Kenya releases ship containing weapons for UN peacekeepers
A Norwegian-flagged ship that was held in Kenya for more than a week over undeclared weapons belonging to the UN had been released, the owners of the vessel said.
Kenyan authorities boarded the ship at the port of Mombasa on Sept. 17 and uncovered undeclared weapons in a UN shipment destined for peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The UN defended the shipment.
“Höegh Transporter has finally been released from detention in Mombasa, Kenya, and has continued her ocean voyage.
“The fact that the vehicles contained guns, which were loaded without our knowledge, caused a breach of Kenyan laws and our own strict policies. It is highly regrettable,’’ Hoegh Autoliners, the Norwegian owner of the ship, said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the UN has defended the shipment saying the arms were inside armored personnel carriers destined for its Indian peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Similarly, there were no drugs found aboard the ship contrary to earlier claims attributed to Kenyan police.
Coastguards and navies in East Africa have struggled to stem the flow of drugs through their waters as the region has become a key export route for Afghan heroin destined for Europe. (Reuters/NAN)
