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Dubai: It was a bittersweet homecoming for a UAE resident, who went to visit his birthplace but found a country torn by ethnic clashes and rioting over a disputed election.
More than 300 people have been killed since violence erupted between the pro-government Kikuyu and opposition Luo tribes following accusations of vote-rigging in the December 27 election, which saw President Mwai Kibaki narrowly defeat his rival Raila Odinga.
Munsif Molu, a media executive in Dubai, told Gulf News he and his friend were making the historic visit to Kenya when violence erupted.
"I went there for a holiday, to return to my birthplace. It was my first visit in 20 years," he said.
Instead, it became a bittersweet moment when they found Mombasa a ghost town in the lead-up to the elections. They also ran into some problems with police, who stopped them for walking around the city without identification papers.
"It was devastating," he said, adding he and his friend, who also lives in Dubai, decided to cut short their stay in the city and move to a beach hotel on December 27.
The decision proved to be a smart one as the elections disintegrated into deadly ethnic clashes, which have displaced more than 100,000 people in the city's slums and villages.
Molu said shifting to the beach resort cocooned them from the violence, adding they decided against venturing out.
"We didn't really fear for our safety, but we were worried we would not be able to leave the country because we heard the airport in Mombasa was closed," he said.
"We even considered hiring a boat to Tanzania so we could fly back to Dubai," he added.
Calls to the airport went unanswered, thereby seemingly confirming their worst fears. The two showed up for their flight to the Kenyan capital of Nairobi anyway, which is where they were supposed to catch a flight to Dubai, and were relieved to find the airport operational.
He said they only understood the extent of the post-election chaos when they arrived in Nairobi, which had more news channels. Despite his experience, he has not ruled out a return trip.
"It wasn't the best time to be in Kenya but it certainly made for an interesting holiday," he mused.
Flights not affected
Post-election chaos and violence in Kenya have not affected flights going to or coming from the African country, although some travel agencies have suspended package services.
Kenya has a thriving tourism industry, reportedly bringing in some $900 million (Dh3.3 billion) and attracting more than 1 million visitors annually.
An Emirates spokesperson, speaking on behalf of Emirates Holidays, told Gulf News they had suspended the holiday arm of the airline for the time being.
"We are currently not taking any new bookings for holiday packages to Kenya, and are in close contact with the tourism board there. Emirates Holidays will reinstate sales once we are comfortable the situation has settled down," she said.
She added customers who had already booked an Emirates Holidays package to Kenya could cancel their booking free of charge, change their destination or rebook to travel at a later time.
As for Emirates Airlines, she said the flights were continuing as usual.
"Both our twice-daily flights to Nairobi are currently operating to schedule. We are closely monitoring the situation, and have put in place contingency arrangements should any of our flights be disrupted by the local situation," she said. "The safety of our customers will always be our topmost priority," she added.
Shain, general service manager at Al Rais Travel, which does the ticketing for Kenya Airways, told Gulf News they have not received any cancellations since the riots began.
"The flights are fully booked and people are still travelling. There are no changes in the number of flights or capacity, even right now with the riots," he said.
Kenya Airways has daily direct flights to Nairobi from Dubai, with additional flights on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
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