African nations tiptoe around recruitment of citizens by Russian networks

LONDON/JOHANNESBURG, March 15 - Kenya’s foreign minister is visiting Russia this week under pressure back home to convince Moscow to stop recruiting Kenyans into its military, but Nairobi – like other governments in Africa – is unlikely to take too confrontational an approach. Read more at straitstimes.com.

LONDON/JOHANNESBURG, March 15 - Kenya’s foreign minister is visiting Russia this week under pressure back home to convince Moscow to stop recruiting Kenyans into its military, but Nairobi – like other governments in Africa – is unlikely to take too confrontational an approach.

Reports in recent weeks revealed the scope and scale of the recruitment of Africans into Russia's depleted forces, often via third parties offering lucrative civilian jobs, triggering anger in countries like Kenya, Ghana and South Africa.

Families want more action to bring the recruits home but African governments, wary about overtly taking sides during Russia’s war in Ukraine, have avoided angering Moscow, mindful that the recruitment scandal has not yet triggered widespread public outcry or political heat.

"We want Kenyans stopped - they should not be enlisted at all," Musalia Mudavadi, Kenya’s minister for foreign affairs, told Reuters ahead of his trip. “We are getting a lot of pressure from some of the affected families who are now gathering more courage to come forward and speak to the issue.”

However, Mudavadi said he was “pragmatic and realistic” over the issue, describing Russia as a superpower with which Nairobi has had a long relationship.

“It's not a confrontation," he said. “This is about speaking to issues as they are and the distress that they're causing to the Kenyan people, and we need a joint effort to be able to resolve it."