Tanzania Opposition Leader Defiant As He Appears For Treason Trial
Activists say the case against him is the latest sign that democracy is under threat in several East African nations.
An opposition leader is also on trial for treason in neighbouring Uganda and opposition movements facing pressure in several other countries.
In Tanzania, a defiant Lissu was greeted by supporters when he entered the courtroom on Monday.
Lissu's Chadema party has been disqualified from presidential and legislative elections due in October after demanding electoral reforms.
He had insisted on attending in person after being forced to appear by video link for earlier hearings.
"We will be fine... Don't worry at all," he told supporters.
A group of Kenyan rights defenders, including a former chief justice, were detained at the airport in Dar es Salaam when they attempted to come and observe the trial.
That followed the similar detention and deportation of Kenyan presidential candidate Martha Karua, a former justice minister, at the same airport on Sunday.
Karua said it showed Tanzania's ruling party was "determined to violate the law and are not keen on according Tundu Lissu a fair trial".
Opposition movements face pressure across the region.
Karua also serves as lawyer for Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye, who was kidnapped in Kenya last year and taken back to his home country for trial.
Uganda is due to hold elections in January.
There is also concern about the political situation in Kenya, long considered a bastion of stability in the region.
President William Ruto's popularity has been undermined by tax rises and corruption that sparked mass protests last year and were followed by a spate of abductions and political violence targeting his critics.
When Ruto's former deputy launched a new political party in Nairobi last week, unidentified attackers stormed the meeting.
Kenya is in "total disarray", Karua told AFP in an interview earlier this month.
"It's as if our constitution has been suspended. We have abductions, arbitrary arrests... extrajudicial killings... And the police and authorities fail to take responsibility," she said.
Karua said Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda were "collaborating" in their "total erosion of democratic principles".
"All these countries now have become dangerous, not just to others but to their own nationals. I tie this to the forthcoming elections," she said.
Meanwhile, Ethiopia's leading opposition party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front, was banned from any political activity last week, ahead of elections due by June 2026 at the latest.
South Sudan has repeatedly delayed holding its first elections and President Salva Kiir has placed his long-time rival, First Vice-President Riek Machar, under house arrest.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame last year won re-election with more than 99 percent of the vote, amid long-running accusations of repression targeting the opposition.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Int'l Business Times
22 minutes ago
- Int'l Business Times
NGOs Caught Between Juntas And Jihadists In Turbulent Sahel
NGOs in the violence-wracked Sahel region are dangerously caught between military juntas who accuse them of being spies, and jihadists who view them as symbols of Western influence. In the world terror epicentre, nearly 30 million people rely on humanitarian aid provided by non-governmental organisations and international bodies. "The need is mostly concentrated in the central Sahel" in junta-led Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger where assistance is critical to nearly 15 million people, according to the United Nations humanitarian agency, OCHA. Since seizing power, the juntas have made sovereignty and the fight against jihadists their priority, leaving NGOs and organisations that receive funding from abroad under increased pressure. In Burkina Faso, 21 NGOs had their permits to operate in the country revoked in the space of just one month between June and July, for what the authorities said were administrative reasons. Ten other associations were suspended for three months. "It's a tough blow but we are working to comply with legal requirements. For now, our activities are suspended," a member of one of the associations told AFP. In neighbouring Mali, NGOs financed or supported by former colonial power France, with whom the junta has cut ties, have been suspended since 2022. The military-led authorities also plan to impose a 10-percent levy on funding for NGOs and associations to use for Mali's "economic, social, environmental and cultural development", according to a draft law seen by AFP. Niger's junta has ordered NGOs to align their activities with its priorities, which it says are bolstering security, developing production centres to boost the economy and promoting good governance. In November, it withdrew the operating licences for French aid group Acted and a local association, Action for Wellbeing (ABPE). Interior Minister General Mohamed Toumba declared two months later that "many NGOs" in Niger were carrying out "subversion missions" through "support they often provide to terrorists". Then in February, the International Committee of the Red Cross was ordered to leave the west African country, where it had worked since 1990, accused of "collusion with terrorists". As they come under pressure from the juntas, NGOs must also contend with attacks by jihadist groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State group, who see them as a threat to their power and ideology. The Sahel region was the epicentre of global "terrorism" for the second straight year in 2024, accounting for more than half of deaths put down to terror attacks worldwide, according to the Global Terrorism Index. At least 26 humanitarian workers were killed in the Sahel last year and many more wounded and kidnapped in 116 security incidents, OCHA said. "Our operations are now limited to a few cities. To transport staff or supplies, for example, we prefer air transport, which generates extra costs at a time when we are struggling to mobilise resources," a Burkinabe humanitarian worker, speaking on condition of anonymity due to security concerns, told AFP. "Many NGOs are now present on the ground thanks to their local staff, which minimises risks," a Nigerien NGO worker said. In October, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) stopped working in the large northern Burkinabe town of Djibo, which is surrounded by jihadists, following attacks targeting its health centres and offices. A few years earlier the medical charity had been forced to leave the southeast Nigerien town of Maine Soroa near the border with Nigeria due to raids by Boko Haram jihadists in August 2020. "NGOs are targeted because extremist groups are seeking to establish themselves as legitimate alternative authorities," said Charlie Werb, an analyst at risk advisory company Alert:24. "They want to supplant the state, which means not only pushing out the state itself from territory, but also organisations deemed to be providing services on its behalf," he told AFP. The Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims, known by its Arabic initials JNIM, an Islamist outfit affiliated with Al-Qaeda that is active in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, "has stated that it will only allow NGOs to operate in areas under its control so long as they don't carry out activity that goes against their religious principles", Werb said. NGOs have had armed escorts imposed on them by the juntas purportedly to ensure their safety, but humanitarian workers believe the move is mostly designed to keep track of their activities. "Conducting our activities under military escort can hinder our actions and expose us to one of the belligerents," the Burkinabe aid worker said. Juntas in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have made the fight against jihadists one of their priorities AFP Infographic with map of Western and Central Africa showing instances of political violence by Islamic State groups and Al-Qaeda-affiliated Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), according to ACLED data for one year up to June 6, 2025 AFP
Int'l Business Times
10 hours ago
- Int'l Business Times
Philippine, Indian Navies Begin First Joint South China Sea Patrols
Indian Navy warships have begun patrolling areas of the disputed South China Sea with their Philippine counterparts for the first time, Manila's military said Monday, as President Ferdinand Marcos departed for a state visit to New Delhi. The two-day sail includes three Indian vessels and started Sunday, a day before Marcos left on a trip that will include talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Philippines has heightened defence cooperation with a range of allies over the past year after a series of clashes in the South China Sea. Beijing claims nearly the entirety of the waterway despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis. India's naval vessels, including the guided missile destroyer INS Delhi, arrived in Manila for a port visit late last week. The patrol "started yesterday afternoon, then it's ongoing up to this moment... the activity at the moment is replenishment at sea," Lieutenant Colonel John Paul Salgado told AFP. China in response accused Manila of "drawing in external countries to stir up trouble" in the South China Sea. The joint patrol "undermines regional peace and stability", said Senior Colonel Tian Junli, spokesperson of the Chinese military's Southern Theater Command. He said Beijing had conducted "routine patrols" in the South China Sea on Sunday and Monday, and remained on "high alert". While in India, Marcos is expected to sign pacts in such fields as law, culture and technology, according to foreign affairs assistant secretary Evangeline Ong Jimenez-Ducrocq, but all eyes will be on any potential defence agreements. Before departing Monday, Marcos praised the two countries' "steadfastness in upholding international maritime law, including the UNCLOS", the UN treaty granting an exclusive economic zone within 200 nautical miles (370 kilometres) of a country's shores. The Philippines has previously purchased BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles from India, a weapon which has a top speed of 3,450 kilometres (2,140 miles) per hour. India, which has engaged in border clashes with China in the Himalayas, is a member of the so-called Quad, a group that includes fellow democracies the United States, Japan and Australia. Beijing has repeatedly alleged that the four-way partnership, first conceived by late Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, was created as a way of containing China.
Int'l Business Times
19 hours ago
- Int'l Business Times
Bangladesh Ex-PM Palace Becomes Revolution Museum
Once a heavily guarded palace, the former official residence of Bangladesh's ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina is being turned into a museum as a lasting reminder of her autocratic rule. Photographs of jubilant flag-waving crowds clambering onto the rooftop of the Dhaka palace after Hasina fled by helicopter to India were a defining image of the culmination of student-led protests that toppled her government on August 5, 2024. One year later, with the South Asian nation of around 170 million people still in political turmoil, the authorities hope the sprawling Ganabhaban palace offers a message to the future. Graffiti daubed on the walls condemning her regime remains untouched. "Freedom", one message reads. "We want justice." Hasina's rule saw widespread human rights abuses, including the mass detention and extrajudicial killings of her political opponents. Up to 1,400 people were killed between July and August 2024 in her failed bid to cling to power, according to the United Nations. The 77-year-old has defied court orders to attend her ongoing trial on charges amounting to crimes against humanity in Dhaka, accusations she denies. "Dictator", another message reads, among scores being protected for posterity. "Killer Hasina". Muhammad Yunus, the 85-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner who is leading the caretaker government until elections are held in early 2026, said the conversion to a museum would "preserve memories of her misrule and the people's anger when they removed her from power". Mosfiqur Rahman Johan, 27, a rights activist and documentary photographer, was one of the thousands who stormed the luxurious palace, when crowds danced in her bedroom, feasted on food from the kitchens, and swam in the lake Hasina used to fish in. "It will visualise and symbolise the past trauma, the past suffering -- and also the resistance," he said. "Ganabhaban is a symbol of fascism, the symbol of an autocratic regime". The complex was built by Hasina's father, the first leader of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and Hasina made it her official residence during her 15 years in power. Tanzim Wahab, the curator of the under-construction museum, told AFP that exhibits would include artefacts of the protesters killed. Their life stories will be told through films and photographs, while plaques will host the names of the people killed by the security forces during the longer period of Hasina's rule. "The museum's deeper purpose is retrospective, looking back at the long years of misrule and oppression", said Wahab. "That, I believe, is one of the most important aspects of this project." Wahab said the museum would include animation and interactive installations, as well as documenting the tiny cells where Hasina's opponents were detained in suffocating conditions. "We want young people... to use it as a platform for discussing democratic ideas, new thinking, and how to build a new Bangladesh," Wahab said. That chimes with the promised bolstering of democratic institutions that interim leader Yunus wants to ensure before elections -- efforts slowed as political parties jostle for power. The challenges he faces are immense, warned Human Rights Watch ahead of the one-year anniversary of the revolution. "The interim government appears stuck, juggling an unreformed security sector, sometimes violent religious hardliners, and political groups that seem more focused on extracting vengeance on Hasina's supporters than protecting Bangladeshis' rights," HRW said. But while Hasina's palace is being preserved, protesters have torn down many other visible signs of her rule. Statues of Hasina's father were toppled, and portraits of the duo torn and torched. Protesters even used digger excavators to smash down the home of the late Sheikh Mujibur Rahman -- that Hasina had turned into a museum to her father. "When the dictatorship falls, its Mecca will go too," said Muhibullah Al Mashnun, who was among the crowds that tore down the house. The 23-year-old student believes that removing such symbols was necessary for Bangladesh to move forward to a better future. "They were the statues of dictatorship," Mashnun said. Graffiti daubed on the walls condemning Sheikh Hasina's regime remains untouched AFP Once a heavily guarded palace, the former official residence of Bangladesh's ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina is being turned into a museum AFP Protesters have used digger excavators to smash down the home of the late Sheikh Mujibur Rahman -- which Hasina had turned into a museum to her father AFP
