After two months abroad, I traveled back to Burundi today. The travel was again very long. This time I flew from Montréal to Amsterdam, Nairobi and Bujumbura. Upon arrival in Nairobi, I heard the terrible news about the terrorist attacks at the Westgate Mall, a high-end shopping mall in the South-East of the Kenyan capital.
Everybody was shockingly watching the first images of people fleeing the mall. Kenyans were impatiently waiting for their President Kenyatta to address the nation. Kenyatta condemned the terrorist attacks that were claimed by Al-Shabab, a militant Islamist group operating especially in Somalia and wanting to take revanche against the Kenyan engagement in Somalia. The first numbers showed that at least 40 people were killed and hundreds were wounded. Kenyatta asked his compatriots not to panic. The Kenyan President was deeply shocked by the attacks and revealed that he himself had lost loved ones. The airport security was heightened. The airport still showed traces of the terrible fire that had happened there only a few weeks back.
Despite the horrible news and tightened security, our plane for Bujumbura left Nairobi as planned and we landed at 12.10am in Buja. The landing was a little bumpy due to thunderstorms and heavy rain, a preview of the beginning of the rainy season in Burundi. Over the next few days, Burundi also tightened its security presence fearing that after attacks in Kenya and Uganda, the country might be threatened as well given that it has also sent troops to Somalia.
Everybody was shockingly watching the first images of people fleeing the mall. Kenyans were impatiently waiting for their President Kenyatta to address the nation. Kenyatta condemned the terrorist attacks that were claimed by Al-Shabab, a militant Islamist group operating especially in Somalia and wanting to take revanche against the Kenyan engagement in Somalia. The first numbers showed that at least 40 people were killed and hundreds were wounded. Kenyatta asked his compatriots not to panic. The Kenyan President was deeply shocked by the attacks and revealed that he himself had lost loved ones. The airport security was heightened. The airport still showed traces of the terrible fire that had happened there only a few weeks back.
Despite the horrible news and tightened security, our plane for Bujumbura left Nairobi as planned and we landed at 12.10am in Buja. The landing was a little bumpy due to thunderstorms and heavy rain, a preview of the beginning of the rainy season in Burundi. Over the next few days, Burundi also tightened its security presence fearing that after attacks in Kenya and Uganda, the country might be threatened as well given that it has also sent troops to Somalia.
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