Ethiopia Demands Kenya Tell Abducted Businessman's Whereabouts

Ethiopia wants to know the whereabouts of a businessman abducted in Nairobi two months ago. Ethiopian authorities placed a formal request last week to Kenya, demanding disclosure on where Samson Teklemichael is detained and to be granted consular visits.

Samson is a businessman exporting liquified petroleum gas (LPG) and a known figure among the Ethiopian community in Nairobi, where he has lived for 16 years. His abduction on November 19, 2021, in the Kilimani neighbourhood of Kileleshwa County, sent shockwaves and distress among the community. Video footage surfaced on social media platforms a few hours after his abduction showing his Bentley car stopped by police officers, and him being forcefully removed and taken to another vehicle by unidentified men.

Samson had brief contact with his wife, Milen Halefom, telling her he had been taken by people he did not recognise, Kenyan newspapers reported.

"I appeal to President Uhuru Kenyatta and all media houses both local and international to help my family to address this issue and bring it to closure," Milen had said on Kenyan TV at the time of the abduction.

Nothing has been heard from him since.

Ethiopian diplomats in Nairobi have been pressing Kenyan authorities to be forthcoming with information on the businessman's whereabouts to no avail.

"We expect the Kenyan authorities to give us an account of our citizen who was taken away in Nairobi in broad daylight and whose whereabouts remain unknown," Meles Alem, Ethiopia's ambassador to Kenya, told Fortune.

This was a message sent in a note to the Kenyan Embassy in Addis Abeba last week by officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"We requested that he [Samson] be visited by his spouse and the Ambassador as soon as possible," said Fisseha Shawel, head of the neighbouring countries directorate at the Ministry.

Consular access refers to a citizen's right to visit consular officers in the host country. It is standard procedure for foreign affairs offices to request consular access for people believed to be missing or in danger.