By Apolinari Tairo
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (eTN) - Reports from all over the East African Indian Ocean coastal towns showed that Italians love to have sex with African girls to an extent that some fly from Italy to East Africa on sex tourism mission.
Few days after an Italian chef was given persona non grata status by Tanzanian authorities over sexual offense, reports from Kenya said Italian tourists visiting the tourist beach towns of Malindi and Mombasa are champions of sex tourism.
An Italian chef was declared illegal immigrant in Tanzania’s island of Zanzibar after four girls from his kitchen testified to have had sex with him and have conceived.
A similar story was reported this week from Kenya where Italian tourists, most popular in beach holidays were found to be fond of having sex with Kenyan girls.
Parents in the Kenyan coastal towns of Malindi and Mombasa said the two towns are currently the leading destinations for child sex tourism in East Africa.
Through various media interviews, parents in Malindi, Watamu and Diani on the Kenyan Indian Ocean beaches said school girls have failed to attend schools in favor of sexual business with Italian tourists.
“When the girls see an Italian tourist, they even approach him and ask for money in exchange of sex. And when an Italian tourist approach those girls, they become happy and invite him to enjoy sex and pay them some money,” one parent was quoted saying.
More than 2,000 Italians have settled in Malindi, while tens of thousands visit the coast annually. In Tanzania, Italians are mostly settled on the coastal towns of Zanzibar, Pemba, Mafia and Bagamoyo running tourist resorts.
Kenyan Tourism Minister Najib Balala said there was no way that the Kenyan government would kick out Italians from tourism business because they were among the best stakeholders in tourism and have contributed greatly to community social projects such as schools.
He said hoteliers must lead in the fight against child sex tourism, which has attracted a nasty coverage in the western media, particularly, the Italian press.
read more 
