UK flights to Mombasa resume

A hotel near Mombasa was bombed last November

Flights by UK airlines to the tourist destination of Mombasa in Kenya have been resumed due to improved security arrangements.

The news, announced on Thursday by the Department for Transport, comes more than two months after the ban on flights to Kenya's capital Nairobi was lifted.

A stoppage had been imposed on flights to both cities in May following intelligence that British planes could be a terrorist target.

But the Foreign and Commonwealth Office travel advice still warns there is a "high threat" from global terrorism in Kenya.

A statement from the Department for Transport said: "Earlier this year the review under which we keep the security of UK citizens and interests overseas led us to impose a ban on flights to Kenya by UK airlines.

"Close co-operative working between UK and Kenyan security authorities, and positive developments in the security climate, subsequently enabled us to rescind the ban in respect of flights by UK airlines to Nairobi.

Life imprisonment

"Further work has now allowed us also to remove the ban on UK airline service to Mombasa, with immediate effect."

The resumption of Nairobi flights on 26 June followed the publication of a draft anti-terrorism bill by the Kenyan Government - the UK precondition for lifting its ban.

The draft legislation proposes life imprisonment for anyone committing terrorist acts and a 10-year jail term for those suspected to be in possession of weapons of mass destruction.

But in July a Kenyan parliamentary legal committee opposed the Bill, and protestors took to the streets over the issue.

The Administration of Justice and Legal Affairs Committee said that the proposed bill "threatens to tear apart the very fabric of one nation and could offer fertile ground for inter-religious animosity and suspicion".

Muslims' fears

Kenyan Muslims, who make up 30% of the country's 31 million people, have been expressing fears that the bill targets them.

The US and Britain also asked the Kenyan authorities to cancel all current airport staff passes and re-issue them after careful screening of all staff members.

Airport fences were to be reinforced and security patrols inside and outside the fences increased.

France, Germany and Belgium also imposed travel advisories on Kenya following the terror warnings, but they also been withdrawn.

Five Kenyans have been charged over the bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel near Mombasa last November which killed at least 16 people.

The US believes Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network was behind the blast.