Kenya demands CNN apology over 'hotbed of terror' slur

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Kenya's interior minister has called on US news channel CNN to apologise for calling East Africa a "hotbed of terror" ahead of President Barack Obama's visit on Friday.

It would make an apology "if it was civilised enough", Joseph Nkaissery said at a news conference.

The hashtag #SomeoneTellCNN is trending worldwide as Kenyans condemned CNN, which has not yet commented.

Its report focused on the threat posed by the al-Qaeda linked al-Shabab group.

Mr Obama was "not just heading to his father's homeland, but to a region that's a hotbed of terror", said the CNN report.

'Soft target'

With its headquarters in neighbouring Somalia, al-Shabab has carried out a spate of attacks in Kenya.

In the worst atrocity, 148 people were killed when it carried out a day-long assault on Garissa University College in April.

A man takes a photo with his smartphone of painted artwork depicting US President Barack Obama (L) and his Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta on July 23, 2015 at the Pre-Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Nairobi, on the eve of Obama — Barack Obama is visiting Kenya for the first time as president

Mr Nkaissery said Kenya was at risk of attack like any other country, but this did not turn it into a "hotbed of terror".

"I urge Kenyans to treat the @CNN report with the contempt it deserves," he said, according to a tweet by Kenya's privately owned Daily Nation newspaper.

CNN quoted security analyst Seth Jones analyst as saying that al-Shabab could carry out an attack during Mr Obama's visit.

"Security for the president is likely to be very significant and that means what Al-Shabaab is likely to do, based on what it has done very recently, is go for a soft target," he said.

On Twitter, Kenyans criticised the report.

On Wednesday, Kenya's civil aviation authority said the East African state's airspace would be shut for a 50-minute window ahead of Mr Obama's arrival in the capital Nairobi.

A ban on planes flying lower than 20,000 feet will remain in place in Nairobi for the duration of Mr Obama's three-day visit, it added.

The US issued a travel warning for Kenya in July ahead of the visit.