BBC: Kenya seeks end to visa row after Dubai rulers expelled

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8646155.stm

Kenya seeks end to visa row after Dubai rulers expelled

Kenya's foreign minister is in Dubai to defuse a row after members of the Gulf state's ruling family were deported as terror suspects.

The four were on holiday from Dubai in Kenya's resort of Mombasa over Easter, when immigration officers interrogated them for hours before expelling them.

The United Arab Emirates responded by tightening visa requirements - and only accepts Kenyan university graduates.

The ban has hit many traders, who usually buy their goods from Dubai.

The BBC's Ruth Nesoba in Nairobi says second-hand cars and fabrics from Dubai are particularly popular with Kenyan businessmen.

Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula and his delegation of officials arrived in the UAE on Monday but the talks were deadlocked and so they have been extended.

Last week, deputy foreign minister Richard Onyonka apologised on the BBC's Swahili service for the "stupid mistake" of the officials.

Kenya's Standard newspaper reports that some 37,000 Kenyans live in the UAE, mostly Dubai.