Kenya Says Russia Will Stop Recruiting Kenyans for Its Army as UN Ends Its Somalia Mission

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Official portrait of Kenyan President William Ruto, 2022 (file photo). Photo: Government of Kenya, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

Kenyan President William Ruto said on October 30 that Russia will stop enlisting Kenyans in its armed forces, after he met Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin. “Kenyans will no longer be enlisted into the Russian military because Kenya has been categorized as a non-source country for recruitment,” Ruto said, Anadolu Agency reported. The Kenya Russia military recruitment pledge came on the eve of the end of the UN’s political mission in Somalia.

Key figures: 5 kenya-russia cooperation agreements signed · 11 suspects held over the attack on omoyele sowore · 12 killed in kebbi state attacks, per police

What Kenya and Russia agreed

Ruto said he had appointed a defense attaché in Moscow to work with Russia’s Defense Ministry on bringing recruited Kenyans home and on compensation. The two governments signed five cooperation agreements and agreed to negotiate a labor deal that would let Kenyans work in Russia, according to the Anadolu report. Neither side gave a figure for how many Kenyans are serving in Russia’s army, and the Kremlin’s own account was not included in the sources checked.

UN mission in Somalia closes

The UN Transitional Assistance Mission in Somalia stopped work on October 31, ending a two-year handover requested by the Somali government, Al Jazeera reported. Its tasks pass to Somali institutions, UN agencies and the UN office that supports African Union troops, who remain to fight al-Shabab alongside Somali forces.

No replacement has been agreed for the mission’s mediation role. The gap comes as opposition leaders reject the government’s position that the president and parliament can remain in office until 2027, according to Al Jazeera.

Pressure on Congo’s warring parties

The International Contact Group for the Great Lakes region urged all parties to the Washington Accords and the Doha Framework to honor ceasefire commitments made on July 19, 2025, the State Department said on October 30. “The escalating use of drones has grave consequences for civilians and humanitarian workers,” the group said. It reminded the parties of UN Security Council Resolution 2773, which calls on Rwanda’s army to stop supporting the M23 rebels and leave Congolese territory, and said it “categorically rejects” violence advocated by the newly created Front for the Refoundation of the Nation. Our Oct. 30 Africa report covered the earlier drone strike on a displacement camp in Ethiopia.

Nigeria: candidate attacked, villages hit

Posts on the official social media accounts of opposition presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore said “armed thugs” seized him at a restaurant in Ado-Ekiti on October 30, Anadolu reported. Ekiti State police said he was not kidnapped, describing an altercation after which officers rescued him; he was treated for a minor injury and discharged, TheCable reported. Police said they would have provided security had he told them about the visit. On October 31, police said they had arrested 11 suspects and were still investigating their roles, The Punch reported.

In Kebbi State, police said attacks on October 26 and October 28 killed 12 people, including a police inspector, in the Besse and Shanga areas along the Niger River, Daily Trust reported. Residents told the newspaper that more than 23 people died. The attacks were blamed on the Lakurawa and Mamudawa armed groups, and many residents fled.

By the numbers

Residents’ count of more than 23 dead in Kebbi is nearly double the police figure of 12, a gap of at least 11 deaths, or more than 90%, TBR calculations from the Daily Trust report. The two counts cover the same two attacks, so the difference reflects disputed tallies rather than separate incidents.

Sanctions over Libyan prisons

The State Department designated Osema Almasri Habeesh Najeem, a former Libyan Judicial Police official, and his wife under Section 7031(c), barring both from entering the United States, the department said. It cited torture and cruel treatment of detainees in Libya’s Mitiga and al-Jadida prisons, and said his actions included “murder, forced labor, and targeting of Christians and members of other minority groups.”

What to watch

Watch for whether Kenyans already serving in Russia’s army are sent home and how many, whether Somalia’s opposition joins talks the president has offered, and whether Nigerian police charge any of the 11 suspects held over the Sowore attack. Today’s Ukraine war report covers the battlefield Russia has been recruiting foreigners to fight on, and our Patriot sale story covers new air defense deliveries for Ukraine.

Sources

• Anadolu Agency: Kenya's Ruto secures Putin's pledge to halt military recruitment, expand ties
• Al Jazeera: UN closes Somalia mission, ending three decades of political engagement
• US Department of State: Joint Statement from the International Contact Group for the Great Lakes Region (ICG)
• Anadolu Agency: Armed men abduct Nigerian opposition presidential candidate Sowore during campaign visit
• TheCable: Police: We'd have provided security for Sowore if he'd informed us of Ekiti visit
• The Punch: Police arrest 11 over attack on Sowore in Ekiti
• AllAfrica: Nigeria: Gunmen Kill Police Inspector, 11 Others in Kebbi
• US Department of State: Designation of Libyan Judicial Police Official for Involvement in Torture and Cruel, Inhumane, and Degrading Treatment