Kenya is seeking parliamentary ratification of a treaty that will stop the future enlistment of citizens to fight in foreign territories, including in the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi told the Senate Committee on National Security, Defence, and Foreign Affairs that the government will soon table documents asking MPs to ratify treaties on mercenaries.
“We will be bringing the treaties around mercenaries and so forth for ratification by this House,” Mr Mudavadi told the committee, chaired by Isiolo Woman Representative Fatuma Dulo.
“We, as a country, have signed this convention on mercenary operations, but we have not ratified it. Ratification will strengthen the legal framework to help Kenyans move away from these mercenary activities.”
Mr Mudavadi was responding to Ms Dulo’s query on the status of Kenyans who have been enlisted to fight alongside Russian soldiers in the Ukraine war, which has now dragged on for nearly five years.
Mr Mudavadi said that while Kenya had secured the release of about 50 Kenyans from the frontlines in Ukraine, where they were fighting for Russia, there has been no further deployment of Kenyans since the government reached an agreement with Russia.
“We are satisfied that there is no more enlistment of Kenyans in that space (Russia). We are going to shortly bring to this House a treaty around mercenaries and so forth so as to strengthen the legal framework and help Kenyans move away from these atrocities,” Mr Mudavadi said.
Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, Musalia Mudavadi, when he appeared before the Senate Committee on National Security, Defence and Foreign Relations at County Hall in Nairobi on April 2, 2026.
Photo credit: Dennis Onsongo | Nation Media Group
“I can say that more than 50 Kenyans have been assisted by the government to return home from the frontlines, where they were fighting for Russia in Ukraine.”
Mr Mudavadi told senators that Kenya is a signatory to the Convention against Mercenaries of December 4, 1989, but the country has not ratified the treaty.
The International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries was adopted following Resolution 44/34 of the United Nations General Assembly.
Article 47 of Additional Protocol I of 1977 to the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the Convention for the Elimination of Mercenarism in Africa, adopted by the Organization of African Unity in Libreville on July 3, 1977, also address the issue.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, in a war that has lasted nearly five years.
Earlier this year, the State Department for Diaspora Affairs asked MPs to allocate Sh400 million for the repatriation of Kenyans stranded in conflicts in the Middle East and Russia following the escalation of war.
Ambassador Hellen Gichuhi told the National Assembly’s Defence, Intelligence and Foreign Relations Committee that 15 Kenyans had already been evacuated from Iran and were on their way to Ankara, Türkiye, from where they would be flown back to Nairobi.
Ambassador Gichuhi said the 15 Kenyans include five children and two students, as well as Kenyans who had been working in Iran.
“The State Department for Diaspora Affairs appealed to the committee to consider allocating Sh400 million for the repatriation of Kenyans from the Middle East and Russia following the emerging situation there,” Ambassador Gichuhi said.
“We have more than 500,000 Kenyans working in the Middle East, and the escalating war involving Israel, the US and Iran has seen many Kenyans request evacuation.”
The Israel-US-Iran conflict escalated with Israeli airstrikes targeting Iranian gas and oil facilities, while Iran retaliated with attacks on gas plants in Qatar and other neighbouring US-allied countries.
Appearing before the committee chaired by Belgut MP Nelson Koech to defend the State Department for Diaspora Affairs' allocation in Supplementary Budget I for the 2025/26 financial year, Ambassador Gichuhi said the ministry facilitates the evacuation of Kenyans stranded in war zones but does not necessarily pay for their flights back home.
