South Sudan graft whistleblower abducted in Kenya

South Sudan graft whistleblower abducted in Kenya. [File, Standard]

A South Sudanese whistleblower has been abducted in Kenya, according to a police report seen by AFP, with activists fearing he could be deported back to his country and killed for exposing corruption.

Athorbey Al-Gaddhaffy-Dit also has Kenyan citizenship and lives in Nairobi, where he had repeatedly warned his life was in danger because he was exposing corruption linked to South Sudan's ruling elite.

Police told Al-Gaddhaffy-Dit's wife on Tuesday that he had been abducted at gunpoint in the early morning by men in masks driving a white vehicle as he walked out of a casino in Nairobi.

"They blocked him, seized him, and bundled him into the vehicle," according to the police report seen by AFP.

South Sudan is one of the world's poorest and most corrupt countries.

A United Nations report last year detailed how government officials had stolen billions of dollars in oil money while leaving the population with hardly any essential services.

Kenyan activist and presidential candidate Boniface Mwangi said there were reports that Al-Gaddhaffy-Dit was being held at Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

"Gaddhaffy is a Kenyan-South Sudanese citizen. He is allegedly being held at JKIA awaiting deportation to South Sudan, where he is likely to be murdered for exposing corruption in that country," Mwangi wrote on X.

Multiple activists and opposition figures from neighbouring countries have been abducted in Kenya in recent years.

In November 2024, Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye was kidnapped in Kenya and taken to a military court in Uganda, where he is facing treason charges.

During the previous months, four Turkish refugees were abducted in the Kenyan capital and forcibly returned to Turkey.

Amnesty International warned it was part of a "growing and worrying trend of transnational repression" in Kenya.