Kenya Suspends Flights To Kinshasha Over Detention Of Employees

Two Kenya Airways employees, who work at the carrier’s airport office in Democratic Republic of Congo were arrested on 19 April by the Military Detection of Anti-Homeland Activities (DEMIAP) allegedly because of “missing custom documentation on valuable cargo”, the airline said.

Kenya Airways said its employees were held incommunicado in a military facility until 23 April, when embassy officials and a team from the airline were allowed to visit them.

“Due to the continued detention of KQ [Kenya Airways] employees by the Military Intelligence Unit in Kinshasa, Kenya Airways is unable to support our flights without personnel effectively,” the airline said in a statement Monday.

According to Kenya Airways, a military court in DRC had promised their release last week, but they are still being detained. The DRC government has not commented on the allegations and calls to DEMIAP have not been answered.

The airline said the cargo being investigated by Congolese officials “was not uplifted or accepted by KQ due to incomplete documentation.”

“The cargo was not on the air side for transportation and, therefore, not in the possession of KQ as the logistic handler was still completing documentation before handing it over to KQ,” said the airline.