Africa News
US threatens travel ban on Kenyan officials
Sep 24, 2009, 14:48 GMT
Nairobi - The United States has threatened to impose travel bans on top Kenyan officials, including ministers, who fail to back reform in the East African nation, the US Ambassador to Kenya Michael Ranneberger said Thursday.
Ranneberger said that 15 unnamed officials - ministers, members of parliament, permanent secretaries and other officials - had received letters saying that their 'future relationship' with the US was dependent on support of reform and 'opposition to the use of violence.'
Washington's envoy is an outspoken critic of the Kenyan government.
In recent months he has lambasted the country's leaders for failing to bring to justice those accused of the violence that followed 2007's disputed presidential elections.
Estimates say upward of 1,300 people died in the violence, but Kenya has failed to set up a local tribunal to try suspects, as recommended by an independent commission.
The International Criminal Court in The Hague is in possession of an envelope containing the names of politicians and businessmen accused of orchestrating the violence, and is expected to step in if Kenya fails to act.
Corruption is also rife in East Africa's largest economy, but no high-ranking officials have been brought to book despite several massive scams to steal public money in recent years.
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