Monday, April 14, 2014
By SAMUEL KARANJA
Recently freed Kenyan hostages James Kiarie Gichuchi (C) and Daniel Njuguna Wanyoike disembark from a Kenyan air force plane at an airport in Nairobi, Kenay, as they arrive home from Somalia on April 12, 2014, after a two year kidnapping ordeal. The two who hail from Murang'a County were on Sunday allowed to meet their relatives at an undisclosed location. AFP PHOTO / KENYAN MINISTRY OF DEFENCE / FRED MUKINDA
Two Kenyans who were rescued by the Army from al-Shabaab captivity were Sunday reunited with their families after three years.
Selected relatives of Mr Daniel Njuguna Wanyoike and Mr James Kiarie Gichuhi, who both hail from Murang’a County, were allowed to meet them at an undisclosed location in Nairobi.
However, relatives said the two men who were taken hostage nearly three years ago in Somalia, were not allowed to go home and might spend more time with security officials for debriefing.
Mr Wanyoike’s brother, Peter Mwangi, said they were allowed to see their loved one for the better part of Sunday afternoon.
“We have been allowed to speak with him (Wanyoike) and he is talking though incoherently,” he told the Nation on phone.
Mr Mwangi however declined to reveal where the meeting took place and while asked about the venue, he said, “I don’t know where we are.”
He added that relatives of the other rescued Kenyan, Mr Gichuhi, had been in contact with him.
“It looks like we will not be allowed to go home with him... he might take longer here,” added Mr Mwangi, who was very scanty with information.
The Kenya Defence Forces staged a night ambush on an al-Shabaab convoy, freeing the two hostages taken captive in 2011.
The operation was carried out on Thursday night last week deep inside southern Somalia, where the KDF is operating under the United Nations-sanctioned African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom).
No details were given as to how the rescue was done with the army saying it had been “tracking them for quite some time.”
The two were then taken to the Amisom Level II Hospital in Dhobley for treatment before repatriation to Nairobi on Saturday aboard a military aircraft.
Upon landing at the Moi Air Base in Eastleigh, shortly after 5pm Mr Wanyoike and Mr Gichuhi were immediately handed over to security officials, who included National Intelligence Service and Interior ministry personnel, and driven to an undisclosed location for debriefing.
Military spokesman Willy Wesonga confirmed that the two had arrived in Nairobi adding that after the private sessions, the two would be released to their families.
The fate of the hostages had remained unknown until February 24 when Al-Shabaab commanders paraded them in a mosque at Barawe, amid reports that the two had converted to Islam and would be “released without conditions”.
The announcement posted on the Internet showed their photographs, adding that Mr Wanyoike would be renamed Abdurahman, while Mr Gichuhi would be called Abdullah.
After the rescue, the two were placed under doctors’ observation at the Amisom Level II Hospital in Dhobley for more than 24 hours.