A Kenyan long-distance truck driver who had been kidnapped by a military group in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has recounted the ordeal after reuniting with her family at Itunduimuni Village in Machakos County.
Florence Wanza Munyao, popularly known as Queen in the area, broke down on Monday as she walked into the warm embrace of her relatives and neighbours.
“I have miraculously escaped from the jaws of a crocodile,” Ms Munyao said as she fought a stream of tears.
The 45-year-old mother of two went missing on August 27, 2024.
The Itunduimuni community had panicked when it emerged that she had been kidnapped by the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Rwandan rebel group based in the DRC.
At a brief ceremony to welcome Ms Munyao, one of her aunts revealed that the relatives and the larger community had almost given up on the celebrated truck driver.
“We prayed hard. We thought something bad had befallen our daughter. We had completely lost hope. Although she is weak, we thank God she is back. Our prayers are answered,” Ms Margaret Kamwethya said.
An acclaimed truck driver, Ms Munyao boasts of a successful trucking career spanning 20 years. She started small as a driver’s assistant plying local routes before landing lucrative truck driving deals, which took her across borders.
She was ferrying petrol from Eldoret to Kiwanja township at the heart of the DRC around midday when FDLR struck after her truck broke down some 20 kilometres before she arrived at her destination.
They beat her up using the butts of their guns, rained kicks and blows on her before dragging her to a Congolese Army base inside a nearby forest.
There have been reports that FDLR group is allied to the DRC military but Kinshasa has denied such reports, just like Rwanda has denied supporting the M23 rebels fighting the Kinshasa administration.
“They claimed that we were delivering the fuel to a rival military group,” Ms Munyao said.
Word on Ms Munyao's kidnapping spread like bushfire after Alliance Fleuve Congo, a coalition of rebel groups opposed to President Felix Tshisekedi's administration, broke the news.
In an August 28, 2024 letter, the group whose members include M23, an armed rebel group that has dominated global headlines in recent weeks after taking over Goma, the capital city of the Eastern Province, raised an alarm over a spate of kidnappings and looting which it linked to the FLDR group.
The coalition termed the unchecked kidnappings and looting as a threat to efforts to resolve the conflict in the Eastern DRC as it called on the international community to intervene.
Ms Munyao’s kidnapping sheds light on the volatile business environment in the DRC as rival military groups clash.
“The Congolese army was violent for the first two months. In their series of interrogations, they maintained that I was an agent of the M23. They claimed I was the reason M23 had intensified attacks on their camps,” she said.
“When they spoke to my boss and the owner of the fuel on a conference phone call, they demanded 10,000 US dollars (Sh1,200,000) in ransom. I was not able to establish whether they received the money. In subsequent months, my abductors became very friendly. They said they had realised I was just a driver. They announced a plan to send me home. Intense fighting with the M23, however, delayed this plan for days.”
As this was happening, Ms Munyao’s relatives, the Kenyan long-distance truckers’ community, and the Kenyan authorities were pulling all stops to secure her release.
Three weeks after the kidnapping, Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna sought a statement from the Senate Committee on National Security, Defence and Foreign Relations on the actions taken by President William Ruto's administration to secure Ms Munyao's release.
A week earlier, Public Service Commission Commissioner Johnson Muthama had thrown his weight behind an aggressive social media campaign mounted by Ms Munyao’s relatives and colleagues to secure her freedom.
“Kenyan embassy officials kept telling us that they are in talks with the DRC government. They sought our patience. To be honest we had run out of patience. As time went by, we thought the situation had gotten out of hand and they had resorted to managing us,” said Joseph Ngei, a brother to Ms Munyao.
“It is a miracle how we have not suffered a nervous breakdown during those 150 days of waiting. We were really panicked. We are glad she is back.”
A Congolese army boss who hosted Ms Munyao at Goma, the capital city of Northern Kivu Province, ahead of her planned flight to Nairobi some days before Christmas, confirmed that Kenyan authorities were involved in securing her release.
“Intense fighting around Goma delayed the plan to airlift me to Kenya. The plan changed completely after the governor of Goma was killed in the ensuing security flare-ups. I was on the road evacuated through the Rwanda border on January 30. I went straight to see my daughter who goes to school in Nairobi,” she said.
Asked about her reflections on her ordeal, Ms Munyao said she was unbowed.
“Nothing will stop me from working. After resting for a while, I shall go to look for a trucking job. I am ready to go back to the DRC. But I shall be researching the security situation of the routes thoroughly before embarking on my trips”.
