Kenya trade ban has serious repercussions

The trade ban on Somalia announced by President Moi on 28 July will cause Kenyans losses amounting to millions of dollars, the Kenyan 'Daily Nation' newspaper reported on Tuesday. Roughly half a million farmers in the Meru area who cultivate miraa (also known as qat - Catha edulis), a mildly narcotic leaf chewed by many Somalis, will be affected by the ban. The paper quotes 'World Geopolitics of Drugs Annual Report' as saying the district has been earning US $250 million a year from the miraa trade. In addition to this, Kenya stood to lose another US $100 million in earnings from other sources, said the 'Daily Nation'. Also affected by the ban were air charter companies, which had been operating 15 flights a day to Somalia, each costing US $4,000, Somali business sources told IRIN. The Kenyan foreign minister was quoted by the government-owned Kenya Broadcasting Corporation television on Monday as saying Kenya would consider reopening its border with Somalia once the Transitional National Government there curbed the flow of illegal arms into Kenya.

Meanwhile, in Mogadishu, by far the largest market for miraa in Somalia, the price of the commodity had more than doubled since the ban, Muhammad Ali, a Mogadishu resident, told IRIN. A kilogramme, which sold for roughly US $3 on 28 July, was fetching US $8 two days later, he said. However, the ban and the ensuing shortage of miraa have tended to improve security in the city to some extent. "Before, you had kids with guns who stayed up all hours causing many problems, because they were chewing qat", but now they had to go to bed early because there was nothing to keep them up, he told IRIN. Restaurants were doing a brisk business, because many people who used to spend their money on the narcotic had now started eating out, he added.