It has been revealed that Kenya paid half a million dollars to transport the Jamaican Muslim preacher home by private jet, three weeks after initial attempts were grounded. Two Kenyan immigration officials have also been suspended for allowing Faisal to enter the country in the first place with authorities questioning how staff could allow a Jamaican man to cross a land border with Tanzania without arousing suspicion.

Faisal was effectively stranded in Nairobi after moves to deport him to several neighbouring African countries were blocked with the cleric being refused a transit visa. During his time awaiting deportation and while Kenyan officials negotiated for his return Nairobi became the scene of violent clashed between Muslim groups and local police at a number of rallies in support of Faisal.

The Kenyan government defended their actions, saying that Faisal represented a violent threat and that they were obliged to remove such a threat from the state. Not doing so would present a constant threat to the public, particularly those involved with commercial airlines.

Faisal’s deportation was eventually alleged to be coordinated by a South African security firm. He had previously spent four years in a British jail for inciting racial hatred and violence prior to his release in 2007.

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Kenyan police have been attempting to try to identify those with terrorist links after violent clashes marred the first protest rally organised for January 16th. In that incident two people died and six officers were injured with police making some 400 arrests. The central business district of Nairobi was the scene of confrontations and hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage was reported as the demonstration turned ugly.

Local shop traders joined in support of Kenyan police, as one stage hurling rocks back at the madding crowd. Security personnel in full riot gear soon joined the fray and searched through the mainly Somali residential area of Eastleigh which is known to locals as Little Mogadishu. Officers were searching for people with documented ties to the Al-Shabaab group – a Somali organisation which is seeking the overthrow on the government inside the northern neighbour of Kenya.

Up to sixteen members of the Transitional Federal Government from Somalia were detained by Kenyan police forces. Nairobi police chiefs have vowed to weed out the militant element inside the city which has been accused of trying to destroy both countries from within.

Protest March organisers have claimed that Kenyan authorities have been systematically targeting Muslim neighbourhoods and the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) has expressed concerns that the police raids may be in breach of civil liberties whereby a specific faith cannot be targeted.

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According to a Jamaican newspaper, measures are being ramped up in that country to ensure that should al-Faisal be returned that he would be monitored around the clock by a special team of security officers. The Gleaner newspaper reports on a police insider who claimed online that Sheikh al-Faisal would face extra security measures on arrival home in the island nation.

Meanwhile, Otieno Kajwang, the Kenyan Immigration Minister called on both the United States and Britain to allow free transit through their airports for al-Faisal. This plea was effectively made a necessity given that travel to Jamaica must go via either the UK or US. Kajwang claimed that Kenyan Airways, the national carrier, could potentially fly the cleric back to his homeland but that this would require a connection at Britain’s Gatwick Airport. However, the UK has repeatedly stated that it will refuse al-Faisal any access to its ports after his serving of a four-year prison term in Britain for inciting racial hatred and violence.

The Qatari government has also come forward with an additional option according to Kajwang which would see al-Faisal allowed to make a connection at the capital Doha’s airport. Again though, this has presented issues as the ongoing sector would see travel to Miami in the US where authorities also have no desire to host the Sheikh.

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On Wednesday the British High Commissioner in Ghana, Nicholas Westcott, made the announcement during an address to media in Accra where he stated that the practice of submitting forgeries is a criminal activity and therefore will result not only in mere refusal.

Any such offenders, said Westcott, would also be liable for Ghanaian police prosecution before adding that given that penalties for providing false information can be severe any attempts would be foolhardy.

In a three month period from October last year the British High Commission located a total of 349 fraudulent documents which resulted in 243 arrests. However, according to Ghanain President Atta Mills any instances of presenting forged documents in relation to visa applications is merely an act of indiscretion rather than a criminal offence.

The UK Border Agency recently held a media open day in Ghana to showcase the necessary requirements under the visa processing system. Included on the day was a tour of the Labone visa application system run by the British High Commission while attending journalists were taken through the process by which applications were considered and handled by Embassy staff.

The High Commission has reiterated that correct and true documentation would face a far greater chance of success than any forgeries and encouraged openness and honesty for all applicants.

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Al-Amin Kimathi was the organiser of the rally which expressed anger at the planned forced deportation of the preacher Abudullah al-Faisal but denies charges of inciting violence.

The riot itself saw some 300 violence-related arrests resulting in 141 charges of immigration offences. The remainder of the mainly ethnic Somali protestors – who the government also blamed for the violence – were eventually released without charge. The actions of the Kenyan government has led to accusations that they are stoking the fires of ethnic enmity according to human rights campaigners. To compound the confusion, the government’s decision to round up Somali’s for their involvement in the melee led to the arrest of twelve MP’s from that country. The group was released after a very strongly worded letter from the Somali government to its Kenyan

In addition to charges laid against Mr Kimathi, a further seven people are facing charges over the Nairobi riots which led to at least one confirmed death with several more expected to be confirmed in the next few days.

The Kenyan government is now investigating the causes of the riot through the state-sponsored Kenyan National Commission on Human Rights although Kimathi’s criticism of Faisal’s treatment has been well publicised.

While his lawyers claim that Kimathi caused no offence in the riots he has a history of support for the cleric Faisal who has been jailed previously in the UK for allegedly inciting the murders of Jews and Hindus.

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The Muslim-cleric, originally born in Jamaica, has been forced from Kenya although his exact location is still unclear.  He was detained by Kenyan authorities last week who supposedly gave him a range of options and according to officials he chose the tiny western nation of Gambia as his next destination. This, however, has been disputed by some inside Gambia itself, with officials claiming that any such attempt would be turned back on arrival.

Abdullah al-Faisal has a history of preaching racial hatred and has already served a four-year prison term in Britain for his role in ordering the murders of both Jews and Hindus. The notorious Abdullah al-Faisal arrived in the UK some 26 years ago after he was born in the Jamaican suburb of St James as Trevor William Forrest. In the years leading up to his arrest Abdullah al-Faisal was known to travel the length and breadth of Britain preaching for his racially motivated audience to take up violent action against not just Hindus and Jews but also Westerners in general.

Deported upon his release from jail by immigration authorities in the UK he travelled to South Africa where he again preached his radical views. From there he was believed to have made his way up land through Mozambique and Tanzania before settling in Kenya.

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Tightening border controls and stricter legislation have seen many European countries move to restrict new arrivals from Africa. The result is that many asylum seekers have arrived unwittingly in Argentina and Brazil as cargo and freight ships once almost exclusively bound for Europe now take on new routes. Mexico is also rising fast as a desired destination given its closeness to the United States. In Argentina, asylum seekers from Africa now make up one-third of the country’s total. Less than a decade agao there were only 50 or so immigrants from Africa in Argentina – the figure is now estimated at 3,000.

Argentinian authorities have started to take notice; an African was a rarity in the past but now the streets of Buenos Aries see more and more each day. Immigration officials there expect the numbers to continue to swell, citing the post 9/11 security clampdowns across Europe as the main reason.

In Brazil, the issue is even greater – 65 percent of all Brazil’s asylum seekers are from Africa. The new arrivals are generally stowaways on ships bound from Ghana, Nigeria, Egypt or Senegal and many attempt to obtain a Brazilian visa before attempting onward land travel.

Ironically, the new spate of African arrivals mirrors the trend of European immigrants who flooded Argentina and Brazil 100 a century ago in the face of two world wars.

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The child’s grandmother, 54-year-old Careworker Agatha Owsuah of London’s southern suburb of Peckham, should now be looking after the child after the mother was detained in a police station in Walworth. She has lashed out at how a police station could not ask for any form of identification before handing over a child, given that as immigrants they are repeatedly asked to show ID at every point from the bank to a new job.

Last Thursday the child was taken to the police station along with her mother after police took 36-year-old Cynthia Boakye into custody over alleged immigration offences. While at the station a number of people were contacted to request that they come and care for the child which seems to have resulted in conversations being overheard.

A relative was eventually organised to come to the station to collect baby Audrey after the step father said he could not due to work commitments. Mrs Owsuah believes that someone had heard the police make the call and then pretend to be the carer at the appointed time. On arrival at the station the bay was promptly handed over with no ID check asked for. It has since become obvious that the woman called for and the woman who collected the child was not the same.

Police have said they are making every effort to locate the woman, believed to be from Ghana, and added that there is no indication at this point that any harm has come to the toddler.

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