"Several weeks after Dancan Chege left his home in Kimende town in Kenya's Kiambu County for Russia, having been promised a job as a truck driver, he instead found himself on the front lines of the war in Ukraine. With no combat experience, it was not something he had signed up for. But the trainer readying Chege and other fighters told him: This is the Russian military, and once you are in, you either fight or die, he said."
"Last week, Kenya's National Intelligence Service (NIS) unveiled a report which said more than 1,000 Kenyans have been recruited to fight in the Russia-Ukraine war, with 89 currently on the front line, 39 hospitalised and 28 missing in action. Chege, a 30-year-old father of one, is one of the few who made a narrow escape, but dozens of families are demanding that the government take action to ensure their loved ones' safe return home."
"Chege, who used to work as a truck driver, delivering fresh vegetables from his town to the coastal city of Mombasa, was fraudulently recruited last year after he lost his job and decided to look for other opportunities. He asked a friend who worked as a driver in the Gulf for advice. He connected me with an agent in Nairobi who had taken him there, Chege recounted, sitting in his living room in Kimende."
More than 1,000 Kenyans and people from 36 African countries have been recruited to fight for Russia in the Ukraine war, according to a Kenyan intelligence report. The report lists 89 fighters currently on the front line, 39 hospitalised and 28 missing in action. Many recruits report being lured or tricked with false job offers, including promises of civilian work such as truck driving. Dancan Chege was fraudulently recruited after losing his job, flown to Russia and placed on the front lines despite no combat experience. Dozens of families seek government action to secure safe returns.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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