With friends like these, who needs foes?
Two customers sit having a drink in the Baobab Beach Resort in Diani on May 16, 2014. Hundreds of British tourists have been evacuated from beach resorts near Kenya's coastal city of Mombasa following new warnings of terror attacks. AFP PHOTO / IVAN LIEMAN
What you need to know:
- It is a global phenomenon that requires a global effort to neutralise it. For Britain, therefore, to hastily airlift its citizens is at the very least an act of cowardice, and betrays the British stand in the fight against terrorism.
The seemingly knee-jerk move by a few Western countries to issue travel advisories and evacuations of tourists on grounds of security has left both players in the tourism industry and the government asking many questions.
The manner in which Britain in particular evacuated its nationals from Mombasa is baffling. It literally hounded its own citizens from hotels and loaded them into waiting aircraft.
Those interviewed by the media at the Moi International Airport publicly protested against the evacuation, promising to come back soon.
The danger of such moves are that they are likely to trigger a domino effect and precipitate a crisis in the tourism industry, as well as hurting diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Similarly such an evacuation will send the wrong message internationally that Kenya is not a safe tourist destination. It may also portray Kenya as a dysfunctional State, unsuitable for investment.
Conventionally, evacuations of citizens abroad by a country are only reserved for situations of military coups, civil wars and violent extra-state conflicts. Kenya is a fully functioning democracy.
It is, however, true that some nefarious external or internal groups are increasingly expanding their footprints in the country. But this is not to say that terrorism is peculiar to Kenya. It is a global phenomenon that requires a global effort to neutralise it.
For Britain, therefore, to hastily airlift its citizens is at the very least an act of cowardice, and betrays the British stand in the fight against terrorism.
Terror groups thrive in an environment of panic, paranoia and psychological lockdown. In taking the unfriendly measures against a key ally, what the UK, the US, Australia and France don’t realise is that they are inadvertently handing victory to terrorists.
It is also defeatist for Britain to airlift tourists, yet there are many Britons as well as investments in the country.
MALICE AND ILL-WILL
It is also disturbing that the quartet did not share the intelligence that prompted their action with Kenyan security agencies.
That this was done, without the knowledge of the government smacks of malice, ill-will, and irresponsibility.
The totality of these unmerited travel advisories and evacuations must deservingly be treated as acts of provocation and economic sabotage.
In this regard the government must seek answers from Whitehall, Elysee Palace, Washington and Canberra.
Such drastic measures lend conspiracy-mongers more reason to affirm their assertions that the cosy relations between Kenya and the East has everything to do with the imbroglio.
The aggressive entry of China into Kenya seems to be arousing paternalistic instincts in the West. Should this be the case, then such acts betray how desperate the West is, in the wake of the growing Sino-Africa relations.
It is worth noting that Israel with its frequent headline-grabbing security issues and a highly securitised daily life has continued to enjoy the patronage of tourists from the Western world.
A key lesson from these measures is that it is time the government opened up new tourism markets. There is a clear need to rethink the traditional sources of clientele and aggressively market its tourism products in new markets.
By the same token the government will need to scale up the fight against terror threats and restore public confidence.
In East Africa Kenya has suffered huge collateral damages owing to ideological and investment ties with the West. This binding history should be reason enough for the West to stand with Kenya in dealing with terrorists.
Tourism is a core economic pillar of Kenya’s economy generating an annual revenue north of Sh90 billion. Therefore, if the crisis is left to fester, it will cause loss of livelihoods.
Mr Magutt teaches politics and international studies at Kenyatta University ([email protected])
