By ZADOCK ANGIRA zangira@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Thursday, March 14 2013 at 03:22
Government officials from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are sneaking into the country disguising themselves as refugees to track down on their citizens who have fled the country.
The director of the League of People's Lawyers, a Congolese NGO human rights in Kenya, Professor William Fisch Chiri Chirhu, on Wednesday said that a number of Congolese asylum seekers who had sought refuge in Kenya had been attacked in Nairobi by unknown people.
Last month, three Congolese nationals were kidnapped and tortured for three days before they were released.
However, Kasarani OCPD Augustine Nthumbi said that the investigations were still underway but no suspect had been arrested.
Last year, a member of the DRC Secret Service was arrested in Kileleleshwa where he had gone to seek refugee status, claiming that his life was in danger in Congo.
Bingane Chishokanyi Charles allegedly killed Nicole Kashamuka, 17, in Bukavu, Congo.
They were heading to Katana and along the way, they strangled her to death and the body dumped at the Labote, near an Army camp.
After the death of Nicole, friends and family members of the suspects started threatening the family of the deceased, prompting the father to send them to Nairobi to seek protection from UNHCR in Nairobi, as he remained to pursue justice.
The suspect, who is in custody in Congo awaiting trial, was identified by the deceased’s sibling at the UNHCR offices in Nairobi. One of the siblings has since disappeared without trace.
The deceased was the daughter of Kashamuka Mwenze who was arrested but allegedly escaped from prison.
Kashamuka is believed to be having crucial information about the militia group.
Kashamuka, is a former member of Congrès national pour la défense du people (CNDP) – the National Congress for the Defence of the People, a political armed militia established by Laurent Nkunda in the Kivu region of the DRC in December 2006.
In a correspondence seen by Nation, the Attorney of the Republic of Congo, Bisulu Nkulufa Teddy, in his letter to the Interpol referenced 0320/PR.021/030/SEC2011, requested the Interpol to help trace the suspect and if arrested he be escorted to Congo for trial.
According to the DRC First Secretary in Kenya Mr Bob Kitamba Lubulu, the suspect went to the DRC office in Nairobi at Electricity House and applied for a passport which he was issued with.
“We hadn’t known that he was a murder suspect then,” said Mr Lubulu.
Some refugees who spoke to Nation also expressed fear that there could be similar state agents hiding in one of Kenya’s large camps - Kakuma or Dadaab refugee camps.