Police have charged 33-year-old Festus Arasa Omwamba, head of a Nairobi-based recruitment agency, with luring young Kenyans with promises of jobs in Russia. Prosecutors say those promises were false, and that the real plan was to send them into the war in Ukraine.
State prosecutors told the court that Omwamba recruited 22 Kenyans “for the purpose of exploitation by means of deception”. The young men were rescued last September from an apartment complex in Athi River, just outside Nairobi, before they could travel. But not all were saved in time.
Prosecutors said three others had already left Kenya. They later found themselves on the front line of the war and returned home injured.
The case has raised fresh concerns about how unemployment and the hope of better pay abroad are being used to draw young Africans into a conflict far from home.
Police say the rescued men had signed contracts with an overseas employment agency. They had agreed to pay up to $18,000 for visas, travel, housing and other costs. For many families, that is a lifetime of savings.
Kenya’s National Intelligence Service last week reported that about 1,000 Kenyans have been recruited to fight for Russia in its four-year war against Ukraine. Presenting the report to lawmakers, parliament majority leader Kimani Ichung’wah described a “deeply disturbing” network of rogue state officials allegedly working with human trafficking groups to move recruits out of the country.
The Russian embassy in Nairobi has denied any wrongdoing. It said it does not recruit foreigners or issue visas “to Kenyan citizens who sought to travel to Russia with the stated pose of participating in the Special Military Operation (SMO) in Ukraine”. The embassy added that while it does not recruit foreigners, Russian law allows foreign nationals who are legally in Russia to voluntarily enlist in its armed forces.
Ukraine has warned that anyone fighting for Russia will be treated as an enemy combatant. Its foreign minister said more than 1,700 people from 36 African countries have been recruited to fight for Russia.
The issue is spreading beyond Kenya. South Africa said two of its citizens have been killed in Ukraine, while 15 others were brought home last week. Two more remain in Russia receiving treatment for severe injuries.
Omwamba, who was arrested near Kenya’s border with Ethiopia after surrendering to police, has pleaded not guilty.