British tourist kidnapped in Kenya

[Robb]

Source: UPI

NAIROBI, Kenya, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- A British tourist abducted in Kenya is likely being held by the Islamic fundamentalist militia al-Shabaab, the Somali government says.

However, while Somali Defense Minister Hussein Arab Issa said Judith Tebbutt was spirited across the Kenyan border into Somalia by al-Shabaab gunmen, the government in Mogadishu has not ruled out the possibility other groups are holding the 56-year-old tourist, the BBC reported Friday.

Tebbutt was kidnapped from a remote Kenyan resort at Kiwayu Sunday and her 58-year-old husband David was shot to death.

The British network said both the Somali government and U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said they were doing everything possible to gain her release.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/09/16/British-tourist-kidnapped-in-Kenya/UPI-91341316185540/?spt=hs&or=tn

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Also a longer feature on the issue here: http://www.theage.com.au/travel/travel-news/travellers-be-warned-20110916-1ke4s.html

[Xithras]

1. I can't imagine.

One moment you're lounging around in a beachside cabana in a supposedly "safe" country, and the next moment someone is putting a gun to your head in the name of "God".

Hopefully they can rescue that poor woman, but the fact that they executed her husband on sight doesn't bode well for her safe return.

And, lest anyone think they were tempting fate: They were vacationing on an island in a Kenyan nature park more than 40 miles from the border.

[TwilightGardener]

2. There are places I wouldn't go in this world--Africa's one of them. Mexico.

Anywhere in the Middle East. In a different time, certainly, but not now.

[LuckyLib]

3. Now there's a broad brush. Most, if not all, of Africa and Mexico are safe to travel.

Millions of folks go about their business every day, both residents and visitors, with little fear. Trekking on the border of Iraq? No. Spending time in Nuevo Laredo Mexico? No. But I wouldn't be sailing off the horn of Africa where there are Somali pirates. Folks have to use good judgment.

[TwilightGardener]

4. Everyone has their comfort zone, I guess. I have no desire to travel

to parts of the world that see a lot of unrest, civil war, anti-western sentiment, etc. Even though certain countries and regions are safer than others in Africa and the ME, if I get my once in a lifetime trip overseas, it's not going to be where the general security situation is unreliable. Wouldn't go to Mexico now either. Even Sunset magazine is weighing in on whether tourists should go there at all.

[pitohui]

9. sunset magazine? really? in 2011?

might i respectfully suggest that one of the rewards of age is that we no longer have to be so conservative as we did when young

yes, when i was 20, i would hesitate to fly off to get involved in anything that looked dangerous, if you get your happy ass killed you've lost 60 years of life maybe and much of them potentially healthy, vibrant, productive years

but at my age, hell with it, i'm going to go where i like and if i die, so be it, there is FAR more risk of rotting away
on machines or in a nursing home, destroying my family's financial security, if i'm stupid enough to play it "safe" in my older years...makes no sense

maybe sunset magazine is still produced and put forward in nursing homes, for i don't think i've seen it in decades, and they have an interest in keeping people alive

for me, quality of life is more important, and when you reach an age where you can take risk without regret, it's time to seize the opportunity

if you don't see the world when you're older when will you see it? while it's terrible what happened to this couple they were in their 50s and they saw the world, i've rather go out as the husband did, than to go out the way my relatives with alzheimer's did

oh, and mexico is a BIG place, that's as stupid ass as saying old people shouldn't go to florida or texas, and we all know that old people are routinely robbed and killed in those states too, when you're old and vulnerable, and there's a crime problem, it can happen ANYWHERE not just mexico and africa!

[mainer]

11. Great perspective. Old age is when to risk it all.

With only a decade or two before either dementia or physical ailments rob us of the chance, we should see the places we really want to see. With that in mind, I've stopped worrying about the risks of foreign travel and have gone to some pretty amazing and strange places. And never regretted it.

[Glimmer of Hope]

12. I want to see it all while I can. I have traveled all over Kenya and never felt unsafe.

Kenyans are some of the nicest people in the world.

[pitohui]

7. curious to know where this poster lives that a nature resort in kenya seems unsafe

i'm guessing the murder/kidnap rate in her home town is much higher than the murder/kidnap rate in lamu, kenya, considering ONE guy is killed and one lady kidnapped in the kenyan resort and it's considered world news

murder/kidnap (but mostly just plain rape, rampage and murder, for kidnap is too much like work) happens every day down here in new orleans

the murder violent crime rate in j'burg south africa is actually impressive but a remote resort in kenya? something happens bad ONE TIME and you can't go there? to the entire continent of africa??? really? never mind travel, how can you stay at home, the murder rate in most usa cities and towns has to be beating this!!!

ridiculous

there's no city in the southern united states that you could visit

i say travel where you like and just use street smarts

at the end of the day, this couple did nothing wrong, they just won the reverse lottery and worrying about it happening to the average tourist in kenya seems ridiculous to me

[mainer]

5. Do reconsider Africa. My trip to South Africa was the greatest.

You have to be careful of crime in Johannesburg, but seeing the wildlife in the African bush is a spectacular experience.

I'm sorry that so much of the Middle East has become off limits to tourists. I will always be glad I saw Libya's Leptis Magnus back when the country was still considered safe for tourists.

[Posteritatis]

6. One of my favorite profs was offered a position at U of Baghdad awhile back...

She was considering accepting it - she was a Roman specialist with a big interest in the Near East, and liked studying the former through the lens of the latter - but then the Iran-Iraq war broke out and there wasn't really an opportunity to even consider visiting since then.

She'd always been kind of sad about that and I can't say I blame her. Whole lot of opportunities lost in that part of the world for such a long time now.

[pitohui]

8. and kenya's natural treasures are impressive as well

ridiculous to punish an entire people and an entire industry for the actions of those who are not, apparently, even kenyans but instead outside terrorists trying to destroy kenya's tourism and future

[mattvermont]

10. Lamu is a fantastic place

I spent time there in the late 80's....things were no different then with respect to Somali bandits. Had to have armed guards on our bus when traveling in northern Kenya.
Better than rotting in front of the TV, as I am doing right now.