The American author of a controversial book about Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama was reportedly on his way out of Kenya on Tuesday night.
Jerome Corsi had planned to make public statements in Kenya that were unflattering to both Obama and Kenya's prime minister. He had scheduled a news conference Tuesday morning at a fancy Nairobi hotel for the Kenyan launch of his book, The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality. It was the same hotel where Obama held his own news conference during a triumphant visit to Kenya in 2006. Obama's father was Kenyan, and he still has relatives in the country.
A news release about Corsi's event sent out to local and international media said that the author would expose "details of deep secret ties between Obama and a section of Kenyan government leaders ... and [a] subsequent plot to be executed in Kenya should ... Obama win the American presidency."
A second page listing Corsi's talking points never quite explained what plot might be afoot. It did, however, frequently mention Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who is an ethnic Luo, as was Obama's father.
Corsi had apparently planned to talk about Odinga's ties to Kenyan Muslims and his conduct during Kenya's ethnic troubles earlier this year, which left more than 1,000 Kenyans dead and hundreds of thousands displaced. The violence followed a contentious presidential election in Kenya that pitted many Luos against a number of ethnic Kikuyus.
About 15 minutes before the news conference was set to begin, Kenyan immigration authorities questioned Corsi and his U.S. media liaison, Tim Bueler. Officials said Corsi and Bueler lacked work permits and the two were escorted into a police vehicle and whisked way.
Corsi's press relations representative in Kenya says pro-Luo forces pushed Corsi out.
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