American Global Human Rights Foundation (HRF) wants Kenya held accountable for issuing passports to individuals linked to Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary outfit accused of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
RSF has, since April 2023, been engaged in a war of attrition with the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) that has claimed thousands of lives and been described by observers as the worst global humanitarian crisis in recent times.
Kenya’s oldest daily newspaper, The Standard, on Monday, ran a press release by HRF which expressed alarm over reports that Nairobi issued passports to “a sanctioned Sudanese war-financier and other individuals linked to Sudan’s genocidal RSF.”
The Standard earlier this month exposed the passport scandal, detailing how the Kenyan government allegedly deployed an intricate web that bypassed protocols and guidelines to issue travel documents to foreigners.
The beneficiaries include RSF’s Algoney Hamdan Dagalo Musa and controversial Zimbabwean businessman Wicknell Chivayo, who is a regular visitor to Kenya. Algoney is reportedly the holder of a Kenyan passport number AK1586127. He is also said to hold two different Sudanese passports.
Algoney is the RSF procurement chief and younger brother of the group’s commander, Mohammed Dagalo, also known as Hemedti.
The US State Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on October 8, 2024, imposed sanctions on Algoney for allegedly masterminding the supply of weapons that fuel the Sudanese conflict.
Kenyan President William Ruto last year found himself in the eye of a storm for hosting RSF leaders in Nairobi. The Kenyan leader was accused of providing the group with both political and logistical support.
The incident angered the Government of Sudan, which proceeded to recall its ambassador to Nairobi, accusing Kenya of interfering in its internal affairs. Khartoum also banned Kenyan tea imports, occasioning the East African state huge foreign earnings losses.
However, the Ruto administration defended itself, insisting the RSF’s visit was intended to facilitate dialogue and peace, but not to endorse the paramilitary group.