Porous borders raise security fears in spite of crackdown

Reports of an intricate syndicate in which foreigners acquire Kenyan citizenship led to the recent countrywide crackdown on illegal immigrants, the Nation has learnt.

The operation, spearheaded by regular and Administration Police, was a result of a classified brief from different security agencies, sources say.

By the time it was concluded, it had drawn the barbs from Kenyan Somalis, who said it amounted to ethnic profiling and discrimination.

However, the government denied the accusations, saying the crackdown targeted all illegal immigrants irrespective of their nationality.

The security brief is said to have indicated that some foreigners had acquired national identity cards and passports by colluding with government officers in the Ministry of Immigration, posing a threat to national security given that some of the terrorists implicated in the 1998 and 2002 terror attacks in Kenya had acquired such documents.

It was also feared that supporters of al-Shabaab insurgents from Somalia could take advantage of the security loopholes to infiltrate the country.

Delicate issue

Internal Security assistant minister Orwa Ojodeh could neither confirm nor deny the explanation for the operation, saying: “I cannot comment on that issue because security matters are delicate and require to be handled with outmost care.”

Mr Ojodeh, however, said the crackdown mostly targeted those who had fraudulently acquired Kenyan registration documents, and that the exercise would continue.

“We must react swiftly on any reports we receive concerning insecurity, and we need the support of all Kenyans,” he said.

Supporting the assistant minister, Immigration minister Otieno Kajwang’ also said the crackdown was a normal operation against illegal immigrants.

The immigrants are smuggled into the country by an intricate, multi-million shilling syndicate involving international and local players.

A senior immigration officer who talked to the Nation on condition of anonymity said millions of shillings exchanged hands between foreigners and “brokers” who the foreigners pay for entry into the country annually.

He said it costs between Sh100,000 and Sh500,000 to get one individual into the country, and more than Sh5 million for those who want to end up in Europe or North America.

Most of the immigrants are Sudanese, Somalis, Ethiopians and Eritreans. There is a small number from Asian countries.

The vice is so rampant in the north that North Eastern PC James ole Seriani has cautioned local administrators that they face the sack should they be implicated in the syndicate.

Mr Seriani says corruption was a factor in the mass movement of foreigners into the country, and that the routes used by the smugglers would be the targets of a coming security offensive.

Most of the illegal immigrants entering the country become victims of human-trafficking in the course of their movement as they try to link up with relatives in developed countries.

It is feared that a large number of these have secured local national identity cards, and even passports, as a result of the rampant corruption within the departments of Immigration and Registration of Persons.

The foreigners are now a major concern to the East African region, especially after it emerged that numerous islands in Lake Victoria are used to smuggle both human and contraband goods.

Among the islands in Lake Victoria (and within Kenya’s territorial waters) where foreigners have established a thriving trade in contraband goods include Remba, Ringiti, Migingo and Suba.

The disputed Migingo Island is said to be not only a tax evasion haven, but also the launching pad for smuggling and other contraband activities in the East Africa region.

The chairman of the Suba Beach Management Unit, Mr Ooko Otieno, says pirates armed with sophisticated firearms have been harassing fishermen in Lake Victoria.

“When they attack fishing boats, they not only confiscate their engines and catch, but also rob the crews of money,” he says, adding that it is difficult to tell who is behind the rampant maritime crime as some of the pirates are suspected to be from neighbouring countries.

Security experts warn that the poorly secured islands in the lake pose a major security threat to the E.A. states, but Mr Kajwang’ says plans are underway to not only secure the porous borders in Lake Victoria, but also the country’s coastline.

“The government is investing a lot of resources in the purchase of boats to be used in patrols along our coastline and islands in Lake Victoria,” he says, adding that measures being taken include the installation of surveillance cameras at strategic border points; the introduction of e-visa and e-passports; and the improvement of the third generation identity card.

Al-Shabaab insurgents fighting the Somali Transitional Government have recently confirmed their links with Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda terror group, which has been blamed for the 1998 and 2002 terrorist attacks in Kenya that killed more than 200 people and wounded 4,000 others.

Al Qaeda is also blamed for the 2002 attack on the Israeli-owned Paradise Hotel in Kikambala, and the aborted simultaneous attempt to down an Israeli airliner at the Moi International Airport.

The group’s East African terror mastermind, Abdallah Fazul, has evaded arrest in Kenya on several occasions after entering the country from Somalia.

Travel advisories

His activities (and those of another terror mastermind, Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan — killed in a recent air-strike by US forces in Somalia) have spurred numerous US travel advisories.

Internal Security minister George Saitoti has himself pointed to the possible infiltration of the country by al-Shabaab militants, and his fears are supported by the events of a demonstration in Nairobi last month over the deportation of maverick Muslim cleric, Abdullah al-Faisal.

On the day, the nation was shocked to see a bunch of demonstrators holding aloft al-Shabaab flags and other paraphernalia in the full glare of the police, who seemed either toothless or confused about what to do.

Additional report by KNA