Kenya to grill 86 persons, entities over terrorism links

Kenyan authorities on Friday directed 86 individuals and entities whose accounts were frozen on suspicion of financing terrorism to appear before a counter terrorism center next week for grilling.

Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinett said the persons and entities suspected to be involved in Al-Shabaab activities will have to show cause at the National Counter-Terrorism Information Center why they should not be declared a specified entity.

"A National Counter Terrorism Information Center has been set up in Nairobi before whom the entities suspected to be associated with Al-Shabaab should appear in person to demonstrate why they should not be declared a specified entity," Boinnet said in Nairobi.

The list came in the wake of the massacre at the Garissa University College last week where 148 people were killed by Al- Shabaab militants.

In a gazette notice on Tuesday, government blacklisted a group of terrorist organizations which include Al-Shabaab, Boko Haram, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the Mombasa Republican Council (MRC), among others.

The East African nation has also suspended the licenses of 13 Somali remittance firms suspected of financing terrorism in the country.

Boinett said the affected organizations and individuals should appear in person on April 13 and 17.

He also called on members of the public with information regarding the activities of the organizations or persons associated with the terror group to provide it to the center.

"Members of the general public who may have useful information on any of the entities suspected to be associated with terrorist organizations may also provide information to the Information Center," Boinett said.

The inclusion of some of the organizations and Somali remittance firms in the list has caused uproar, but officials said the decision was final and was arrived at after wide consultations. Endi