Kenya Socialist Web Site
Kenya Youth Movement in Sweden (KYMS)
Box 374 123 03 Farsta, Sweden.
E-mail: kymss@hotmail.com
website: http://www.angelfire.com/ky/kyms/harakati4.html
To: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Gustav adolf torg 1,
103 39 Stockholm, Sweden.
Tel: 08 405 10 00
Fax: 08 723 1176
e-mail: ud@foreign.ministry.se
2nd September 1999
Dear sir/madam,
REF: CONCERNS OVER ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES OF KENYA EXTERNAL INTELLIGENCE UNIT
IN STOCKHOLM - SWEDEN
Last year, a new act of Parliament in Kenya established the National Security
Intelligence Service (NSIS) to replace the former Directorate of Security
Intelligence which was commonly known as the "Special Branch" and which was
part of the Kenya Police Department.
In May this year, President Daniel arap Moi appointed retired Brig. Wilson
Bonett to head NSIS whose intelligence gathering work includes: internal,
external and strategic intelligence. NSIS is divided into seven sections
:
1. Administration
2. Information technology
3. Internal intelligence
4. External intelligence
5. Economic affairs
6. Operations
7. National Intelligence Academy
The headquarters of the National Intelligence Academy is currently under
construction near the Windsor Golf and Country Hotel. As the Director general
of NSIS, Retired Brig. Boinet is the principle advisor of the President on
matters relating to national security. In April this year, the Moi government
appointed Mrs Pamela Mboya, the former Permanent representative to the Habitat,
to head a Committee that was charged with formulating a scheme of service
for NSIS officers.
Officials of the new Intelligence body are:
· Mr. Stephen Kimani Muhu - Director of operations,
· Mr. Petkay Shen Miriti - Director of external
intelligence,
· Mr. Shukri Baramadi - Director of internal intelligence,
· Mr. Alloys Meltus Okindah, Director of National
Intelligence Academy,
· Mr. Joseph Murei Mangira - Director of administration,
· Mr. Fidel Mumia - Director of economic affairs
· Mr. Kibwon Sergon - Director of information technology.
Since the establishment of the external unit of NSIS, Kenya Youth Movement
in Sweden has come under overt and covert surveillance by what our Movement
sees as the Stockholm branch of NSIS. In March this year, Mr. Francis Mwongo
from the Kenyan Embassy in Stockholm took a dramatic step by taking contact
with Mr. Githuku wa Muirani, KYMS Chairman, to try and gather intelligence
about a planned KYMS demonstration at the Kenyan Embassy in Stockholm.
The Embassy contact was triggered by a story about KYMS that had been published
in the March 1999 issue of KUWA Bulletin, a monthly newsletter published
in Sweden by the Kenya United Welfare Association (KUWA).
In the story, Mr. Kenneth Wamburi Munge, KYMS Vice secretary, had expressed
concerns about the safety of Kenyan citizens in Sweden following the illegal
handing over of PKK leader Abdulla Ocalan to authorities in Turkey following
Moi's orders. In the article, Mr. Wamburi had indicated that KYMS was planning
to take contact with the political wing of PKK to dissociate Kenyan citizens
from the scandal that had erupted over the Ocalan affair and to address alleged
threats of terrorism against Kenyans by PKK activists. Concerns about the
security of Kenyans abroad over the Ocalan issue had been expressed widely
in the Kenyan media and by Kenyans in the Diaspora.
We are writing to your office to express serious concerns at the alarming
rate at which NSIS has stepped up its operations in Stockholm. This is because
under international law and according to diplomatic protocols, it is illegal
for a State to conduct acts of espionage of any form and under any circumstance
in another State.
On Friday, the 9th of July, KYMS organised a demonstration outside the Kenyan
embassy in Stockholm. This demo was secretly filmed by the Embassy that had
mounted a secret camera inside the Kenya Tourist Office located below the
Embassy. We believe that the purpose of filming the demo was to avail the
pictures to NSIS in Nairobi for further analysis. While there should be no
problem with the Embassy filming a demo being held outside the Embassy, we
are concerned that this act was done under cover. We hereby enclose photographic
evidence to back up our concerns. We also have the evidence on video. The
Swedish police who were assigned to provide security at the demo should also
be in a position to confirm this unacceptable breach of the terms under which
diplomats are supposed to conduct their activities in a foreign country.
Because of the seriousness which our Movement attaches to current and future
acts of espionage by the Kenyan embassy, we are kindly requesting your esteemed
office to investigate the July 19th incident with a view to taking action
against the Embassy staff who were involved in the operation. We believe
that the Kenyan government has targeted KYMS for aggressive acts of espionage
because the Movement remains one of the most politically organised groups
in the wider anti-Moi/KANU Movements/Organisations of Kenyans in the Diaspora.
The Kenyan Embassy in Stockholm has, in the past, been involved in undeplomatic
and violent activities and this latest incident is therefore not new. In
1995, militant Embassy staff brutalised a Swedish photographer who had accompanied
Amnesty International to the Embassy when the Human Rights organisation went
to hand over petitions that called for the release of Koigi wa Wamwere who
was by then languishing in one of Kenya's deadly prisons. We hope that your
office will examine this matter and act accordingly.
Yours sincerely,
Githuku wa Muirani
Chairman
Okoth Osewe
Secretary
For KYMS Executive Committee
CC:
-Kenya Embassy - Stockholm
-Office of the President - Kenya government
-Amnesty International - Swedish section
-The Kenya Community Abroad (KCA)
Published by Kenya Socialist Democratic Alliance
(KSDA)
email: harakatips@hotmail.com
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