Police guard city schools amid terror fears

Armed police officers are fortifying security around international schools in Nairobi as threats from the Somali Islamist group al-Shabaab grow.

Entrances to most the high-end schools are now being manned by armed policemen while the number of private security guards conducting patrols with guard dogs has increased.

Freshly installed barriers have been built at some of the gates. The same is witnessed in shopping malls around the city where police officers are manning the entrances.

The Diplomatic Police Unit (DPU) boss Mr Ambrose Mwawaka told Sunday Nation that police are reacting to general threats that al-Shabaab could attack and kidnap students from the schools, copying their counterparts Boko Haram in Nigeria.

Three months ago, the terrorist group abducted nearly 200 girls from a boarding school in northeastern Nigeria.

AL-QAEDA AFFILIATE

“You see, these two groups are affiliated to al-Qaeda and their training is similar,” Mr Mwawaka said. “The al-Shabaab could be asking ‘if Boko Haram have done it successfully, why can’t we?’”

The international schools mainly attract students from the growing expatriate community and wealthy Kenyans as they offer curriculums similar to those in schools in their countries of origin.

Their tuition and boarding fees –often computed in US dollars- are high, putting them out of reach for most Kenyans.

Most of the schools are also owned by westerners. “We have children of diplomats in these schools so we can’t take any chances,” Mr Mwawaka said.

He said they are getting help from other police departments because the diplomatic police unit alone cannot effectively secure all the schools.

Some of the international schools in Nairobi are Banda, Braeburn, Brookhouse, Deutsche Schule Nairobi, Peponi, GEMS Cambridge International School and Hillcrest International.

Others are International Schools of Kenya (ISK), Waldorf, Lycée Denis Diderot, The Netherlands School and Swedish School of Nairobi.

There are also Christian international schools namely Rosslyn Academy, Rusinga School and West Nairobi School.

SECURITY FEAR

The international schools went on high alert mid-June after two men in a brown pick-up were seen near Waldorf School in Karen taking photographs of the school’s gate and perimeter wall.

When the guard approached them, they rolled up their tinted windows and sped off. The school was closed for two days.

The police boss said that investigations were being conducted by Kilimani police station to establish the identity of the three men and what their motive was.

Enquiries by the Sunday Nation, using the registration number, suggested that the vehicle is owned by an international beverage company.

In the Waldorf case, the school’s security guard recorded a statement with the police at the Kileleshwa police station, who have since circulated the plate number.

The occupants of the vehicle are suspected to have taken photos of other international schools especially within Karen.

The matter was also reported to Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) and the United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS).

Security concerns for the international schools come even as Western embassies and NGOs scale down their operations due to similar concerns.

Last Monday, a United States Agency for International Development spokesman said the organisation is “permanently” pulling some staff members out of Kenya.

Most of USAid staff has been sent to Djibouti. The Peace Corps said it is keeping its 70-plus volunteers in place while continuing to “closely monitor the security environment in Kenya”.

The US embassy has also reduced the number of staff with an unspecified number of embassy staffers having been flown out of Kenya.

Those remaining are also restricted in their travels within the country, with the embassy declaring Nairobi’s Eastleigh district, much of the Coast and northern Kenya no-go zones for US personnel.