MOMBASA, 1 July 2003 — Anti-terrorist security experts from Britain have arrived in Mombasa to help track down terrorist elements, as part of Kenya-Britain cooperation on security matters.

British High Commissioner to Kenya Edward Clay said yesterday that the officers will also train a reconstituted local anti-terrorist police unit to be based in the Indian Ocean port city.

“Kenya and Britain are in joint efforts to combat global terrorism,” Clay said after a meeting with Coast Provincial Commissioner Cyrus Maina.

“Scotland Yard sleuths will offer their expertise to their Kenyan security counterparts because the Kenya coast has been identified as pivotal in the war against terrorism in the region,” Clay added.

Kenya has experienced two separate fatal terrorist attacks in August 1998 when the US Embassy in Nairobi was car-bombed, killing 213 people, and again last November, when terrorists bombed an Israeli-owned tourist establishment in Mombasa, killing 18 people.

Britain lifted a month-long travel ban and advisory against Kenya last week that was blamed for severely damaging the country’s key tourism industry.

“We shall benefit from Scotland Yard expertise to make sure that our coast is the safest in the region and make tourists feel safe and free to visit,” Maina said after the meeting with Clay.

Apart from the British, Germany has permanently stationed military personnel who conduct reconnaissance missions along the Indian Ocean coast, including Somalia.

Kenya has been under pressure to rein in extremists, but an ongoing nationwide crackdown on aliens and suspected terrorists has been strongly criticized by Muslim groups as biased against them.

An anti-terrorism bill is due in Parliament, but most members of Parliament have spoken against it, saying it was discriminative against Muslims.

The Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims, the country’s main Muslim body, condemned the plan, saying Western powers were bullying the Kenyan government to pass a draconian measure that would curb basic freedoms.

“Kenya will be a laughing stock if this bill is enacted,” council chairman Abdulghafur Bussaidy told a news conference in Nairobi on Sunday.

If passed, the new Suppression of Terrorism Bill 2003 could give security authorities new powers to arrest terror suspects without a warrant, seize their property and clamp down on money laundering, a conduit used to pay for militant activities.

It would also make illegal the wearing of clothing bearing the image of prominent militants such as Bin Laden.

Government officials say the act is aimed at tracking down militants behind acts such as the US Embassy bombing and the attack on Mombasa attack.

Four Kenyans were charged in a Nairobi court last week with 13 counts of murder in connection the Mombasa bombing, which was claimed by Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda group. A US court in 2001 jailed four Muslim militants for life for the 1998 attacks.

“So far all the people arrested have been Muslims. That puts the Muslim community in an uneasy situation,” said Bussaidy.