narcotics bound for Russia and the rest of
Europe
This page was last updated on 20 October, 2005
======================================================================
@Kenya
Introduction Kenya
Background:
Founding president and liberation struggle icon Jomo KENYATTA led
Kenya from independence until his death in 1978, when President
Daniel Toroitich arap MOI took power in a constitutional succession.
The country was a de facto one-party state from 1969 until 1982 when
the ruling Kenya African National Union (KANU) made itself the sole
legal party in Kenya. MOI acceded to internal and external pressure
for political liberalization in late 1991. The ethnically fractured
opposition failed to dislodge KANU from power in elections in 1992
and 1997, which were marred by violence and fraud, but are viewed as
having generally reflected the will of the Kenyan people. President
MOI stepped down in December of 2002 following fair and peaceful
elections. Mwai KIBAKI, running as the candidate of the multiethnic,
united opposition group, the National Rainbow Coalition, defeated
KANU candidate Uhuru KENYATTA and assumed the presidency following a
campaign centered on an anticorruption platform.
Geography Kenya
Location:
Eastern Africa, bordering the Indian Ocean, between Somalia and
Tanzania
Geographic coordinates:
1 00 N, 38 00 E
Map references:
Africa
Area:
total: 582,650 sq km
land: 569,250 sq km
water: 13,400 sq km
Area - comparative:
slightly more than twice the size of Nevada
Land boundaries:
total: 3,477 km
border countries: Ethiopia 861 km, Somalia 682 km, Sudan 232 km,
Tanzania 769 km, Uganda 933 km
Coastline:
536 km
Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation
Climate:
varies from tropical along coast to arid in interior
Terrain:
low plains rise to central highlands bisected by Great Rift Valley;
fertile plateau in west
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m
highest point: Mount Kenya 5,199 m
Natural resources:
limestone, soda ash, salt, gemstones, fluorspar, zinc, diatomite,
gypsum, wildlife, hydropower
Land use:
arable land: 8.08%
permanent crops: 0.98%
other: 90.94% (2001)
Irrigated land:
670 sq km (1998 est.)
Natural hazards:
recurring drought; flo
|