Middle East & Africa | Daylight robbery

Nairobi’s reputation for crime is outdated

That is only in part thanks to its notorious police

Kenyan Police officers patrol the streets in Nairobi
Foul crimes, burnt and purg’d awayPhotograph: Getty Images
|NAIROBI

There is an era in the history of many cities that is inextricably linked, in the public imagination, to crime and lawlessness—think 1920s Chicago or 1980s New York. For Nairobi that period is the 1990s. In the old business district, carjackings were a daily occurrence, remembers Farida Ali, a shop-owner there. Violent crime was so common that residents dubbed the Kenyan capital “Nairobbery”.

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