logo
Kenyan activist detained in Tanzania

Kenyan activist detained in Tanzania

Eyewitness News20-05-2025
DAR ES SALAAM - A leading Kenyan activist was arrested at his hotel in Tanzania, where he had planned to attend an opposition leader's treason trial, his wife told AFP on Tuesday.
Boniface Mwangi -- one of the most prominent campaigners against corruption and police violence in Kenya -- was among several regional activists who travelled to Tanzania to show solidarity with opposition leader Tundu Lissu during his court appearance on Monday.
Lissu's Chadema party has been banned from taking part in elections due in October after insisting on reforms.
Several activists, including Kenyan presidential candidate Martha Karua, were denied entry at the airport ahead of his latest hearing and deported.
Mwangi's wife Njeri told AFP she had not been able to contact him since his arrest.
READ: Kenyan lawyer for Tanzania opposition leader arrested: spokesperson
"I have been told they are waiting for the government of Tanzania to consult and decide whether to charge him or to deport him," she said.
Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan said Monday that foreign activists would not be allowed to interfere in the country's affairs and urged security organs "not to allow ill-mannered individuals from other countries to cross the line here".
According to Njeri, Mwangi was taken from the Serena Hotel alongside Ugandan activist Agather Atuhaire.
They spent the night at the central police station in Dar es Salaam, his lawyer Jebra Kambole confirmed to AFP.
Activists say the events in Tanzania are part of a wider erosion of democracy across east Africa.
In neighbouring Uganda, opposition leader Kizza Besigye is also on trial for treason after being kidnapped in Kenya and taken across the border.
Karua, the Kenyan presidential candidate, is serving as his lawyer.
She travelled to Uganda on Tuesday ahead of Besigye's latest hearing the following day, and posted online that "entry was without a hitch".
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Last chance saloon for global plastic pollution treaty
Last chance saloon for global plastic pollution treaty

eNCA

time2 hours ago

  • eNCA

Last chance saloon for global plastic pollution treaty

Negotiators trying to secure a global agreement on tackling the scourge of plastic pollution had just hours left to salvage a deal on Thursday after the talks plunged into disarray. Countries wanting bold action to turn the tide on plastic garbage are so far apart from a group of oil-producing nations that the prospects of finding meaningful common ground before Friday -- after three years of talks -- seem low. With just over a day to go, talks chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso produced a draft text on Wednesday based on the few areas of convergence, in an attempt to find common ground. But the draft succeeded only in infuriating virtually all corners, and the text was immediately shredded as one country after another ripped it to bits. AFP | Noel CELIS For the self-styled "ambition coalition" countries, it was an empty document shorn of bold action like curbing production and phasing out toxic ingredients and reduced down to a waste management accord. And for the so-called Like-Minded Group, with Gulf states leading the charge, it crossed too many of their red lines and did not do enough to narrow down the scope of what they might be signing up for. - The bad, the very bad, the ugly - Vayas held talks with regional delegations late Wednesday that ran past midnight. Raking over the fall-out, European Union member states held a coordination meeting early Thursday, as did a group of small island developing states struggling to cope with ocean plastic they did little to produce and have scant capacity to deal with. Latin American and Caribbean nations and the African group of countries were also due to have their own meetings behind closed doors. After that, the two key cross-regional blocs -- the High Ambition Coalition and the Like-Minded Group -- were to have their own meetings before marching back into the plenary session, which brings all the negotiating countries together in the UN Palais des Nations' main assembly hall. Aleksandar Rankovic from The Common Initiative think-tank, said Vayas had effectively removed all the ambitious countries' bargaining chips, meaning they are unlikely to get anything better than what is on the table. AFP | Sylvie HUSSON, Christophe THALABOT "It's very simple: there are only two scenarios: there's bad and very bad -- and a lot of ugliness in between," he told AFP. "The bad scenario is that countries adopt a very bad treaty: something that looks like the text from Wednesday, but potentially worse. "The very bad is that they don't agree on anything, and they either try to reconvene," or the treaty is "kept in limbo for a long time -- so practically abandoned". - 'Repulsive surrender' - After three years and five previous rounds of talks, negotiators from 180-odd countries have been working at the United Nations in Geneva since August 5 to try to conclude a first international accord on dealing with plastic pollution. AFP | JOHAN ORDONEZ The problem is so ubiquitous that microplastics have been found on the highest mountain peaks, in the deepest ocean trench and scattered throughout almost every part of the human body. In Wednesday's bombshell plenary, Panama said the draft text was "simply repulsive. It is not ambition: it is surrender", while Kenya said it had been "significantly diluted and lost its very objective". The World Wide Fund for Nature said ambitious countries "must have by now recognised that there is no possible text that will be acceptable to all UN member states". AFP | Elodie LE MAOU "They must then be prepared to vote their text through. There is no other way a meaningful treaty can be agreed," she said.

Liverpool man accused of football parade crash faces new charges
Liverpool man accused of football parade crash faces new charges

IOL News

time2 hours ago

  • IOL News

Liverpool man accused of football parade crash faces new charges

Members of the emergency services treat members of the public inside a Police cordon at the scene of an incident on Water Street, on the sidelines of an open-top bus victory parade for Liverpool's Premier League title win,. Photo: Darren Staples/AFP Image: Darren Staples/AFP A British man accused of driving his vehicle into crowds celebrating Liverpool's Premier League title win faces an additional 24 criminal charges, prosecutors revealed Thursday at his latest court hearing. Former British Marine Paul Doyle, 53, appeared tearful as he joined the hearing at Liverpool Crown Court via videolink from prison, when details of the new counts stemming from the May 26 incident emerged. Merseyside Police now say 134 people were injured when Doyle allegedly drove his Ford Galaxy Titanium into crowds who were leaving Liverpool's waterfront after a victory parade. The 31 charges in total now filed involve 29 victims, aged between six months and 77, the court heard. Get your news on the go, click here to join the IOL News WhatsApp channel. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ Six relate to children including two babies – one aged six months at the time and one aged seven months – who were injured when the car hit people massed on Water street in the city centre. Supporters of the city's world-famous football team had thronged its streets to celebrate the club's record-equalling 20th English top-flight title when scenes of joy turned to horror. Doyle, a father-of-three from the Croxteth neighbourhood in the city, was initially charged with seven offences, including dangerous driving and causing grievous bodily harm with intent. He now faces multiple additional counts under that and other charges, including 19 for attempting to cause grievous bodily harm, three of wounding with intent and one of affray. Doyle, wearing a grey T-shirt, did not enter any pleas during the 20-minute hearing, which several relatives of the victims and more than 20 members of the media attended. Judge Andrew Menary adjourned the case until September 4, when Doyle is expected to enter pleas. Earlier this year, a provisional trial date was fixed for November 24, with the case expected to last three to four weeks. AFP

Court halts TotalEnergies South African oil exploration
Court halts TotalEnergies South African oil exploration

Eyewitness News

time4 hours ago

  • Eyewitness News

Court halts TotalEnergies South African oil exploration

JOHANNESBURG - A South African court has refused environmental authorisation for planned offshore drilling by French energy giant TotalEnergies near the foot of Africa, in a ruling seen by AFP Thursday. The High Court said Wednesday that the environment ministry's 2023 go-ahead for the exploratory operations in the roughly 10,000-square-kilometre (3,860-square-mile) block near Cape Town had been "reviewed and set aside". Environmental lobby groups had launched a legal challenge against the project, saying it would harm marine life. The block is jointly owned by South Africa's state oil company PetroSA, TotalEnergies and British oil heavyweight Shell, with the French firm serving as the operator. In overturning the environmental permit, Judge Nobahle Mangcu-Lockwood said TotalEnergies could reapply for authorisation after public consultation. Green Connection, one of groups that filed the legal challenge, said the ruling was a major victory for coastal communities and small-scale fishers. "Oil spill and blowout contingency plans were kept from the public until after approval, denying communities a chance to comment," its legal advisor, Shahil Singh, said in a statement. Interest in oil and gas exploration off South Africa's coast has surged in recent years, driven in part by major discoveries across the maritime border in Namibia and broader energy activity in southern Africa, including Mozambique. The Natural Justice group of environmental lawyers said Wednesday's judgment affirmed that all companies needed to follow due process before seeking the green light for oil exploration off South Africa. "We will continue to turn to our courts to not only stop the takers who parade under the guise of growth and development, but to ensure that impacts of oil and gas exploration and production are properly scrutinised and that our people and our resources are not exploited," it said.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store