In Kenya, concern is growing around a series of kidnappings and forced disappearances allegedly perpetrated by the police in recent weeks. The IPOA, the police force, sounded the alarm in a press release published this Wednesday, December 25. The institution announces that it has launched an investigation.
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With our correspondent in Nairobi, Albane Thirouard
Two disappearances have angered Kenyans on social networks in recent days. Peter Muteti and Billy Mwangi, two young people popular on X, were kidnapped last weekend, taken by force in a vehicle by unidentified men.
They had published images generated by artificial intelligence a few days earlier, showing the Kenyan president William Ruto in a coffin. The two men remained missing on Wednesday December 25 evening. Just like three other Kenyans, also kidnapped in recent days, according to the country’s press.
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In its press release, the IPOA mentions four cases of disappearance for the month of December, including those of Peter Muteti and Billy Mwangi. The authority in charge of monitoring the police says ” concerned by an increase in kidnappings, alleged by members of the national police » and calls on the police chief to act.
On Tuesday, December 24, the latter affirmed, during an interview on Kenyan television, that the role of the police was to arrest suspects of crimes, not to kidnap them. And that any reported disappearance gave rise to an investigation.
But voices are being raised to denounce repeated kidnappings. The Working Group for Police Reforms, a civil society organization, also condemned the recent kidnappings on Wednesday and pointed out the responsibility of the authorities.
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