EXCLUSIVE - Mombasa hotels, malls resort to private security

by Yassin Juma

MOMBASA, Kenya

Hotels and upscale shopping malls in Mombasa, Kenya's second largest city, have resorted to hiring private security guards, accusing the government of failing to provide adequate protection.

"We have had to hire more security guards in our hotels to ensure that tourists are safe," Mohamed Hersi, hotelier and head of the Mombasa and Coast Tourist Association, told Anadolu Agency.

On Saturday night, a bomb went off at the Reef Beach Hotel in Nyali, a popular resort destination for high-end western tourists. No one was injured.

Mwenda Njoka, spokesman for Kenya's Internal Security Ministry, told AA at the time that a person "who looked like an Asian" had entered the hotel shortly before the blast.

"He had a bag like somebody who just came in casually to swim. He left the bag at the beach and it exploded," Njoka said.

The blast occurred only minutes after a Nairobi-bound bus was struck by a bomb in downtown Mombasa, killing three people instantly. A fourth victim later succumbed to his injuries at Coast General Hospital.

At least 13 other people were injured, according to hospital sources.

With increasingly frequent terror attacks in the coastal city, hotels and upscale shopping malls are now turning to private security guards, saying the government isn't doing enough to ensure their security and that of their clients.

"We're used to seeing kneejerk reactions by [government] security agents immediately after terror attacks," said Hersi.

"And we have learnt our lesson now," he added. "That's why we're resolving to hire private security."

-Beefing up security-

Foreign tourists and Kenyans patronizing high-end hotels and shopping malls must now undergo security checks before being allowed in.

"We're screening every individual entering," asserted Hersi. "Our priority is the safety of our tourists."

At the City Mall and Nakumatt Shopping Mall in the up-market Nyali Estate – the restaurants, shops and cinemas of which attract hundreds daily – every vehicle that enters must undergo a security check and every individual must be screened.

"It should take less than five minutes to gain entrance and park my vehicle at the City Mall," Mombasa resident Yusuf Dzaro told AA. "But I was taking my family out for lunch and it took us almost 20 minutes to enter."

"There was a long queue of vehicles and each had to be inspected by two guards. It may be delaying [inconvenient], but I believe it's worth it," said Dzaro.

Mombasa attracts millions of Western tourists every year, who come to the coastal city to enjoy its sandy beaches and Swahili hospitality.

But over the course of the last four years, Western tourists have become targets for Somalia's militant Al-Shabaab group, which has kidnapped – and, in some cases, killed – tourists in the past.

Tourist arrivals have now hit record lows in Mombasa, and in Kenya's coastal region in general, following a spate of recent terrorist attacks.

The East African nation has been rocked by attacks since it deployed troops to next-door Somalia – tasked with bringing Al-Shabaab to heel – in 2011.

Al-Shabaab has repeatedly vowed to carry out attacks on Kenyan soil as long as Kenyan troops remain on the ground in Somalia.

englishnews@aa.com.tr