The father of the captured KDF soldier seen in an Al-Shabaab video reveals more about the ordeal

A KDF soldier perceived to be dead after KDF El Adde camp was overturned on by Al-Shabaab militia on January 15, 2016, has resurfaced giving hopes to his family who had already given up on their kin.

Snr Private Alfred Ndanyi Kilasi was on Friday seen in a video clip pleading with President Uhuru Kenyatta, as commander-in-chief of the Kenyan Defence Forces to intervene so that he get released from captivity in Somalia so that he can vote in the forthcoming General Election and join his family members whom he has not seen for a long.

According to him, as soldiers, they obeyed his instructions and crossed into Somalia to fight for the country and now the president need to listen to his cries so that he is freed.

Kilasi’s father Epainustus Kilasi said that according to his son’s colleagues who survived the attack Kilasi and his friends left towards the west of Somalia.They didn’t know if they were killed or survived.

According to him, he was relieved when his other son informed him about a video that had been posted on youtube by the Al-Shabaab militia showing her son speaking. The video showed emaciated Kilasi pleading with the government to rescue them from Al Shabaab militia.

Epainustus Kilasi said that his effort to get information and help from the government has been futile.

“I have written to the President and his Deputy, I have also written to the Chief of Defence Forces Samson Mwathethe, Defence Cabinet Secretary Racheal Omamo and Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed but they have remained tight-lipped.I have not lost hope.I have faith that he will return home safe after listening to his speech at 7:30 pm,” said Kilasi.

After the attack reports indicated some soldiers were captured during the attack and the terrorists used them as human shields while Kenyan security agencies were pursuing them.

In another video in April David Ngugi, who had damaged eye and in uniform identified himself in a video as a Kenya Defence Forces soldier captured by al Shabaab militants in the attack in El Adde was seen pleading with the President Uhuru to secure his release and that of his colleagues.

More than 100 soldiers from the Eldoret-based 9th Kenya Riffles Battalion died while a dozen of them were captured in the dawn ambush by Al Shabaab.