Kibaki hails rescue of Kenyan in Afghanistan

A Kenyan family was on Saturday rejoicing after their daughter was dramatically rescued from abductors who captured her nearly two weeks ago in Afghanistan. Read (We are happy our daughter is safe, says family)

Ms Moragwa Oirere, 26, was rescued alongside three other aid workers in a raid on a cave by British and American special forces.

President Kibaki described the rescue operation as “impressively swift, ingenious and heroic”.

“Kenyans are delighted and grateful to the British Government and all parties involved for freeing Moragwa Oirere and all her colleagues,” said the President in a Presidential Press Service dispatch.

Others who were being held in the cave in Badakhshan province in the north of Afghanistan were Ms Helen Johnson, 24, and two Afghans.

They worked for Medair, a humanitarian non-governmental organisation based near Lausanne, Switzerland.

The four had hired horses on May 22 to reach a remote village in the Yawan district when they were taken by a small, armed band.

The kidnappers, believed to have been a criminal group with links to insurgents in Afghanistan, had made a ransom demand in a video.

Five of them, said to have been heavily armed, were killed during the rescue mission.

According to Ms Moragwa’s father, Dr Naftali Oirere, she left the country on May 15 and had been contracted to do a two-week nutrition survey in Afghanistan.

“On 22 May we received a call that she was missing from the field,” the mother, Ms Milka Oirere, told the Sunday Nation.

The parents said that they were happy she had been safely rescued and thanked all those who joined the family in prayers.

An emotional Ms Moragwa called her parents in Nairobi and said that she only wanted to come home.

Her documents had been taken away by her captors and the UK Embassy in Kabul is making arrangements on how she will return home.

Ms Moragwa, a graduate from the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, was scheduled to graduate with a master’s degree from Moi University.

The head of communications at the embassy, Mr John Bradshaw said that both Helen and Moragwa were receiving support from British embassy staff in Kabul while the two Afghans had returned to their families in Badakhshan.

Mr Bradshaw said that the families of the rescued workers were hugely relieved at this news.

“We are grateful to the British Government for the selfless effort in Afghanistan and all those who joined us in prayers,” Ms Moragwa’s father told the Sunday Nation.

They were called to the British High Commission offices in Nairobi where they met senior embassy officials and recorded a statement.

Mr Bradshaw also said that they paid tribute to the bravery of the coalition forces which meant that all four aid workers would soon be rejoining their families and loved ones. 

“We have worked closely with the Afghan authorities throughout and we would like to thank them for their support,” he said.

Chargé d’Affaires at the British High Commission in Nairobi Michael Nevin thanked the forces and the Kenya Government for their cooperation.