Bid to assure tourists Kenya is safe after British couple attack in Lamu

Britain’s main tourist body, the Association of British tour operators has moved to assure UK tourists that Kenya is a safe holiday destination in the wake of the attack on two Britons at Kiwayu Safari Village early on Sunday morning. (Read: Cameron vows action on Briton abducted in Kenya)

Amid mounting concern from tour operators that the intense publicity given to the shooting of David Tebbutt, 58, a finance director at the UK publishers Faber & Faber and the seizure of his deaf wife Judith, 56, is beginning to have a negative affect on tourist inquiries, ABTA has released a statement in an attempt to quell fears.

It said: “Kenya is generally a safe and hospitable country which attracts thousands of UK holidaymakers.”

Angie Sloan, the Kenya Tourist Board’s director for the UK and Ireland, said that while it was understandable that holidaymakers are worried following the news, Kiwayu was in a remote location far away from most tourist areas.

More than a million tourists visit Kenya every year, more of them from the UK. More 164,000 Britons visited in 2009 and the numbers have been rising steadily since. Tourism earned Kenya a record Sh74 billion in 2010.

Of particular concern is tourism to the island of Lamu, an increasingly popular destination for Britons but one which has been linked with Kiwayu because of its relatively close proximity.

Lamu is served by tour operators such as Africa Sky, Journeys by Design and Tribes.

It is often promoted as a relaxing way to end a safari and a quieter alternative to buzzing Mombasa and Tanzania’s archipelago Zanzibar.

Britain’s Foreign Office continues to advise against all but essential travel to within 30km of Kenya’s border with Somalia and has updated its travel advice in the wake of the attacks.

Attacks on foreign tourists are rare in Kenya. But Somali gangs have struck before.

Three aid workers were kidnapped in July 2009 and two nuns were snatched the previous November.

In 2008, Derbyshire missionary Brian Thorp, 77, was murdered in Lamu.

British newspapers insist that Sunday morning’s attack on the exclusive resort used by international rock stars and celebrities may have been as a result of a tip-off to the kidnappers from local fishermen.

Many questions still remain unanswered over the attack — how the gunmen managed to enter the resort unhindered, how they knew there was only one couple staying at the high-end resort and how they managed to shoot a man, grab his wife and whisk her away on a speedboat.

Both the Kenyan police and the UK government now fear that Mrs Tebbutt, 56, has been taken across the border into Somalia.

UK police officers from Scotland Yard are assisting inquiries at the resort but Britain’s Ministry of Defence have denied UK Special Forces are also involved.

A spokeswoman for Scotland Yard said: “A small team of Metropolitan Police Service officers have travelled to Kenya to assist and support the Kenyan authorities with their investigation.
“The Kenyan authorities remain the lead investigators.”

The Telegraph disclosed that Mrs Tebbutt’s ordeal might be made even more difficult because she is deaf and will struggle to communicate with her kidnappers.

Ben Lopez, who works for Compass Risk Management which specialises in the prevention and mitigation of kidnap, maritime piracy and extortion, said it was now a “waiting game”.

He said: “In general, if it’s a kidnap-for-ransom then frankly the authorities’ hands are tied because no government wants to be seen as negotiating and/or doing business with kidnappers because if it ever got out then no Briton would be safe again.

“The police tend to have a similar approach. And here, the problem is, it seems likely that the kidnappers are in Somalia where there are no authorities.”

Instead of being an opportunistic attack, he told the Telegraph “it seems more likely that somebody on the inside alerted them to the fact that some people were there and the coast was clear”.

“In general kidnappers tend to avoid violence, it’s not in their interest to be causing a commotion or hurting anybody because it’s in their interest to keep the hostage safe — live hostages are more valuable than dead ones.

“If this is a kidnap-for-ransom, they might wait some days for things to cool down and to put additional pressure on the family.”

Mr Tebbutt is thought to have been gunned down as he tried to fight off the kidnappers – which the Daily Mirror said are believed to be members of the feared al-Shabaab Islamist group, which has links to al Qaeda.

Kenyan police have not so far confirmed the link saying that the attack was probably the work of bandits.

However, if Somali pirates are behind the kidnapping, it would represent the first time western hostages had been snatched on land, rather than at sea.

There have been occasional reports of security threats against tourists around Kiwayu, but it is understood that there was no current specific warning in place.

However, Australia’s foreign affairs ministry recently warned of a “high risk” of kidnapping against westerners in Kenya and Somalia.

A French yachtsman was killed by Somali pirates last week, while his wife was rescued by the Spanish navy.

A Danish family of five, including three children, and two crew were released by pirates after being held seven months.

Kenyan police had been on high alert for the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Kenya had its own bitter experience of terrorism in 1998 when al Qaida bombed the US embassy in Nairobi.

A statement from the Britain’s Foreign Office said “we are working closely with the Kenyan authorities to establish further details.

“We have deployed a consular team from our High Commission in Nairobi and are offering all possible support to the family of those involved. Our thoughts are with them at this difficult time.

“We are working to secure the safe and swift release of the British National who has been kidnapped and ask those involved to show compassion and release the individual immediately.”

UK Prime Minister David Cameron also told the House of Commons in London that the British government was taking all available measures to resolve the issue behind the scenes.

Described resort

Tracey Emin, the artist, once described the resort as “one of my favourite places on Earth”.

The Mirror report quoted Kenyan police sources as saying the attack “was almost certainly the work of al-Shabaab,” also known as “The Lads”.

The 14,000-strong group, who wear red headscarves, control large parts of southern Somalia, imposing their own strict form of Sharia law.

The attack, which received widespread coverage in the international media has highlighted the instability on Kenya’s northern border.

Britain’s Foreign Office warned of there being “a high threat of clashes between the Kenyan military and armed Somali groups along the border”, citing recent attacks on Mandera by Somali militias; heavy fighting was reported over the weekend between al-Shabaab and Somalia’s transitional federal government forces near the town.

Casualties were confirmed on both sides as fighting continued to affect the border town of Burahashe.