The Daily Nation, a newspaper published by the Nation Media Group, which has the largest circulation and highest readership in Kenya,on Monday said earlier this month, the country hosted Gen. Mohammed Dagalo, the sanctioned leader of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has been fighting the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) since 15 April 2023.
The paper said Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, who has been sanctioned for war crimes, was in Nairobi for a meeting, according to an April 10 press briefing by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s spokesman, Stephane Dujarric.
The incident, the paper said, raised questions on whether Hemedti lived in Kenya or had only visited for the meeting.
Last year, Kenya’s President William Ruto hosted Hemedti in Nairobi, prompting local and international backlash. The Kenyan leader was accused of providing political and logistical support to the warlord. The gesture greatly offended the Sudanese government, which immediately recalled its ambassador, accusing Nairobi of interference in its internal affairs. Khartoum also banned Kenyan tea imports, occasioning the East African state huge foreign earnings losses.
According to the Daily Nation’s latest report on Hemedti, several Sudanese armed leaders reside in Kenya, according to Dujarric’s press briefing posted on the UN website. It noted that on April 6 or thereabouts, UN envoy Pekka Haavisti visited Kenya to meet Hemedti and leaders of other armed groups in Sudan, in a bid to find a lasting solution.
The meeting, which the paper disclosed was also attended by members of the diplomatic community and the Kenyan authorities, showed the UN appearing to have accepted Hemedti’s presence in Kenya as a fait accompli.
Another Kenyan daily, The Standard, in February reported that Hemedti’s young brother Algoney Dagalo Musa was the holder of a Kenyan passport number AK1586127, raising a diplomatic storm over his acquisition of the travel document. Algoney is reportedly also a holder of two different Sudanese passports.
The Standard cited the US Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), revealing that Algoney, a key figure in the RSF operations, was facing US sanctions. It further revealed that official records showed that he was born on August 7, 1990, in Sudan’s Nyala North. His role, according to US sources, was offering logistical support and procuring weapons and vehicles.
RSF, which has waged a war against the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) since April 2023, has been fingered for grave human rights abuses.
The Daily Nation said Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi and Principal Secretary Korir Singo’oei did not respond to its enquiries on whether Hedmedti lives in Kenya or had only come in for the meeting, and Nairobi’s continued dalliance with the fugitive leader.
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