-Amin Kimathi, was also detained.

Many of the Somalis arrested were in Kenya on official business, a spokesperson at the Somali embassy in Nairobi told the BBC.

Somalia's government has written a formal letter of protest about the arrests to the Kenyan authorities, he added.