NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 3 – Kenya is working to secure the release of the female truck driver who was recently kidnapped in the Democratic Republic of Congo by Kinshasa-backed Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) rebels.
Florence Wanza Munyao, 45, who hails from Machakos county was abducted on August 27 at noon in DRC’s Kiseguro area.
Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Principal Secretary Roseline Njogu said in a statement Tuesday that Nairobi is “well seized” of the incident.
“We [Kenya] are well seized and appropriate action is being taken,” PS Njogu said.
The statement came hours after Parliamentary Service Commissioner Johnson Muthama called for government intervention to ensure Munyao’s safe return.
“I am asking Prime Cabinet Secretary, Musalia Mudavadi , who also serves as the Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs, to urgently secure the release of Grace Wanza Munyao, a Kenyan citizen and truck driver who was kidnapped by the FDLR, one of Kinshasa’s coalition forces on August 27, 2024,”Muthama said.
On August 29, the M23 rebel group said that the kidnapping of the Kenyan truck driver by the FDLR was in violation of the ceasefire agreement in the ongoing conflict in the eastern DRC.
In a statement on Wednesday, M23 Spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka accused the Congolese armed forces (FARDC) and allied troops who are fighting alongside rebel groups including FDLR and the Wazalendo militias OF breaching the ceasefire “deliberately”.
Kanyuka also implicated peacekeeping troops, including the National Defense Forces of Burundi, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) forces, and the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), in the said violations.
He called on the international community to intervene, stating that Kinshasa’s actions threaten ongoing peace efforts.
“The Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC) calls on regional leaders and international partners, whose efforts to resolve the conflict in Eastern DRC are increasingly jeopardized by this latest deliberate ceasefire violation,” Kanyuka said.
Furthermore, the M23 blamed the FDLR for continuing to disrupt local agricultural activities through kidnappings and looting.
