Kinshasa: Fear As Kenyan Female Truck Driver Is Kidnapped By DRC Forces

• The Kenyan trucker was apprehended on August 27 at noon, according to Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC), an anti-government rebel group based in Eastern DRC
• AFC claimed Grace Wanza was kidnapped by FDLR, one of the forces siding with Kinshasa against the rebels
• Wanza is a native of Machakos county; former senator Johnson Muthama called on the Kenyan state to intervene

Kai Eli, a journalist at TUKO.co.ke, brings over three years of experience covering politics and current affairs in Kenya.

Concerns have been raised over the security of a Kenyan woman allegedly being held incommunicado in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Former Machakos senator Johnson Muthama sought the attention of the state over the alleged kidnapping of Grace Wanza Munyao by one of the Kinshasa pro-government forces.

Who raised the alarm over Kenyan abducted in DRC?

Muthama was amplifying the concerns of the DRC-based Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC), which has been accusing the pro-government forces of abductions and interruption of activities in the Eastern parts of the country.

"Members of one of the active components of the Kinshasa regime's coalition forces, namely the FDLR, kidnapped a Kenyan woman truck driver, Wanza Munyao, born on March 29th, 1979, in Machakos District, Kenya, on Tuesday, August 27, 2024, at noon in Kiseguro, within the Binza grouping," AFC claimed in a communique seen by TUKO.co.ke.

The former senator sought the intervention of the Kenyan government in pushing for the lady's freedom.

"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," he said in a tweet.

Lamenting over Wanza's alleged abduction, the rebels accused Kinshasa of sabotaging the efforts toward a ceasefire between the rival groups.

This is not the first time a diplomatic tiff between Kenya and Kinshasa has brewed around the issue of the detention of Kenyans in the DRC.

Why 2 Kenyans were detained in DRC

In April this year, two Kenya Airways (KQ) employees were arrested in connection with an alleged discrepancy in customs documentation for valuable cargo scheduled for transport on a KQ flight.

While confirming the development, the Kenyan flyer maintained the innocence of its employees, clarifying that the cargo in question was never accepted or uplifted due to incomplete documentation.

Despite a military court ruling in Kinshasa, which ordered the unconditional release of the detained staff, the DRC military did not comply.

KQ stopped Nairobi-Kinshasa flights until May 6, when the detainees were unconditionally released.

Proofreading by Mercy Nyambura Guthua, journalist and copy editor at TUKO.co.ke