Latest US Terror Alert Over Mombasa Marathon Irks Kenyan Government

In an unprecedented move, the United States has said an imminent attack in Kenya was on the offing and the target this time could be the world cross country championships, better known as the Mombasa Marathon, slated for the coastal town of Mombasa on March 24.

I say unprecedented because the Americans chose to release the information through the media without informing the country's security apparatus first, a move that has irked the Kenyan authorities with internal security minister John Michuki saying they are in the process of sending a protest note to Washington.

The way the Americans have disseminated this information shows that they are not sure of their intelligence and simply want the Kenyan authorities to increase security during the games for various reasons.

Local Muslims recently demonstrated in Mombasa over what they termed as harassment by the anti terrorist police who routinely hold suspects for more than the stipulated period and also have no qualms holding children in custody. The demonstrators threatened to disrupt the championships if their colleagues were not released.

The United States has recently completed an operation in Somali where scores of locals were killed in an air raid that saw US forces open their deadly "fire" in a remote Somali village killing dozens of people including women and children in what they said was an Al Qaeda hideout where those involved in the US embassy bombing in Nairobi were holed up.

It is in the backdrop of these facts that the US feel that some Islamic group could strike Kenya for assisting the Americans to launch their attack on Somali as the championship does not qualify as an ideal Al Qaeda target since they will be very few Americans participating in the event.

The way the Americans have released the latest information seems to be proof that they do not have any intelligence on an imminent attack and what they are doing is mere speculation that is why they chose not to sit down with Kenya's security officials to discuss the threat as they would only have done so if they had concrete proof.

What America have done in the process is to ruin Kenya's image and will make the country lose millions of shillings in anticipated business that could have resulted from the success of the competition. With these kind of threats, many competitors are bound to skip the event and even assurances from the hosts that security will be enhanced will not be enough to change their minds.

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