American and Australian volunteers will be withdrawing from Kenya due to the continued deterioration of countrywide security. This has been characterized by frequent terror and criminal attacks which have consequently affected the tourism industry, one of Kenya's main revenue streams.
A statement from the US State Department indicated that the decision to pull out about 70 Peace Corps volunteers was arrived at on June 30, based on the overall security picture in the country while the Australian High Commission in Nairobi said it was withdrawing its nationals from various volunteer programmes for safety reasons.
“Australia has made the difficult decision to withdraw the Australian Volunteers for International Development (Avid) Programme from Kenya by June 30, 2015. The assignments of the 39 volunteers will be phased out over the next 12 months,” said Leisa Gibson, Australias First Secretary for Development Cooperation.
The Australian volunteers working on aid projects in Nairobi and Mombasa are expected to leave the country by August 17. Some staff may be redeployed to areas considered safer or to neighbouring countries while others will return to Australia.
The decision by America and Australia is likely to adversely affect education, health and environment projects run by the volunteers in rural communities across the country.
The move by the two governments is the latest in a raft of measures to counter Kenya's escalating insecurity which is also taking its toll on the country's economy.
The US Government recently increased the number of security personnel at its embassy and stationed armed marines behind sandbag bunkers on the roof. The State Department also reduced the number of US personnel based in Kenya by moving a regional USAid office out of the country.
Kenya has been a target of sustained attacks purported to be by the Al Qaeda linked Al Shabaab terror group since its military incursion into Somali in 2011.
The attacks which targeted villages, churches, markets and even a city shopping mall have left hundreds dead with innumerable others wounded. The government is yet to publicize any investigative reports despite promises by President Kenyatta to do the same.
In Kenya's coastal strip particularly, over 100 people including foreign tourists have been killed in the past one month alone.
Earlier this year, several countries issued travel advisories cautioning their nationals against visiting certain parts of Kenya considered to be insecure resulting in massive tour and international conference cancellations, some at the last minute.
In May, a conference organised by Inclusion International (II) and the Kenyan Association for the Intellectually Handicapped, which was to be held in Nairobi was called off following a spate of terrorist attacks that month.
Others organised by USAid as well as the International Aids Vaccine Initiative were cancelled with the World Bank following suit over similar concerns. Two test rugby matches between Kenya and Portugal scheduled for June failed to kick off owing to unfavorable travel advisories.
Last month, the organisers of the Africa Hotel Investment Forum moved a meeting scheduled for October from Nairobi to Addis Ababa over what they called limited space.
Kenya has also been designated as a high risk sky for American civilian aircraft by the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA).
www.doitadigital.com