Kenya refugees: Abductions and expulsions taint safe haven image

Once regarded as a safe haven for refugees, Kenya is slowly becoming a hostile place for some of those seeking protection from political persecution and war, rights groups say.

Their concerns come after masked men abducted at gunpoint four Turkish refugees in the capital, Nairobi, last month – the latest in a series of such cases in the East African state.

Kenyan authorities said the four, who were recognised by the UN as refugees, were deported at the request of the Turkish government, which wants them on treason charges.

Critics accuse Kenya of abandoning an age-old legal principle of “non-refoulement”, which prohibits the forced return of people to countries where they may face persecution.

This has tarnished Kenya’s reputation, with the local Daily Nation newspaper reporting that the chiefs of the US’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the UK’s foreign intelligence agency MI6 – William Burns and Richard Moore respectively – raised the deportations with President William Ruto during their visit to Nairobi late last month.

Kenya’s refugee commissioner John Burugu declined to comment about the expulsions, but senior foreign ministry official Korir Sing’oei highlighted the dilemma the government faced when he said it needed to perform a “crucial balancing of interests for the bigger good”.

“Harbouring the subversive elements accused of undertaking activities detrimental to a friendly country posed both a diplomatic and humanitarian dilemma to Kenya,” he added.

In the end, realpolitik triumphed, with Kenya not prepared to jeopardise its closer ties with Turkey, which saw the two countries sign a military co-operation agreement in July.

Compared to its neighbours, Kenya has enjoyed peace and stability for many years, making it a prime destination for refugees and asylum seekers, from various conflict-hit or authoritarian countries in the region such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Rwanda and South Sudan.

East Africa’s biggest economy, Kenya is home to more than 800,000 refugees, according to Burugu.

But rights groups fear that the country has in recent years become an increasingly unsafe for those fleeing persecution in their home countries.

Kenyan police have also been accused on numerous occasions of colluding with foreign security agencies trying to apprehend people they regard as threats.

The latest example of this came when it was accused of being complicit – as Uganda’s Observer newspaper put it – in the “brazen cross-border abductions” of 36 Ugandan opposition supporters in July.

The group had travelled to the Kenyan city of Kisumu for a training course, according to their lawyers, but were deported to Uganda without proper legal channels like deportation orders or extradition requests being followed.

Uganda’s police accused the suspects of being “engaged in covert activities that are suspected to be subversive, drawing the attention of Kenyan security forces”.

But the group denied any wrongdoing through their lawyer.

“By allowing Ugandan security operatives to cross into Kenya and essentially kidnap these individuals, Kenya has failed in its duty to safeguard the liberty and wellbeing of all people on its territory, regardless of their nationality or political affiliations,” the Observer said in an editorial.

Last May, Rwandan human rights defender Yusuf Ahmed Gasana was abducted from his home in Nairobi by unidentified persons and has not been seen since.

Sources told Gasana’s family he was being held in a secret detention facility in Rwanda with several other people who were yet to be charged.

Other standout cases include:

• South Sudanese refugee Mabior Awikjok Bak, who was abducted in Nairobi last February by men reportedly in Kenyan police uniform. A critic of the government, he is now in arbitrary detention back home.
• Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif, who was shot dead outside Nairobi by police in October 2022, two months after he had sought safety in Kenya after fleeing Pakistan. Police say it was a case of mistaken identity.
• Nnamdi Kanu, a separatist leader from Nigeria, who said he was arrested in 2021 at a Kenyan airport and handed over to Nigerian intelligence services. He is now on trial facing charges of terrorism and incitement. Both governments denied involvement in his arrest.

For those seeking refuge in Kenya, it is frightening.

“I’m longer active on social media because of threats from all sides,” a Rwandan refugee critical of Rwanda’s government, who has lived in Kenya for more than 10 years, told the BBC.

The 40-year-old believes the authorities in Kenya are aiding Rwandan officials to track him down.

“Going back home is not an option for me and my family but we live in constant fear here,” he said.

“I’m afraid because being accessed by the people we are running away from is a huge possibility,” the refugee added.

Because of the growing threat, more than 3,000 refugees and asylum seekers are currently living under the protection of a non-governmental organisation, the Refugee Consortium of Kenya (RCK).

The fear of being arrested, charged or extradited are among the reasons why they had turned to the RCK for assistance, the organisation’s lead researcher, Shadrack Kuyoh, told the BBC.

He said the deportation of refugees was in breach of the Refugees Act of Kenya, which seeks to ensure that they “are not returned to territories where they may face harm”.

The fate of the Turkish nationals since their deportation remains unclear.

The four were believed to be part of the Gulen movement, named after the Turkish Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, which ran schools in Kenya and other parts of the world.

Their deportation came soon after Gulen, whom Turkey accused of plotting a failed coup in 2016, died, suggesting that Turkey exploited his death to crack down on his supporters.

The chair of the Interreligious Council of Kenya, Bishop Willybard Kitogho Lagho, described the four as “peace-loving people” who were involved in humanitarian work.

“Their abductions underscore the growing concerns about the safety of all refugees and asylum seekers in Kenya,” he said.

Kenyan foreign policy analyst Edgar Githua said the government should have handed them over to the UN refugee agency to shield itself from criticism.

“Kenya has soiled its international image. This will be quoted for ages. We cannot undo what we have done,” he said.