U.S. To Provide Kenya With $14 Million In Aid To Combat Terror

Friday, May 4th 2007, 7:09 pm

By: News On 6

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) _ The United States said Friday it will provide more than $14 million in security assistance to Kenya to boost efforts to combat terrorist activities in the east African nation.

The fund will be used to help train and equip four coastal security patrol units, set up a forensic laboratory and to establish a maritime training facility, a statement from the U.S. Embassy in the capital Nairobi said.

Kenya, a strong ally of the U.S. in the region, has been the victim of terrorism in the past and the United States fears neighboring Somalia could become a haven for al-Qaida.

Kenya's Internal Security Minister John N. Michuki visited Washington last month to discuss ways to boost his country's efforts ``to combat insecurity in all its forms,'' the embassy said.

``Both sides agreed that they share a common interest in combating crime and terrorism in order to strengthen democracy in Kenya and to promote stability in the Horn of Africa,'' the U.S. statement said.

An east Africa al-Qaida network is blamed for the 1998 bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed 225 people. A car bomb also struck a Kenyan beach resort in 2002, and there was a near-simultaneous attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner. Ten Kenyans and three Israelis were killed in the blast at the hotel, 12 miles north of Mombasa. The missiles missed the airliner.

Last month, an alleged al-Qaida operative was captured in Kenya and sent to Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. detention center for terror suspects. Mohamed Abdulmalik Abduljabar was alleged to have participated in a string of attacks in east Africa and the U.S. says he acknowledged involvement in the 2002 attacks in Kenya.