Youths burn church, riot in Kenya's Mombasa after imam killed

By Joseph Akwiri

MOMBASA, Kenya

(Reuters) - Young Muslims set fire to a church, burned tires and clashed with police in Kenya's main port city of Mombasa on Friday, leaving at least four people dead after the killing of an Islamic cleric which his followers blamed on security forces.

The shooting of Sheikh Ibrahim Omar ignited religious tensions in the commercial and tourism hub, two weeks after Islamist militants killed at least 67 people in a raid on a Nairobi shopping mall.

 

 

The imam and three other men were found dead in a car on Mombasa's outskirts on Thursday night, police said. Television images showed the vehicle sprayed with bullet holes.

Police dismissed allegations by Omar's associates and people who attended his mosque that the shooting was part of a crackdown on Muslims after the mall attack or any wider campaign.

Riot police fired gunshots and teargas to break up the rioters who had set alight a Salvation Army church and blocked a main road, a Reuters witness said.

The Kenyan Red Cross said four people had died, all with gunshot wounds.
The worst of the running battles with police took place in Mombasa's downtrodden Saba Saba neighborhood, where traders shuttered their shops and residents fled for safety. An uneasy calm fell over Mombasa three hours after the clashes began.

ACCUSATIONS
Omar was killed on the main road to the resort town of Malindi, a few hundred meters (yards) from where another firebrand cleric, Aboud Rogo, was shot dead in his vehicle in August 2012 in a strikingly similar attack.

Al-Amin Kimathi, head of the Muslim Human Rights Forum, said the police were exploiting public anger over Westgate as a cover to extend what he believed was a campaign of killings.

"It is a continuation of what has been happening," said Kimathi.
Police spokeswoman Zipporah Mboroki said there was "no truth" to the accusations of a wider campaign.
Mombasa county police chief Robert Kitur dismissed accusations of police involvement In Omar's killing. "The police have nothing to do with the shooting. That's not how we operate," he told reporters.

The United States and Kenya had accused Rogo of recruiting and fund-raising for Somalia's al-Qaeda-linked al Shabaab militants - the group that claimed responsibility for last month's mall raid.

Moderate Muslim leaders in Kenya said Omar had studied under Rogo and was nicknamed 'Rogo junior' after he publicly espoused the same hardline ideology of his former mentor.

Both imams were popular among youths in Mombasa and along Kenya's Indian Ocean coastline where many Muslims feel marginalized by the predominantly Christian government.
Rogo's death last year unleashed deadly riots in Mombasa.

The assault on the Westgate mall was the worst militant strike on Kenyan soil since al Qaeda bombed the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi in 1998. The raid shocked Kenyans and the world and has raised questions over intelligence failures.

"They (authorities) have panicked because of their own laxity which killed Kenyans at Westgate. Now they are trying to save face by sacrificing innocent Muslims ... We are not going to take this lightly," said Hatib Suleiman, 21, who prays at Omar's Masjid Mussa mosque.

Kenya Hopes to Spur Investment as LAPSSET Project Unfolds

 
Street in Mombasa. Photo: Isaac Mwangi 

The $29 billion Lamu Port and New Transport Corridor to Southern Sudan & Ethiopia (LAPSSET) project – Kenya’s biggest ever socio-economic venture since independence – is now taking shape and is expected to greatly increase international business opportunities.

The head of corporate affairs at the Kenya Ports Authority, Bernard Osero, told AFKInsider that Lamu port will have 32 berths, with a dredged entrance channel of 18 meters to enable it to accommodate ships of up to 100,000 tons.

“The cost for the short-term plan for Lamu Port Project, including the first three berths, is estimated to be $664 million,” he said.

The country’s industrialization and investment sectors are among those expected to receive a great boost as the project unfolds. It will, in addition, open up remote areas and encourage regional trade with South Sudan and Ethiopia.

The development was planned to be completed by 2016/17, Osero said. This plan, he added, is however dependent on availability of funds. The administration block and other supportive facilities are now nearing completion.

“The role of KPA is to provide technical advice on procurement and tendering while the government provides funds,” Osero said.

KPA is mandated by law to manage all scheduled ports along Kenya’s coastline, but has only one principal port so far — Mombasa.

LAPSSET was launched in March 2012 with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding for the proposed railway and pipeline between Kenya, South Sudan and Ethiopia. Japan Port Consultants, collaborating with BAC/GKA Joint Venture, had won the tender to conduct a feasibility study on the project’s infrastructural development. Its report proposed construction of new ports on the Kenyan coast, in particular Lamu and Manda Bay.

A master plan for design, development and the tendering documents were then presented to the government. A railway line and highways from Lamu to Juba, construction of an oil refinery at Lamu and an oil pipeline to South Sudan and Ethiopia were also envisaged.

The Corridor is expected to serve Ethiopia’s 85 million-strong population, as well as the 25 million residents of South Sudan.

The success of LAPPSET will also integrate the remote northern, eastern and north-eastern parts of Kenya with the rest of the country’s economy. The project presents a range of business opportunities for local and foreign investors. The main areas being targeted are tourism, agriculture and manufacturing.

“The whole road network in northern Kenya is a nightmare. The situation is made worse by a high level of insecurity due to regular bandit attacks. If LAPSSET will improve the road network, that will solve most of our problems caused by bad roads and lack of basic infrastructure,” said Abdi Mohamed, owner of a fleet of trucks which regularly transport goods to South Sudan.

According to a report prepared by the project coordination secretariat, available investment opportunities will be found through the Free Trade Zones (FTZs) to be established.

These investment opportunities include shipbuilding and repair, and crude oil export facilities. More opportunities will be found in the establishment of oil transport/terminal facilities.

Joseph Wahito, a senior lecturer of taxation and cost accounting at Star College of Management in Nairobi, said that due to the magnitude of this project, the government should embark on streamlining and refreshing laws governing investment to favor investors interested in LAPSSET.

Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and Export Processing Zones (EPZs) — which offer great incentives including tax holidays and investment discounts for both local and foreign investors — are among the special features of the project.

“The government must outline friendly and competitive incentives to make investors find reason to cast their nets in the project,” Wahito said. “This is a very ambitious project. Industries, highways and all aspects of this project will offer a lot of job opportunities to ease unemployment.