Deportation Move an Error, Kenyan Tells Newsman
President Daniel Arap Moi called in Washington Post correspondent Blaine Harden on Thursday to tell him that an attempt to deport him on Tuesday was a bureaucratic error, Harden said.
Harden said that Moi telephoned immigration officials in his presence and gave them instructions to issue a new two-year work permit to the American journalist.
Immigration officials, acting on orders from Principal Immigration Officer Nelson ole Ncharo, took Harden to the Nairobi airport on Tuesday with the intention of putting him on the first New York-bound flight.
The Kenyan government reversed the expulsion order after the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi intervened on Harden’s behalf. Diplomatic sources said the embassy action was decisive in persuading Kenyan officials to let Harden stay.
Last March, while Moi was on an official visit to the United States, Harden reported allegations that the Kenyan police had tortured political detainees. Kenya denied the allegations.
At Thursday’s half-hour meeting at State House, Moi gave Harden a rare interview, believed to be his first to the foreign press since February, 1984.
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