U.S. sailors stick to cold beers

Press, 14 October 1985, Page 6

U.S. sailors stick to cold beers

NZPA-Reuter . Mombasa Fear of A.I.D.S. appeared to be marring the visit of 10,000 American sailors to ' the Kenyan Indian Ocean port city of Mombasa, hoteliers said yesterday. Hundreds of prostitutes, some travelling 500 km from the hinterland to welcome the Americans, said that they were disappointed the sailors preferred cold beer to women. The servicemen arrived on Thursday aboard the air-craft-carrier Kitty Hawk and 10 smaller vessels for a five-day shore leave in Mombasa, Kenya’s secondlargest city. But unlike on previous calls the men had ignored the advances of throngs of girls ready to do every bit of their bidding for cash, the hoteliers said. “It’s thumbs-down to sex. What you see is not what you get,” one sailor said, winking noncommittally at a lady in green hot-pants that left' little to the imagination. Several sailors said that superiors had warned them of the risks of catching acquired immune deficiency syndrome in Mombasa. Some said that they had been advised to use condoms and only indulge in

“clean, safe sex” if they really must sleep with prostitutes.

No A.I.D.S. cases have been reported in Mombasa and most of the girls, sitting dejectedly on the terrace of the popular Castle Hotel in the city centre, had never heard of the disease that destroys the body’s ability to fight infections. But Kenyan press reports have quoted a recent medical study on prostitutes in the capital, Nairobi, as saying that 54 per cent of them had AJ.D.S. antibodies, a sign that they had come in contact with the virus but had not developed the fullblown disease. “We can’t believe what we are seeing ... the Americans are saying ‘No.’ It’s never been like this before,” a Nairobi-based prostitute said.

But other patrons are unworried. “They (sailors) may have toned down their sex exploits, but they are spending more on beer, shopping, and visits to the game parks,” a club proprietor said. The sailors and officers are expected to spend SUS 3 million ($5.25 million) during their leave at Mombasa, United States consular sources say.