Kenyan Muslims threaten to disrupt World Cross Country...

Kenyan Muslims threaten to disrupt World Cross Country Championships

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Kenyan Muslims threaten to disrupt World Cross Country Championships



Kenyan Muslims are threatening to disrupt the forthcoming World Cross Country Championships scheduled for the coastal city of Mombasa next month unless the government releases their colleagues held on suspicion of terrorism.

The Muslims who held a peaceful demonstration on Sunday in Mombasa asked the government to release 23 Muslims held on suspicion of engaging in terrorism and those detained in Somalia and Ethiopia by March 23 or else they would disrupt the international event.

"Muslims have unanimously agreed that should the government fail to release Kenyans suspected of terrorism and bring home Kenyans deported to Somalia, we will hold demonstrations to disrupt the World Cross Country Championships," Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya secretary-general Sheikh Mohamed Dor said.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) championships are scheduled to begin on March 24 in Mombasa.

More than 40 Somali refugees were last month kicked out of Kenya over their link with the recently routed Supreme Council of Islamic Courts (SCIC) which ruled much parts of central and southern Somalia until late December.

Sheikh Dor said the Muslims would hold the "mother of all demonstrations" and paralyze business on March 24 should the government fail to meet their demands.

One of the leaders, Ahmed Farid, said the Muslims were being detained at police stations across the east African country, some of them because of a conflict in neighboring Somalia. He said some had not even been charged.

"We are protesting against the arrest and torture of our Muslim brothers in connection with terrorism," Farid told some 2,000 demonstrators in the port city of Mombasa which would host the IAAF championships.

"Failure to which, we will hold another major demonstration to disrupt the IAAF championships," he said at the peaceful demonstration, which brought businesses to a halt and caused huge traffic jams.

The demonstrators, who waved white handkerchiefs to signify peace, charged that they would use their numbers to make a political statement later in the year.

Kenya's Muslims have long complained of being marginalized by authorities, and feel they have been unfairly targeted, particularly since 1998 and 2002 attacks blamed on al Qaeda-linked militants.

Source: Xinhua



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