NAIROBI, 26 February 2007 — Once hailed as a “City in the Sun”, the Kenyan capital is increasingly depicted as reeling under violent crime where crooks with weapons — some only toys but frighteningly realistic — roam with impunity.

Police statements in early February that at least 50 civilians and security officials were killed in the space of a month sent Nairobi residents into a fit of panic — but also put security forces under new scrutiny.

What started decades ago as a trickle of low-level crime such as pickpocketing has swelled into what some now call a tidal wave of violent robberies, burglary, rape of minors and carjackings — though Kenyan police have not actually released any official figures.

And the trouble has cut across social classes in this cosmopolitan hub of more than 2.5 million residents.

A joke making the rounds says Nairobi should be rebaptized “Nairobbery” — a disturbing tag for a city that hosts the headquarters of two United Nations agencies and regularly welcomes celebrities, royalty and the Kenyan elite.

The Standard, a mass circulation daily that has chronicled the crime scene, went one step further in a screamer headline saying this East African country might just as well be called “Gangland Kenya.”

Not all agree. Crime is not new though “the brutality (of the gangsters) is new,” conceded national police spokesman Gideon Kibunjah.

But “we are increasing patrols and surveillance of notorious spots. It is not as alarming as people say,” he said.

Police were quick to tout a huge security operation this week that caught and killed one of the country’s most wanted gangsters, Simon Matheri Ikere, 30.

“This is the greatest day in the police force,” said Nairobi police commander Njue Njagi.

Ikere was blamed for a series of murders including two US citizens killed in a carjacking in the capital’s outskirts in the last month — a period that also saw a senior aid worker gunned down in similar circumstances and several local residents slain.

And the elite are not immune. One of Kenya’s most renowned scientists and leading HIV researcher, the professor Job Bwayo, was killed in a carjacking on Feb. 4. Russian, Danish and US diplomats and a Kenyan minister have also fallen victim to carjackings though survived.

Bank heists meanwhile have been carried out in broad daylight, claiming the lives of policemen and bank workers.

In 2005, US government analysts identified Nairobi as the “hub” of a worrisome new trend toward violent carjackings across Africa. This month, both the US and the UN, citing crime, issued warnings against traveling to Kenya, notably its capital — a move that infuriated Nairobi whose economy relies on tourism revenue.

“Issuing travel advisories over a few acts of thuggery in our country is totally unfair,” said government spokesman Alfred Mutua, retorting that crime was also rampant in New York and Los Angeles. The disgruntled blame security forces, saying they are often despised and feared for alleged brutality, corruption and complicity with criminals.

They also blast the judicial system, which was shaken in 2003 over alleged graft among judges, saying it lacks resources and remains ineffective.

“Police are No. 1 in terms of corruption,” fumed Maina Kiai, the vocal head of the state-run Kenya National Commission on Human Rights.

“Extortion is common, but they get away with it because of the issue of (lack of) accountability,” he said. “Because the police are so corrupt, the criminals are bribing (them) in the same way as someone caught by the police for a traffic (offense).”