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From: C-afp@clari.net (AFP)
Newsgroups: clari.world.africa.eastern,clari.world.mideast+africa
Subject: Kenya closes embassies amid furure over Ocalan's capture
Organization: Copyright 1999 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)
Message-ID: <Qkurds-kenyaURx5N_9FH.RZOO_9FH@clari.net>
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Date: Wed, 17 Feb 1999 8:35:45 PST
ACategory: international
Slugword: Kurds-Kenya
Threadword: kurds
Priority: urgent
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 Kurds-Kenya-embassies)
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   NAIROBI, Feb 17 (AFP) - Kenya, a target for Kurd attacks  
following the seizure there of rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, has 
indefinitely closed all its embassies and consulates, a foreign 
ministry spokesman said Wednesday. 
   The circumstances surrounding Kurdish rebel chief Ocalan's  
departure from Kenya remained shrouded in controversy, as a leading 
paper quoted sources as saying he had been seized by Kenyan 
intelligence and bundled out of the country. 
   Kenyan Foreign Minister Bonaya Godana told a press conference on  
Tuesday that Ocalan had stayed with the Greek ambassador in Nairobi 
for close to two weeks, and was flown out aboard a private plane 
"for a destination known to the Greek authorities." 
   "We would like to assure everybody, Kurds included, that we had  
no role in this affair," Godana said. 
   The independent Daily Nation reported that version Wednesday,  
but added: "Other sources said Mr. Ocalan was seized by officers 
from the Kenyan National Security Intelligence Services, 
blindfolded, and driven to the airport to be deported." 
   Kurd protesters, blaming Nairobi in part for Ocalan's capture by  
Turkey, have attacked the Kenyan embassies in Paris, Vienna and 
Bonn, where they took two embassy staff members hostage. 
   Kenyan foreign ministry spokesman Newton Buliva said the Kenyan  
tourist office in Frankfurt, Germany, had also been attacked during 
raids by Ocalan's supporters. 
   Most of the Kurds' anger has been aimed at the Greek  
authorities. In Athens, Greek Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos 
told a press conference Tuesday that Ocalan "decided, with his 
lawyers and the Kenyan authorities, to leave the residence to go to 
the airport," with the intention of flying to the Netherlands, 
adding that Greek officials were against the idea. 
   On the way to the airport, the car in which Ocalan was  
travelling "suddenly dropped out of the convoy" and disappeared, the 
minister said. 
   All trace of the vehicle was lost, he added.  
   Godana said Tuesday that Nairobi had asked for the immediate  
recall of the Greek ambassador, George Costorlas, saying "it is no 
longer possible to trust the ambassador as serious doubts about his 
credibility have been created." 
   The ambassador first "vehemently denied" that Ocalan was staying  
with him, Godana said, "but when he was confronted yesterday 
(Monday) with concrete evidence, he owned up." 
   Kenya then demanded that the ambassador arrange for Ocalan to  
leave. 
   According to the Kurdish rebel leader's German lawyer Eberhardt  
Schultz, the Kenyan authorities coaxed Ocalan out of the Greek 
embassy by assuring him that he would be put on a flight to the 
Netherlands. 
   "They guaranteed that he would be sent on a plane to Holland via  
Cairo," he added, saying "the Kenyan authorities and the Greek 
ambassador" had given the promise, Schultz said in a German 
newspaper Wednesday. 
   Three or four of Ocalan's colleagues remain in the Greek embassy  
in Nairobi, according to Greek sources. 
   According to the Greek foreign ministry, the other Kurds,  
carrying foreign passports, posed no threat and had not been asked 
to leave the embassy. 
   A woman among them, named as "Melsa" said by telephone, speaking  
Greek, that they had been asked to leave within three hours. The 
group feared for  their safety should they leave the embassy, she 
added. 
   "Our life is in danger, we are worried," said another, speaking  
in French to a television channel. 
   A Greek government spokesman said they were not prisoners, and a  
destination was being sought but "the possiblities are limited." 
   In Ankara, Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said on  
Wednesday that Ocalan was being held on an island in the Sea of 
Marmara. 
  	   	

