64 more Kenyans rescued from Myanmar slave camps, stranded at Thailand border
Some of the foreigners rescued from Myanmar labour camps by Thai authorities.
Nairobi is currently in talks with Thailand authorities to reopen the Thai-Myanmar border, aiming to facilitate the evacuation of 64 Kenyans rescued from human trafficking networks in Myanmar.
According to the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, the group was still stranded at the border on Monday.
The Kenyans are part of a larger group of over 7,000 foreigners freed by armed groups but unable to cross into Thailand since February 12, when the first group of 260 victims, including 23 Kenyans, was allowed entry.
“The Government of Kenya is engaging with the Thai Government to reopen the border on humanitarian grounds, enabling the rescued nationals to enter Thai territory and be repatriated to Kenya,” the ministry stated.
The ministry also noted that the Kenyan Ambassador to Thailand had been in daily contact with the stranded individuals as officials explored alternative routes to bring them home.
Dire conditions
Meanwhile, the conditions in the makeshift military camps in Myanmar’s Karen State, where the victims are temporarily sheltered, remain dire.
Access to basic necessities such as medical care, clean water, electricity, and sanitation is severely limited, according to the ministry.
A multi-agency team, led by the State Department for Diaspora Affairs, has finalised plans to facilitate the return of the victims of human trafficking once access is granted.
The government has issued a warning to Kenyans seeking employment abroad, urging them to verify recruitment agencies with the Ministry of Labour and to cross-check foreign job offers with the State Department for Diaspora Affairs to avoid falling prey to human trafficking schemes.
Last month, some 23 Kenyans were among 260 foreigners rescued from a forced labour camp in Myanmar, where they were held by a suspected Chinese online fraud cartel.
The victims, believed to have been trafficked through Thailand and forced to work in online fraud centres, were rescued by the Thai army amid growing concerns for their safety.
They are expected to be handed over to their respective embassies and repatriated to their countries of origin once the paperwork has been completed.
Last week, Labour and Social Protection Principal Secretary Joseph Motari said that 44 Kenyans were still stranded in Myanmar and Thailand as a result of budget cuts.
Appearing before the Social Protection Committee on the 2025 Budget Policy Statement (BPS), Mr Motari told lawmakers that the 44 had reported to the Kenyan Embassy in Thailand and were ready to return.
“We are told that there are still Kenyans in Myanmar languishing there without jobs. We are working closely with the ministry of foreign and diaspora affairs to bring them back home,” Mr Motari said.
Multinational victims of scam centres, who were trafficked into working in Myanmar and were sent to Thailand, wait for their embassies to pick them up, in Tak province, Thailand February 19, 2025.
Mr Motari said under his project to implement the Kenya Anti Trafficking in Persons (ACT) within and outside Kenya, they need Sh80 million but in the 2025/2026 financial year as contained in the Budget Statement, they have been allocated only Sh20 million.
"This leaves us with a shortfall of Sh60 million and you know this is the money we use for things like bringing home Kenyans stuck outside the country," Mr Motari told the committee.
"We are told by those who have come back that there are still many Kenyans there without the jobs they went for. We are using this money to bring home Kenyans lured by jobs," he added.
138 Ethiopians, 23 Kenyans rescued from Myanmar slavery camps.
A Myanmar insurgent group, the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA), which recently raided fraud centres in the region, handed the victims over to Thai authorities on February 12, diplomats said.
The Ethiopian embassy in India said there were at least 154 premises across the country where foreigners were being held.
In addition to the Ethiopians and Kenyans, the Thai army said it was holding people from Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, Nigeria and Ghana.
Others are from the Philippines, Malaysia, Pakistan, China, Indonesia, Nepal, Taiwan, Laos, Brazil, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and India.
They were sent across the border from Myanmar's Myawaddy District into Thailand's Tak province.
According to the army, DKBA forces raided casinos in Myawaddy District, Karen State, in search of trafficked foreign workers.
“On February 11, we identified 261 victims and transferred them to Thai authorities on February 12,” it said.
The victims, many from Africa said that they were forced “to meet monthly earnings targets of up to $50,000. If they failed, they were tortured.
“They were only allowed to sleep for two to three hours a day and worked nonstop. They were kept in dark cells and subjected to continuous abuse,” Thai authorities said.
Among those rescued were 39 women.
Some of the foreigners who were rescued from Myanmar labour camps by Thai authorities.
A source in Thailand told The EastAfrican that there were 45 missing Kenyans. Now half of them have been found.
There are some Kenyans who made a daring escape into Thailand on Saturday night.
One of the Kenyans, a 30-year-old man, told Thai police that the gang was holding about 1,000 people.