CFCA news

Attacks rock Nairobi, Kenya's capital

October 27, 2011

NAIROBI, Kenya—Residents in Kenya's capital are on high alert after two recent explosions in the city center.

According to the BBC, the attacks happened days after the U.S. Embassy in Kenya warned of an imminent attack by Islamist extremists from Somalia.

"Nairobi residents are living in fear," said Regina Mburu, CFCA communications liaison in Nairobi. "People have been advised to go home early and cautioned against going to shopping malls, bus stops and any place that attracts large crowds.

"This has greatly inconvenienced everyone, because you have to keep looking over your shoulder. It is not safe being in the city."

Recently the Kenyan government sent troops to Somalia to pursue extremists after a series of abductions within its borders, the BBC reported.

Al-Shabab, a group linked to al-Qaeda that controls much of southern and central Somalia, has denied involvement in the kidnappings, according to the BBC. It has, however, threatened attacks if Kenyan troops do not withdraw from Somalia.

Mburu said the insecurity is affecting parents of CFCA sponsored children who work in the Nairobi city center. CFCA-Nairobi is taking security precautions.

Nairobi Coordinator Peter Ndungo asked CFCA staff members to take extra precautions when they hold parent meetings and to cancel the meetings if security warrants it, Mburu said.

CFCA serves more than 16,000 sponsored children, youth and aging friends in Kenya.

More than 10,000 of those live in and around Nairobi. No families live in the city center.

"Kenyans can only pray that this will end soon and that our country will be free from terrorist attacks on innocent citizens," Mburu said.