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Kenya: U.S. Declares Country a Safe Destination
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The Nation (Nairobi)
24 March 2008
Posted to the web 24 March 2008
Kevin J. Kelley
Washington, DC
Threats of violence in Kenya "have dramatically receded following the widely accepted power-sharing agreement" signed last month, the US State Department declares in a newly-revised travel warning.
The March 21 announcement will be welcomed by Kenya's tourism industry, which can now expect more Americans to book safaris and beach holidays.
A departure order covering the Kisumu area has been rescinded for US government employees and their families, enabling them to return there, the updated notice says. The recent statement supercedes a February 8 warning to Americans to defer all travel to Rift Valley, Western and Nyanza provinces.
The temporary suspension of the Peace Corps programme in Kenya is under review, the State Department adds, indicating that volunteers may return to the country "in the near future".
More than 100 Peace Corps workers were withdrawn from Kenya as violence spread and intensified in January. Some had been teaching sign language in the Rift Valley to deaf Kenyans who had contracted the Aids virus.
"We hope to return soon with gradual volunteer inputs, eventually growing the programme back to its previous size," Peace Corps spokeswoman Josie Duckett told the Nation.
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The State Department continues to advise travellers to Kenya to be wary of possible criminal and terrorist violence. "In the short-term," the new posting warns, "the displacement of thousands of people by the recent civil unrest combined with endemic poverty and the availability of weapons could result in an increase in crime, both petty and violent."
The country is safe for everybody except kikuyus.
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