MOMBASA, Kenya, May 9 (UPI) -- Kenyan authorities called for a delay in the trial of a 29-year-old British man accused of plotting bomb attacks in the country through his ties to al-Shabaab.
A court in Kenya adjourned until Thursday in the trial of Jermaine Grant and three other Kenyans following an unspecified disturbance in a courtroom in the coastal city of Mombasa, the BBC reports.
Grant, arrested in December, is accused of working with al-Shabaab to plan bomb attacks inside Kenya. He denies the charges.
He was first arrested by Kenyan authorities near the Somali border in 2008 but later escaped allegedly with the help of al-Shabaab. Kenyan forces are supporting African forces backing the government in Somalia.
The interim government in Somalia is struggling to exert its influence much beyond the capital Mogadishu. Al-Shabaab, an al-Qaida affiliate in Somalia, is seeking to establish an Islamic state and controls parts of the country.
British think-tank the Royal United Services Institute suggests nearly 25 percent of the roughly 200 foreign fighters allied with al-Shabaab are Britons.
Somalia was praised for its political development during a high-profile conference in London early this year. The tenure for the interim government expires in August. Somalia hasn't had a functioning central government since the 1990s.
