Human rights and privacy advocates are closely following a decade-old case that’s led to this month’s indictments of four technology executives in France, on the grounds that the sale of their surveillance technology in Libya and Egypt leaves them complicit in torture and other rights violations. The four executives are…
The Committee to Protect Journalists is calling on authorities in Tanzania to release two CPJ staffers they say were detained Wednesday night in Dar es Salaam. Angela Quintal, the CPJ coordinator for Africa, right, and colleague Muthoki Mumo went missing from their hotel room after officers who said they were…
Teodorin Obiang Nguema, the son of Equatorial Guinea’s president and the country’s vice president himself, is immersed in scandal again. This time Brazilian authorities seized USD$1.4 million found in a suitcase as his delegation arrived at Viracopos International Airport in Campinas on Friday. Obiang also traveled with about 20 luxury…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
Zambia’s communications minister is defending the southern African nation’s plans to more tightly control social media use, saying the government is concerned about scams and other Internet abuses. Brian Mushimba, the Transport and Communications minister, said in a statement issued Friday that more than 600 Zambians have lost tens of…
Human rights advocates from countries as diverse as Benin, South Sudan and Malawi stood in solidarity with their Tanzanian counterparts on Thursday, in a letter sent to President John Magufuli calling for an end to repression. Some 65 people and organizations signed the letter condemning ongoing attacks against media outlets,…
Six political opposition leaders in Tanzania will appear in court Thursday following their arrest earlier this week on charges of sedition. Freeman Mbowe, head of the CHADEMA party, and five others also were charged with participating in an illegal demonstration in Kinondoni in February. The resulting clashes led to the…
Fourteen human rights organizations, including the global Human Rights Watch NGO, have called on Western governments to speak out against presidential elections in Egypt they describe as “farcical.” “The United States, European Union, and European states, which provide substantial financial assistance to the Egyptian government, should consistently integrate human rights…
The Human Rights Watch organization strongly refutes Rwanda’s claim that it falsified an HRW report on government repression, and says the countering allegations in Rwanda’s own report are “largely fabricated” and misrepresented the NGO’s work. “The allegations by the National Commission for Human Rights show that Rwandan authorities are unwilling…
A new human rights report on Chad finds a disturbing trend in government repression of rights activists, journalists, labor leaders and community organizers, Amnesty International said on Thursday. The “Between recession and repression: The rising cost of dissent in Chad” document looks at the increasing use of laws that restrict…
In Rwanda, three candidates seeking to stand for the presidential election on August 4 have been disqualified, the National Electoral Commission (NEC) said, as it announced the final list on Friday. That list of candidates includes incumbent President Paul Kagame, who is expected to win a third seven-year term after…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
Ethiopia will maintain its state of emergency for an additional four months, following a parliamentary vote Thursday that approved the extension. The Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC) said the measure passed unanimously after Ethiopian Defense Minister Siraj Fegessa made his case for additional time before lawmakers still concerned about unrest in…