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[h=4]Nairobi on lockdown as Obama arrives for Kenya visit[/h]NAIROBI<span style="color: Red;">*</span>—<span style="color: Red;">*</span>In this normally bustling, chaotic metropolis, the streets are unusually quiet. No groups of young men hang on corners, pedestrians are absent, beggars moved elsewhere.
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President Obama is about to make his first visit as president to Kenya, the birthplace of his father, as his two-nation trip to Africa unfolds this week. It will be his first trip to Kenya since he was a U.S. senator in 2006. (July 23) AP
Police officers patrol along a street in Kenya's capital Nairobi on July 24, 2015, ahead of the visit by President Obama.(Photo: Simon Maina, AFP/Getty Images)
NAIROBI<span style="color: Red;">*</span>—<span style="color: Red;">*</span>In this normally bustling, chaotic metropolis, the streets are unusually quiet. No groups of young men hang on corners, pedestrians are absent, beggars moved elsewhere.
Nairobi residents are on a lockdown as President Obama arrives Friday for a three-day visit. While his arrival is heavily anticipated because of his Kenyan roots, many in this capital city are already chafing under the tight security measures meant to<span style="color: Red;">*</span>reduce crime and minimize terrorist threats.
Vendors can't sell trinkets, families can't buy vegetables and residents<span style="color: Red;">*</span>can't withdraw cash from banks.
"Our leaders need to be conscious and let us live a normal life. We don’t need to change anything because a visitor has come,”<span style="color: Red;">*</span>said Lewis Asambe, 42.
The government has told non-essential businesses in Nairobi to close and residents to stay home until Obama leaves on Sunday for Ethiopia.
Tight security is always present during U.S. presidential visits. But Kenya is taking additional steps to guard against attempts by al-Shabab terrorists to disrupt the trip. The group stormed a northeastern Kenyan university in April, killing 148 people, mostly students. Two years ago, the militant group attacked Nairobi's upscale Westgate Mall, killing 67 in a four-day siege. The mall reopened only last Saturday.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Ole Nkaissery said anyone violating the security measures risks arrest.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“Any person found loitering and without identity card will be arrested and prosecuted,” he said.
Beggars who depend on food from business owners in the capital were forcibly evicted from city streets while vendors and hawkers were shooed away from main roads.
People read local newspapers with pictures of President Obama and with headlines "Welcome Obama" on July 24, 2015 in Nairobi.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Simon Maina, AFP/Getty Images)
The security crackdown has disappointed entrepreneurs who had hoped to cash in on all the tourists flocking here to buy Obama souvenirs and other gifts.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“We thought that it was about time to reap the harvest from the visit,” said John Oduor, a vendor who sells bangles.
Obama, whose father was born in Kenya,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>is scheduled to hold talks with President Uhuru Kenyatta to discuss the terror threat<span style="color: Red;">*</span>plaguing the country. He will also address a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Global Entrepreneurship Summit.
Residents and business owners said<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the razing of make-shift kiosks and stalls by security personnel goes too far.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“They should know that we need to eat even if Obama is coming,” said Pauline Nyongesa, whose vegetable stall was destroyed by law enforcement. “President Obama will not give us aid to pay rent and feed our children.”
A Kenyan vendor sells American and Kenyan flags, in Nairobi, Kenya, on July 24, 2015.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Khalil Senosi, AP)
President Obama is expected to use the main artery Uhuru highway for his motorcade to access the U.S. embassy after his arrival late Friday local time.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Even so, major arteries that connect the commercial capital are shut down, preventing commuters from carrying on with their daily routine.
Some locals were forced to return to their homes and wait until Obama leaves instead of going to work, school or running errands.
“I was heading to the capital to purchase some fruit and tomatoes but all roads are closed," said Joan Wairimu, who lives in the Eastleigh district. "I have been forced to return home and wait for President Obama to leave the country.”
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