JULY 24 (Reuters) — Kenya’s interior minister, Joseph Nkaissery, demanded on Thursday (July 23) an apology from CNN for referring to Kenya as “hotbed of terror” as it reports from there ahead of US President Barack Obama’s visit on Friday (July 24).
In a news conference in the capital Nairobi, Nkaissery said the CNN was inaccurate and “based on lies”.
“Our attention has been drawn to a media report by CNN earlier today seeking to discredit the status of Kenya as a secure nation. This announcement is based on lies and without verification. It demonstrates heightened irresponsibility by the media network and smacks of arrogance,” Nkaissery said.
Nkaisserry said CNN broadcast pictures of militia members training in a forest prior to the 2013 general elections.
“I take this opportunity to condemn this negative campaign by CNN and strongly protest at what is becoming a pattern of an anti-Kenya propaganda by CNN. Kenya, like any other country in the world, is at risk of terrorist attacks. Owing to our proximity to Somalia, a country that has been used by international terrorist networks and agents to recruit, train and plan attacks against Kenya and the region, we have suffered terror attacks. However, while these attacks are tragic and unacceptable, they do not turn Kenya into a ‘terror hotbed’, as alleged by the CNN,” he said.
He added, “if they are civilized enough they should apologize.”
The CNN report entitled ‘Obama’s trip raises security concerns’ focussed on the Al Shabaab threat in east Africa.
The Islamist militant group Al Shabaab has made a series of deadly incursions into Kenya saying it will continue until Nairobi withdraws troops from an African Union force fighting the militants in Somalia.
In the worst attack militants killed 148 people at a university in eastern Kenya’s Garissa County in April.
Kenya’s northeastern border with Somalia is widely considered a security weak spot, given the challenge of policing such a long frontier, poor coordination between security services, and a culture of corruption that allows anyone prepared to pay a bribe to pass unchallenged.
Al Shabaab aims to topple Somalia’s Western-backed government and wants to impose its own strict version of Islamic law on the country.
During his trip Obama will be co-hosting the Global Entrepreneurship Summit with Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Kenyatta said on Tuesday (July 21) that improving security cooperation and trade links between Kenya and the United States will top the agenda.
A key Western ally in the battle against the spread of militant Islam out of Somalia, Kenya’s security agencies receive training and equipment from United States, Britain and Israel.
The violence has hurt Kenya’s tourism industry, vital to east Africa’s biggest economy, and has piled pressure on Kenyatta to improve security. Obama’s two-day is due to start late on Friday.