Kenyans enlisted to fight for Russia in the war against Ukraine will be granted amnesty on their return home, the East African nation’s foreign minister has said.
The announcement follows Musalia Mudavadi’s recent visit to Moscow to tackle the issue and where it was agreed that no more Kenyans would be recruited.
Under Kenya’s laws it is illegal for the country’s citizens to be conscripted into foreign armies – an offence that can carry up to a 10-year prison sentence.
The foreign ministry estimates that 252 Kenyans have been illegally conscripted to fight on the front line – a trend that began about six months ago and has also involved recruits from other African countries.
Some Kenyans have said they were lured to fight for Russia with promises of well-paid civilian jobs, only to find themselves forced into fighting in Ukraine – often signing contracts in Russian without understanding what was involved.
“So far 44 Kenyans have been safely repatriated back home while 11 have been reported missing in action/killed in action, 38 are currently hospitalised in various Russian hospitals under restricted access, leaving 160 Kenyans officers still actively involved,” Mudavadi said in a statement.
Mudavadi also negotiated a deal that allowed Kenyans currently on the front line and “unwilling to continue in the assignment disengaged and freed to travel back home”, the foreign ministry said.
Moscow had already agreed to put Kenya on what it called a “stop list” to prevent further recruitment, it said.
Russia has previously insisted that all foreign fighters joined voluntarily ”in full compliance with Russian law”.
According to Kenya’s foreign ministry, the two countries will begin efforts to “thwart human trafficking, smuggling and illegal recruitment” to the Russian war effort. Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Mudavadi’s trip to meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov followed growing public pressure from the relatives of those who had travelled to Russia calling for Kenya’s government to take action.
Last month, the foreign minister told the BBC the Kenyan authorities had closed more than 600 recruitment agencies suspected of duping Kenyans with promises of jobs overseas.
Ukrainian intelligence assessment has estimated that more than 1,700 people from 36 countries in Africa have been recruited to fight for Russia.
In February, South Africa repatriated 17 citizens who said they had been trapped in Ukraine’s Donbas region after being deceived into fighting for Russia.
Working as a mercenary or fighting on behalf of another government is also illegal in South Africa, unless the government authorises it.
Kenya’s foreign ministry explained that Kenyans could fight for other armies if they were citizens of another country or had the written permission of the Kenyan president.
Otherwise it contravened section 68 of Kenya’s penal code and attracted up to 10 years in jail unless a court was satisfied the enlistment was not voluntary.
