A shocking intelligence report has revealed the appalling journey of five Kenyans to Libya in what was to-be a turnaround opportunity in life but it turned out to be their worst nightmare.
The report, seen by the Standard confirms Libya’s slave market has extended links even to Kenya, where slave market was abolished ages ago.
According to the report published by the Standard, Libya’s notorious smugglers, Magafe Network have their links deeply rooted in Nairobi’s Eastleigh area.
Young Kenyans are lured with the never-to-be dream of greener pastures, employment opportunities while others are tricked into joining terror groups, jihad before they are sold off to the slave market.
“The Magafe Network lures unsuspecting and naïve youth under the pretext of offering employment and money while others are enticed by the Jihad narrative and the fight for a Muslim caliphate.
Once they successfully have the gullible candidates, they link them up with the Kenyan associates of the Magafe Syndicate based in Eastleigh who would later transport them through their various routes to Libya.”
The trafficking route from Kenya to Libya is through Uganda-Juba-Khartoum and finally to Libya’s desert.
For Kenyans who travelled to Libya to join jihad, they found themselves on the tether-they either opted out of the group or were found unfit which marks their end in the strenuous desert training and are sold off as slaves.
“It is believed that the fallout was not only as result of the Kenyans not being able to easily adapt to the harsh weather conditions but also from the fact that some of them wanted out.”
So far, five male Kenyans have been sold as slaves to an unknown buyer. Very few have managed to escape.
But for Elizabeth Akinyi, her ordeal is terrifying. She left her Kisumu hometown at the age of 29 for Juba. After a while, violence broke out and this is when she was tricked by an Egyptian acquaintance and she left for Cairo where she was employed as a house-help.
And one day, with her basic understanding of Arabic, she overheard her boss negotiating with an unknown buyer on her price which ranges between Sh40, 000 and Sh50, 000.
“The clients were probably inquiring about my general health, and I heard my boss say she would feed me well for another few months so that I could fetch ‘good money,” she said.
In August, three Kenyan girls were rescued from the streets of Cairo after escaping from their captors in Libya.
Firthoza Ali Ahmed, Aisha Mafudh Ashur and Tawfiqa Dahir Adan were smuggled to Libya through the same route. At the time of their comeback, they had been sexually and physically tortured.
In March, two Kenyan doctors working for the militants in Libya were killed by a US airstrike.
Farah Dagane Hassan, 26, and Hish Ahmed Ali, 25 previously worked at Kitale District hospital before fleeing to Libya to join ISIS-an outlawed terror group.
Pressure is now mounting on Libyan authorities to crack the whip on the slave market syndicate but nothing seems to be forthcoming.