Le Kenya juge "inacceptable" que ses ressortissants deviennent de la "chair à canon" pour la Russie
Kenya considers it "unacceptable" that its citizens are deceived by promises of well-paid civilian jobs in Russia only to be used as "cannon fodder" by the Russian army, the Kenyan number two in diplomacy told AFP on Tuesday.
Several media outlets, including AFP, have recently shown how hundreds of Kenyan men, often with no military background, found themselves, once they arrived in Russia, forced to sign a contract with the Russian army and were quickly sent to the front in Ukraine, where many of them perished.
"It appears there is a pattern of luring people in and then killing them," lamented Abraham Korir Sing'Oei. The deputy head of Kenya's foreign ministry also referred to "an intentional program to illegally recruit people of African descent, including Kenyans, and essentially turn them into fighters in a world they don't belong to."
AFP, in an investigation published Monday, was able to speak to four Kenyans who had returned from Russia, three of whom were injured. One went there believing he would become a salesman, two others security guards, and the fourth a high-level athlete.
They had all been promised salaries ranging from 920 to 2,400 euros per month in Russia. A fortune in Kenya, where many workers earn barely 100 euros a month.
On the day of their arrival or the following day, the four men were forced to sign a contract binding them to the Russian army, written in Cyrillic, which they did not understand. Then, after very little or no military training, they were sent to the front lines in Ukrainian territory.
Three of them found themselves in the same place several weeks apart, near Vovtchansk in the Kharkiv region, where a large field they were supposed to cross was covered in corpses. Two of them saw almost their entire unit, including Kenyans and other African nationals, perish in minutes under fire from Ukrainian drones.
"What is clear is that these individuals are being used as cannon fodder on the front lines," accused Mr. Sing'Oei, interviewed by telephone by AFP, who described the situation as "painful, disturbing, shocking."
"In modern times, this is totally unacceptable," he added, noting that the issue had been raised by Kenya with Russia in Nairobi and Moscow.
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