Kenya will deport jailed Jamaican Muslim cleric Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal "without delay" after a protest against his detention triggered battles with police in the capital Nairobi, a minister said on Saturday. Kenyan security forces used live rounds, tear gas and dogs to quell the demonstration on Friday near a downtown mosque used by many Somalis who have fled years of violence at home.
Internal Security Minister George Saitoti appealed for calm. He blamed "violent foreign elements from a neighbouring country" for the mayhem and assured Muslims in Kenya they would not be targetted and their civil liberties respected. The violence in Nairobi has stoked fears of a crackdown on the large Somali community in Kenya, or strikes by insurgent sympathisers in east Africa's biggest economy - the target of successful al Qaeda-linked attacks in 2002 and 1998.
Some protesters carried the black flag of hardline Somali rebels al Shabaab, a group Washington accuses of links to al Qaeda that is trying to overthrow Somalia's Western-backed government and impose its own harsh version of sharia law. "This is an indication that some of our youth have been exposed to these ideas by foreign elements bent on ensuring that peace and security obtaining in our country is compromised," Saitoti told a news conference.
Some residents in Somalia's capital Mogadishu welcomed the appearance of al Shabaab's flag on Nairobi's streets, hoping it might inspire Kenya to help crackdown on the rebels. "It will redouble the war on terror and al Qaeda," local elder Hassan Hussein told Reuters.
Faisal was deported from Britain in 2007 for preaching racial hatred and urging his audiences to kill Jews, Hindus and Westerners. He was visiting Kenya for a preaching tour when he was taken into custody on December 31. "Kenya will not be used as a playground by foreign criminals. We will chase them away," Saitoti said. "It is a matter of great insult that a foreigner...be the source of terrible misunderstandings amoung Kenyans."
Comments
Comments are closed.