Kenya Airways suspends Kinshasa flights after staff arrests
Kenya Airways (KQ) has today announced the suspension of its flights to Kinshasa following the “illegal” detention of two of its staff in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for the last ten days.
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On Friday, the airline called for the release of two of its staff at the Kinshasa airport office who have been in detention since April 19 by the Military Intelligence for Anti-Patriotic Activities (Demiap).
According to Kenya Airways, a military court had on the previous day granted an order for their release.
Congolese authorities have not commented on the arrests.
"The continued detention of our staff has made it difficult to oversee our operations in Kinshasa, which include customer service, ground handling, cargo activities and overall ensuring safe and efficient operations," the airline said in the statement.
"We further request that our staff be treated with humanity and respect during this unlawful detention," it added.
Kenya Airways said on Friday that "the reason given for their detention was the lack of customs documentation for valuable cargo that was supposed to be uplifted on a KQ flight on April 12, 2024".
But the cargo, whose contents remain unknown for now, "was not uplifted or accepted by KQ due to incomplete documentation," Kenya Airways said, lamenting that "all efforts to explain to the military officers that KQ did not accept the cargo due to incomplete documentation have been futile".
One of Africa's leading airlines, Kenya Airways was founded in 1977 after the collapse of East African Airways and serves 45 destinations, including 37 in Africa.
Read Also: At least 21 people die in a shipwreck in the DR Congo (Portuguese version)
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