Kenyan Woman Kidnapped By DRC’s FDLR For 150 Days Narrates The Harrowing Ordeal
A female truck driver from Kenya has described a terrifying ordeal she endured at the hands of a military organization in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The driver, who just reconnected with her family in Itunduimuni Village, Machakos County, says it is a miracle she is back in Kenya after being physically assaulted.
Fighting between the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels and the DR Congo government has escalated since the beginning of the year, with foreign nationals frequently finding themselves in the firing line.
Among them is Florence Wanza Munyao, who was kidnapped by a military gang and held captive for about five months.
URGENT : Les FDLR, alliés du gouvernement de Kinshasa, ont kidnappé Florence Wanza Munyao, de nationalité kenyane, à Kiseguro, au Nord-Kivu, ce mardi 27.
— Sugira Mireille🇨🇩 (@SugiraMireille) August 28, 2024
Certains extrémistes congolais, tels que Justin Bitakwira et Willy Mishiki, accusent régulièrement les Kényans, y compris le… pic.twitter.com/9JGgzkqEQY
Between brushes with death and constant threats to her life, Munyao admits she is at a loss for words about how she was able to return to Kenya safely.
According to the seasoned truck driver, she first saw the military force when her truck stopped in bad terrain.
“One of the soldiers called me over and started assaulting me. Others proceeded to the truck to ransack it,” she narrated.
“We ended up walking for six hours because I was captured around 2:30 pm and we arrived at our destination in the evening.”
Female Kenyan Truck Driver Shares Her 150-Day Survival Journey After Abduction!
— THEE ALFA HOUSE (@thee_alfa_house) February 5, 2025
Florence Wanza Munyao was abducted in DRC by a military group and endured 150 days of unimaginable hardship. Despite living in constant danger, facing physical assault, and being held captive, she… pic.twitter.com/pb8HpPIJH7
Munyao also recounted hearing gunfire during the long journey to the military group’s camp but was instructed not to look back.
She further described how her captors called her bosses in Kenya and demanded a ransom of KSh 1.2 million (USD10,000), threatening to kill her if the money was not received within a few days.
Her living conditions with the military group were the stuff of nightmares, as she recalled living in squalor with only one or two baths each week.
“One day they called me and took me to their superiors. They told me they had forgiven me since they had established I am a driver,” she went on, adding that the update came after two months in captivity.
Following this update, Munyao remained at the military group’s camp for two more months before embarking on another 10-day walk to the group’s base.
The brave truck driver recalls being at one of the camps where she observed the most recent combat, in which the M23 rebels killed a military governor as they moved into eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday, January 24.
This was a terrible turn of events for her because the governor was meant to help her get out of the war-torn country.
Ultimately, the governor’s brother enabled her trip to the DRC-Rwanda border on January 30. Her commute involved taking a bus from Rwanda to Kampala, and then boarding another vehicle to Busia.
“From Busia, a friend gave me a ride to Kisumu, where I took another bus to Nairobi,” she added.
Munyao considers herself fortunate to be alive, claiming that some of the female troops were emphatic that outsiders are not kept alive for as long as she was held.
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“One of the soldiers informed me that another male foreigner was captured and had already been butchered. They were wondering how I was kept alive for this long.”
Other truck drivers, unlike Munyao, have not fared as well, with reports indicating that they are trapped in Goma, where rebel militia M23 has taken control of the mineral-rich Eastern Congo areas.
Some truck drivers trapped in the war-torn region were delivering transit items from Mombasa port.
While 16 drivers were airlifted to Rwanda in the rescue mission led by the UN security troops in Goma, three remain unaccounted for.
Kenyan Woman Kidnapped By DRC’s FDLR For 150 Days Narrates The Harrowing Ordeal
