Residents of the Lamu tourist resort in Kenya expressed their anger over what they saw as an inadequate response by the government and its foreign partners to the country's growing security crisis.

An armed gang with links to neighbouring lawless Somalia kidnapped on Saturday a wheelchair-bound French woman from Manda island, the heart of one of Kenya's most popular tourist destinations, in the second attack on foreign visitors in less than a month.

Some residents accused London of a muted response to the September 11 attack by bandits from Somalia on a British couple in which a man was shot dead and his wife abducted.

Threat to tourism
Kenya's authorities are under pressure at home to beef up their defences against more cross-border and sea-based attacks which threaten to devastate its tourism industry.

"Not enough is being done. We request that the Kenyan and the British and the French and all the international governments act now," said guesthouse owner Sidiki Abdul Rahman.

"People are very upset because they are not getti ng help. We feel let down," he said.

British diplomats held a heated meeting with locals in Lamu. A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth office, which issued a travel warning for the archipelago, said the delegation was there to offer advice and support.

"As well as holding meetings on the ground, we are meeting at senior level with the Kenyan government and security authorities in Nairobi, and are helping arrange liaison between them and the tourism industry in light of the seriousness of the situation," said the spokesman.

Softer targets
Analysts and diplomats in the region said earlier this year that Somali pirates were likely to turn to softer targets, such as tourists in Kenya, in response to much more robust defence of merchant vessels by private security guards.

The French woman's kidnappers escaped into the southern, rebel-controlled tip of Somalia with their hostage after a maritime gun battle with Kenyan security forces.

Stefano Moccia, who runs a hotel next door to where the attackers struck, said he and others had earlier tried in vain to contact the police after the woman's abduction.

Another hotel launched its own plane and spotted the kidnappers' skiff heading for Somalia, while the security forces were still scrambling to find a boat, Moccia said.

There was no immediate comment from the navy on the failed rescue mission.

Travel advisory
Late on Saturday, Britain followed France and issued a travel advisory, warning against all but essential travel within 150 km of the Somali border. The area includes all resorts in the palm-fringed Lamu archipelago.

No group has claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack.

Source: Reuters