Kenya
Bling-bling boys from abroad
Jun 15th 2006 | NAIROBI
> > From The Economist print edition
An odd saga with Armenians has mocked the government Reuters
I’m only on safari
"THE last six days have been humiliating for this nation," opined
Kenya’s Standard newspaper this week. "Our sovereignty has been
violated. Our nationhood has been insulted. Our borders have been
encroached by hostile forces."
Earlier this year two men claiming to be Armenian brothers, confusingly
calling themselves Artur Margariyan and Arthur Sargsian, came to
the nation’s attention. They were alleged, said Kenya’s opposition
politicians at the time, to be mercenaries responsible for organising
raids by police commando units on television and newspaper offices. The
raids were supposedly an attempt to muzzle Kenya’s largely free
press by powerful figures in the embattled government appointed by
President Mwai Kibaki-and specifically to stop investigative reporting
on government corruption.
It was the Armenians’ style that caught the eye. They were not
mercenaries, they insisted, but worthy businessmen involved in
property, diamonds and a night club. Their bling-bling image-dark
glasses, gold chains and wads of cash-delighted Nairobi’s hip-hop crowd
and appalled others, particularly those whom the Armenians came up
against. The brothers’ claims to be relatives of Armenia’s president
sounded shaky. Some even doubted whether they were Armenian at all.
They certainly seemed to have protectors high up in Kenya’s
government. But it was only after the two men allegedly pulled
guns on customs officials at Nairobi’s main airport last week that
the extent of their ties was revealed. The police commissioner,
Hussein Ali, had them deported on June 9th and their Nairobi house
and buildings searched. Inside, according to police reports, were
a Mercedes with government licence plates, AK-47 machine guns with
presidential security unit serial numbers, Ceska automatic pistols,
Kenyan passports bearing the photos of the Armenians but with other
names, a document appointing one of the men a Kenyan police detective,
plus masks and jackets similar to those used in commando raids on
the media outlets. Among other items was a security pass granting
the Armenians access to secure areas of the airport; this, along
with the alleged way the men claimed a piece of luggage at gunpoint,
particularly upset diplomats, some of whom reckon that Nairobi and
its airport remain a target for jihadist terrorist plots.
Distancing himself from the Armenians, Mr Kibaki has suspended several
senior policemen and immigration and airport officials. An inquiry
may reveal who the Armenians really were, what they did and whether
they were in the pay of the government. It is unlikely to improve
the government’s reputation or help the forlorn, indecisive Mr Kibaki.