Kenya has denied issuing a passport to a senior member of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Algoney Dagalo Musa, who has been sanctioned by the U.S.
The Star newspaper on Tuesday quoted Kenya’s Immigration and Citizens Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang telling Members of Parliament that media reports that foreigners with dubious backgrounds, including RSF leaders and a controversial Zimbabwean businessman, Wicknell Chivayo, had been issued Kenyan passports were not true.
The East African state has been in the eye of a storm since another of its daily newspapers, The Standard, reported that Algoney, who is a younger brother of Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the commander of the RSF, was the holder of a Kenyan passport number AK1586127. He is also said to hold two different Sudanese passports.
Dr. Kipsang had appeared before the Departmental Committee on Administration and Internal Security on Monday to deliberate on the Supplementary Estimates No. 1 for the Financial Year 2025/26.
“I would want to assure everybody that we only issue these documents, mainly IDs and birth certificates, and that you cannot get any other documents unless you have the ID and birth certificate,” The Star quoted Dr. Kipsang as saying.
The Standard, Kenya’s second most popular daily, which was founded in 1902, made the Algoney passport revelation in late February, quoting U.S. records.
The paper said Kenyan immigration officials had aided Algoney in securing the passport to facilitate his movements internally while evading sanctions. The revelation, it added, threatened to intensify scrutiny over Kenya’s engagements with the RSF, which is accused of genocide, money laundering and illegal weapons procurement.
Nairobi maintained a studious silence over the matter, even as the American-based Human Rights Foundation (HRF) called for Kenya to be held accountable for issuing passports to individuals linked to the RSF, an outfit accused of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Since April 2023, the RSF has been engaged in a power struggle with the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), which has claimed thousands of lives and has been described in many circles as the worst global humanitarian crisis in recent times.
According to The Standard last week, HRF, in a press statement, expressed alarm over reports that Nairobi issued passports to “a sanctioned Sudanese war financier and other individuals linked to Sudan’s genocidal RSF.”
The Standard said efforts to get a comment from Kenyan Immigration Department officials proved futile, though one officer, who requested to remain anonymous, said the issue was now “a big deal at the registry department.”
The publication cited the U.S. Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) revealing that Algoney was facing U.S. sanctions. It further said official records showed that he was born on Aug. 7, 1990, in Sudan’s Nyala North. His role, according to U.S. sources, involved offering logistical support and procuring weapons and vehicles.
Last year, Kenya’s President William Ruto hosted the RSF chief, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti), in Nairobi, prompting local and international backlash. The Kenyan leader was accused of providing political and logistical support to the warlord.
The gesture greatly offended the Sudanese government, which promptly recalled its ambassador, accusing Nairobi of interference in its internal affairs. Khartoum also banned Kenyan tea imports, causing the East African state significant foreign earnings losses.