Kenya Expels U.S. Correspondent but Rescinds Order 6 Hours Later

A correspondent for the Washington Post was declared a “prohibited immigrant” and ordered expelled Tuesday by Kenya. However, the government rescinded the order six hours later, saying it was all a misunderstanding.

Blaine Harden, 35, who has been based in Nairobi since mid-1985, was taken into custody at immigration headquarters in the capital after he appeared to check on his application for a new work permit.

A senior official handed Harden a letter that said the head of immigration had declared “the entry into or presence within Kenya of yourself contrary to the national interest. . . . You are required to leave Kenya immediately upon receipt of this letter.”

The letter, dated May 8, apparently was prompted by a series of articles that Harden wrote earlier this year on the deteriorating human rights situation under President Daniel Arap Moi.

Immigration officers then escorted Harden to the airport, where he was given a ticket for the night flight to London. He was later allowed to return to his home, under guard, to pack.

Senior officials with the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi quickly contacted top Kenyan officials, including the permanent secretary for foreign affairs who was in Washington for meetings on Capitol Hill.

Later, the embassy issued a statement saying “the (deportation) order apparently was given in error, and without full consultation within the government of Kenya. We have been advised that he (Harden) can continue his duties as a working journalist in Kenya.”

Harden and other foreign correspondents based in Nairobi have written about the alleged torture of political dissidents here.

However, Moi was said to have been especially angered when, midway through an official visit to Washington in February, he saw a Harden article that raised the torture allegations and described Moi’s government as “increasingly intolerant of political dissent.”