Kenyan Brigadier Refuses Freedom - - 20 May 2000
The highest ranking Kenyan soldier in Sierra Leone has refused to
accept his freedom - until all his countrymen are released by the rebels.
Brigadier James Mulinge was freed by militia of the Revolutionary United
Front but he refused to leave their camp. He told the rebel commander he would
go only when the remaining six Kenyan soldiers are also set free.
Brig Mulinge, a son of former Chief of the General Staff, General Jackson
Mulinge, was seized in Makeni when the rebels raided a UN camp. He was not
injured and was released near the Liberian border on Thursday, after 19 days in
captivity.
The brigadier’s heroic refusal to leave without his comrades-in-arms so
impressed Liberia’s President Charles Taylor, who is helping negotiate the
hostages’ release, that he vowed to decorate him when he finally walks to
freedom.
Chief of the General Staff General Daudi Tonje confirmed yesterday the
brigadier was negotiating with the rebels to release other soldiers.
Gen Tonje said: “He has vowed not to leave the camp until the last soldier
is released.” He added it would not have been right for the brigadier to leave
his men behind.
Meanwhile, the fate of seven Kenyan soldiers involved in an accident is
still unknown.
Gen Tonje said an armoured personnel carrier belonging to an officer and
nine servicemen plunged into a river at Magburaka. Three of the soldiers
surfaced while the rest were still missing, Gen Tonje said.
He was talking to journalists at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport before
the arrival of President Moi from Mauritius.
About 12 Kenyan soldiers were still being held hostage, Gen Tonje said. The
Department of Defence knew the whereabouts of six of them but the other six
were missing.
Private Hamisi Yunis and Lance Corporal Wanyama, he said, were still missing
in action.
The two were shot when the rebels ambushed the their UN camp at Makeni on
May 1.
Gen Tonje said the two could not be rescued and were left in their vehicles
when their colleagues broke through the rebel lines.
Cpl Wanyama, he said, was evacuated by locals and kept in touch with other
peacekeepers until a second break when the communication stopped.
Gen Tonje said: “We are not sure whether they are dead until we have
evidence.”
The general added that the peacekeepers had worked closely with Liberian
President Charles Taylor for the release of 19 of the Kenyan soldiers and
others. On Wednesday the rebels released 139 peacekeepers.
He said Kenya was bound by the Lome Convention to take part in peacekeeping.
Most of the injured soldiers recovering in Nairobi’s Forces Memorial
Hospital wanted to return to Sierra Leone, he added.
“In fact, the two who have been discharged indicated their wish to return,”
Gen Tonje said.