Lithuanian businesswoman detained in Africa cries out for help: she does not know when she will return home

“Now I will have to check-in, that I am still here and I have not fled, so I cannot speak for a long time,” said a Lithuanian businesswoman who was arrested a week ago in Central Africa. in the Republic of Chad, along with his Russian expedition.

It is not the first time in Africa

“Since last Tuesday we have been in a hotel, we have accommodation, we have to eat, but we do not have passports. And when we don’t have passports, we can’t even buy cards. They took all the electronics from us. All that was left was this phone that we could all contact, but today it got stuck. And nothing else, it is very annoying ”, says the businesswoman.

The objective of the expedition participants was to make a film about travel in the Republic of Chad. The 10 participants of the expedition are professionals in different fields, including the car foreman, operator and bloggers. Alexei Kamerzanov, the creator of the show “Mir naš” (Lithuanian: “Our world”), also travels at the same time, at the expense of which travel to dangerous countries and war zones is no less impressive. Among the travelers, Marija is the only Lithuanian.

“Last year I traveled to Search of Lithuania to visit Lithuanians living in Africa. Our travels were interrupted by the crown and our team disintegrated, no one wanted to travel anymore. I have a goal to travel throughout Africa. Because the Alexei’s team, author of Mir Nash, is strong enough and they needed people to survive in the desert, we corresponded and I became part of the team, “he says.

In total, he has visited 12 African countries. It is true that not everything was covered with roses. Last year, Mary had to be arrested in Cameroon because, when the coronavirus pandemic broke out, Africans felt that “whites were like a corona.”

Awakened by a heavy blow

On June 14, Maria rejoiced that after a long wandering through the desert, they had managed to reach the town and civilization of Faya Largyau and in the last days of their travels. But the early morning of June 15 brought something completely different.

“Denis and I (author’s note – another expedition participant) got up around 4.30, that’s why we usually have coffee. This morning it was exactly the same, we were just more dispersed, because we will have to repair the machines and we can do an inventory of food stocks at that time.

When the morning cicada stopped, a furious knock on the patio door. The hosts slept and we didn’t pay much attention to it. Beldim was a hit until he woke up the local who received us. After opening the patio door, some 15 local fighters began to assault, clearly fully armed and with full ammunition magazines.

Ours didn’t even get up. I barely managed to swear to Tasias (author’s note – a participant in the expedition), and we were already surrounded. The lifting of all the tents began – as far as we realized – kind We do not register with the police, although we delivered the documents there last night, ”says Marija.

No explanation received

When everyone woke up, the police ordered them to get into the cars and head to the police station. But soon another cart arrived, from which the disembarked man introduced himself to the town mayor and told the travelers to pack all the things with him, including the tents.

“It just came to our attention then. <...> We obeyed and began to pack. Well, the situation was bad, the wheels of the cars were lowered and the soldiers did not speak any language to leave the car dead, and we drove the other two. You can’t catch any side contact, not even a glance, just strict hand movements …

He allowed Dimai to get stuck on the wheel and an hour later get to where he was taking us. We moved. Our convoy was accompanied by three Toyota full of soldiers, we had to follow one of them to stay off the road. It did not seem very funny through the windows, we began to know the barracks and the soldiers who were at the crossroads, the city was like a large barracks … with holes in the walls from the gunshots ”, she remembers the impressions of the day.

Upon arriving at the police station, the travelers were told to pick up the phones and head to the interrogations with all items. It was 5:30 pm tomorrow, and the expedition participants found themselves in a detention room. It was all very slow, but most importantly, no one said why they were here.

“The guide created stories to calm us down. He screamed at everyone, took all electronic media, wrote everything for a long time without madness. When Dimai arrived, he was ordered to take the cars to the yard for inspection. Thank goodness the yard was too small for the three of them. Some move of this type allowed to plan to preserve at least some files of the film … <...> They even remembered scales, compasses, reflectors, supports, portable batteries … Everything has a shape that is not clear to them, ”he says.

A saved phone

At 10 am, the polls were still running. Some expedition participants simply began deleting photos on phones that could have caused officials at least the slightest bit of suspicion.

“Marina did not pass and went to the machine to cook buckwheat. Taking advantage of the fact that they do not understand the Russian language, we began to draw up a small strategy so that in the machine that was tested we would have people who had not yet renounced any means of communication. Tensions arose, especially when a large van of new soldiers arrived with only more serious uniforms and medals taped to the chest.

I managed to put the phone on my chest because they are Muslim and cannot touch a woman, Go Pro was stuffed in a bottle of women’s cream and the satellite moved to a bag of cloudy clothes, as suggested by Vitalic, squeezing a little of the melted chocolate on the floor. In a word, since I was last on the list, everything worked. <...> No one believed it was real and it was happening to us. It seemed like we were shooting in what kind of movie. <...> At 1:00 p.m. we were left without documents, without electronics, with my communication devices, Serioga’s push-button phone, which I couldn’t find, and my satellite, ”says Marija.

In this way, they managed to keep some of the images.

So far no charges have been brought against the travelers and they just have to guess. It is true that there are several versions that they have. One version was that they were detained as Russians for supporting the Central African Republic while Russian private troops were fighting there and several Chadian border guards were killed a week ago during their attack. Second, they don’t want foreigners to take photos. All other options were guesswork – there was only one attack, someone complained like agents, etc.

The hotel has been closed for a week.

After the interrogations were over, they were told to pack things up and get on the plane. He flew to N’Djamena and closed the hotel.

“The officials put us on a plane, took us to N’Djamena, put us in a hotel and that’s it. That’s the end. The guide is closed with us,” says María.

“We just realized that we were not arrested. The consuls of Russia or France and the representatives of the European Union were not given reasons. Last Friday, no one knew yet where our passports were. There is no reason why “Let’s stop. We only have the consuls’ promises that we will get the passports back on the 21st, then the 22nd, but nothing. They only come the next day to say they were unlucky.

Now I only ask for a temporary document so that I can leave. I don’t care about computers or tablets anymore. I’m optimistic, I can still smile, but now I’m tired. You are closed, but not arrested, but you still can’t do anything, ”says the Lithuanian businesswoman.

By now, the businesswoman’s family has already had to postpone the flight date from Chad twice because Mary did not get the promised documents. Therefore, the participants of the expedition have only to wait to find out if they will be able to retrieve their passports, or at least obtain temporary documents with which to return home.