Foreign Affairs CS Musalia Mudavadi during a roundtable meeting with media stakeholders at a Nairobi hotel, October 17, 2024.The government has discouraged Kenyans from travelling to countries experiencing conflict, particularly in the Middle East.
Speaking Thursday while issuing an
update on the fate of Kenyans stuck in Lebanon, Foreign Affairs Cabinet
Secretary Musalia Mudavadi said the situation in the region is dire following
the Israel-Hamas war that has drawn in Lebanon.
“They should not gamble, it’s not a game out there,” Mudavadi said.
He urged the media to disseminate information that offers guidance to those wishing to travel on which regions they should be cautious about.
“If there’s a conflict and we know it, educate Kenyans to be cautious and not make trips to these areas until the situation has completely calmed down because they could land into difficulty.”
Mudavadi, nonetheless, assured the country that the government is monitoring the situation in the Middle East and is committed to protecting Kenyans caught up in demanding situations across the world.
The Prime CS revealed that so far, 7,119 Kenyans have registered to be evacuated from Lebanon as the conflict between the country and Israel continues to escalate.
He said the fourth and fifth batches of the evacuees will arrive in the country over the weekend even as he stated that flights into and out of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, are limited with only one flight available.
“And when we talk of a fourth and fifth batch it depends on how many seats we can get at any one time for them to come. It might be in lots of 10 or 20, perhaps up to 30 if we are lucky; remember we are competing also with other nations that are also undertaking a similar exercise,” Mudavadi said.
The CS was speaking at his office flanked by Foreign and Diaspora Affairs PS, Roseline Njogu.
She said so far, the government has evacuated 35 Kenyans from Lebanon in the first three batches while more than 30 others flew back home after making personal arrangements.
"We are even aware there's a group that arrives tonight that's privately funded. Over the weekend, cohort four and five we are expecting over 30 to come in," she said.
Mudavadi said the exercise is
extremely expensive owing to the prohibitive insurance cover airlines have to
pay to venture into the highly risky area.
He said a multi-agency team from Kenya is working with other officials from the Kenyan embassy in Kuwait to coordinate the evacuation.
“Treasury has committed to support through an initial Sh100 million to assist in this exercise. We are also trying to look at other means that could be deployed,” Mudavadi said.
This, he said, includes exploring the possibility of evacuating the Kenyans by sea saying bringing all who have so far registered by air could be a lenghthy and costly exercise.
"When the risk is high, the tickets will be more costly. It’s a very expensive undertaking but we will do our best within our means to continue giving support to Kenyans and hopefully we shall not suffer any casualties.”
The Prime CS added that in the face of possible escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, Kenyan ambassadors in the region have been asked to swiftly register all Kenyans within their jurisdictions.
He said the exercise is aimed at ascertaining the exact number of Kenyans residing in Middle Eastern countries considering many make it there irregularly and never register with Kenyan missions in the host countries.
“This is one of the dilemmas, Kenyans go but they don’t indicate where they are going; they use their channels and sometimes we have to fish for them to come forward.”
Lebanon and Israel are at war and Israel has in recent weeks assassinated several top Hezbollah commanders in Beirut.
Israel has unleashed a series of air strikes into Lebanon terming it a 'new phase" of the war on Gaza as it seeks displace Lebanese people in southern part of the country claiming they were Hezbollah strongholds.
The conflict has left hundreds of Lebanese people dead and many others wounded as thousands of displaced populations scramble to find safer havens.
Thousands of foreigners have been caught up in the conflict that now threatens to escalate into drawn-out war that could rope in allies of either sides.