Wetangula arrives safely, declares military coups unacceptable

By Martin Mutua and Ally Jamah

Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetangula, who was stranded in Mali after a coup, arrived safely in the country and declared there must never be room for coups in Africa.

Wetangula and his entourage were held captive for four days following the rebellion against President Ahamdou Toumane Toure by a group of military mutineers.

Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetangula and his wife Phylis (right) and daughter Pauline at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport yesterday evening when he arrived from Bamako, Mali. [PHOTOS: COLLINS KWEYU/STANDARD]

"This is an experience never to forget. Coups d’etat are unacceptable and must be condemned by all, Mali being no exception. The flimsy reasons advanced by the coup plotters and executioners are mere excuses," he added.

Wetangula, who had to forego a seat in a chartered UN aeroplane to avoid leaving members of his delegation behind, was evacuated to Lagos, Nigeria from the troubled Mali that is currently in the hands of a military junta.

This followed the intervention of UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon and his AU commission chairman Jean Ping who sent "no nonsense" messages to the military to allow evacuation of Wetangula together with his entourage and other foreigners who were holed up in a hotel in the capital Bamako.

More Kenyans

It is also emerging that President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, among other government officials, made frantic efforts to ensure the evacuation of Wetangula as evidenced on his Facebook page update in Lagos. "Thank you your Excellency President Mwai Kibaki, Rt Hon Prime Minister, Hon Balala, Hon Bifwoli Wakoli, Hon Eseli, Hon Mukhisa Kituyi, our ambassadors particularly Amb Monica Juma, Hon Mwiru and many other colleagues for making it happen," added Wetangula.

Others evacuated with Wetangula included his Zimbabwe counterpart, together with his personal assistant.

Also in the evacuated group were Foreign Affairs officials Anthony Safari, Gilbert Ng’eno, the minister’s personal assistant Boniface Munzala and two other Kenyans Dickson Omosa and Michael Odera.

According to a statement from the Foreign Affairs ministry on Sunday, the number of Kenyans still in Mali currently stands at 22 after the Government received information on two more Kenyans.

Wetangula through his Facebook page just before he departed for Nairobi from Lagos disclosed that the soldiers numbering about 100 escorted them to the airport where they flew out of Bamako in a chartered flight sent by the government.

"It is amazing how the soldiers who were shooting all around us, upon receiving no-nonsense messages from Ban Ki-Moon and AU commission chairman Dr Jean Ping to not only ensure our safety but also give us safe passage suddenly turned up in large numbers (close to100) to escort us to the airport," he noted.

Wetangula and his Zimbabwean counterpart were personally driven to the airport by Mali’s police commissioner.

"This did not take away our fear as both he and his mate carried two Kalashinkov rifles each. Never mind; we are now safely away," he added.

Wetangula’s ordeal in West Africa is the latest in a string of mishaps the Foreign minister has suffered in his line of duty.

His evacuation follows a setback on Saturday after a chartered flight declined to fly them out. The Kenya Government had managed to charter a flight from an airline company in Nigeria on Saturday to fly in and evacuate the group after securing clearance for evacuation from the Mali military.

Kenya is now in frantic efforts to evacuate its nationals from the West African country. The Government said that another plane is set to execute that mission from Dakar, Senegal, but is yet to be fully clear how many Kenyans live and work in that troubled West African country.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is still asking Kenyans with relatives in Mali to contact them so that they can be evacuated to safety.