NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The Peace Corps is suspending its
programs in Kenya because of security concerns and is pulling more than
50 volunteers out of the country until threat levels decrease, the Peace
Corps and State Department said Thursday.
A statement to The
Associated Press from the State Department said that the Peace Corps
"has been closely monitoring the security environment in Kenya … and
has decided to officially suspend the program in Kenya." The Peace Corps
will monitor the security situation and determine when volunteers can
return, it said.
The decision comes amid a tightening of security
by the U.S. Embassy in Kenya, which has seen dozens of grenade and
gunfire attacks the last two years. Earlier this year the U.S. increased
the number of security personnel at the embassy and put armed Marines
behind sandbag bunkers on the embassy roof. The State Department also
reduced the number of U.S. personnel here by moving a regional USAID
office out of the country.
The decision to suspend the Peace Corps
program has been in the works for a while but was not announced
publicly. U.S. warnings about the high risk of terror attacks in Kenya
always ruffle the feathers of Kenyan leaders, and the State Department
and Peace Corps statements underscored the long U.S.-Kenya relationship
and the hundreds of millions of dollars the U.S. pours into Kenya every
year.
But it was clear that given the grenade and gunfire
assaults, as well as the massive attack on Westgate Mall last year that
killed at least 67 people, the government felt that its Peace Corps
volunteers — who live in far-flung villages with little security
protection — were vulnerable.
Underscoring the danger of random
violence, a police officer in the coastal town of Mombasa confirmed that
a foreign woman had been shot and killed Thursday while walking the
city streets, the second foreigner killed this month in the area.
Recent
Peace Corps volunteers in Kenya said they felt the U.S. government
program did a good job of keeping them updated about security, including
the sending of security text messages, but they acknowledged that
security was deteriorating.
"Some volunteers weren’t very pleased
with the level of security they provided, but I’m not sure what they
were expecting. We don’t have security guards to protect us, and it’s
Kenya, so sometimes bad things happen regardless of any preventative
measures," said Nik Schuetz, a 28-year-old volunteer in Kenya from
2009-11 now studying at the University of Kansas.
The Peace Corps,
which was founded in 1961 after the suggestion of then-Sen. John
Kennedy, has some 7,000 volunteers in 65 countries working on education,
health and environmental issues. Nearly 50 percent of the program’s
volunteers are in Africa. The program has had to pull volunteers out of
dangerous situations before, including in Nepal in 2004 and in Kenya
after the 2007-08 election violence. The Peace Corps also suspended its
program in Ukraine in April.
Schuetz was initially placed in
western Kenya with a public health program but his house was broken into
and his belongings stolen, so the program moved him to another
province, where he stayed for two years.
"They taught us to be
smart about our surroundings and to trust the hairs on the back of our
necks to sense whether it was a safe situation or not. And some things
like bombings or grenade attacks, you just can’t prepare for other than
leaving the country," he said.
Anna Martin a Peace Corps volunteer
in Busia, Kenya from 2010-12 who still lives in the country, said she
always felt safe as a Peace Corps volunteer because the U.S. mission was
"always making the best decisions regarding our safety and well-being."
"My
opinion … is that things just weren’t getting better," said Martin.
"Peace Corps had already taken measures to protect volunteers but had to
ultimately make a bigger decision. And it a wise one."
At full
strength the Peace Corps has had more than 125 volunteers in Kenya in
recent years, and the pull-outs will hurt communities receiving American
assistance. Shira Kramer, the spokeswoman for the Peace Corps, said the
program hopes the volunteers can return "to support the country in
meeting its development goals."
A third recent Peace Corps
volunteer in Kenya, Travis Axe, said there was no doubt that aid groups,
schools and pharmacies would be negatively affected by the pull-out.
"Kenya
is spearheading the growth and trends of so many sectors in East
Africa; it is a shame to see such a wonderful program be cut from a
country that has so much potential," he said.