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  • Bling-bling boys from abroad

    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.
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