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Outrage as Kenyan police attack journalists during protests

Posted on Kenya, Media, Newsby civic_admin

A barrage of tear gas canisters and a deluge from an armoured water cannon directed at journalists in Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga’s convoy highlighted the brutality of security forces on the third day of anti-government protests.

Anti-riot officers battered the journalists as their vehicle was trapped between a barricade erected by police and Mr Odinga’s convoy — which wasn’t spared either — with the Kenyan opposition leader of the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition alleging his car was shot at seven times.

Faced with the vicious attacks, the journalists, who were perched on the carrier of the black Toyota Land Cruiser, scampered for safety and, in the process, four were seriously injured.

A woman helps police officers with water
A woman offers police officers water to rinse their faces during opposition protests in Nairobi’s Mathare estate on March 30 ,2023. PHOTO | SILA KIPLAGAT | NMG

Six journalists injured

In total, six journalists were injured during Thursday’s protests in different parts of the country, victims of brutality by police and violent protesters. It brought to 22 the total number of journalists injured since the start of the demonstrations on Monday, March 20.

Read: Kenya protests: Envoys urge urgent solution

And even after the journalists and the driver of the vehicle had fled, a plainclothes policeman smashed the car’s windscreen, shoved a rifle through the cracks and fired inside several times.

In the aftermath, bloodied faces of victims of the attack, including local broadcaster NTV’s cameraman Eric Isinta told of the horror. Others injured at the scene in Nairobi were Mr Timon Abuna of Standard Media Group, Mr Mauritius Oduor of Royal Media Services and Mr George Oduor, an independent photojournalist. The journalists were rushed by colleagues to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Protesters run away from police officers as demonstrators block a highway in Nairobi on March 30, 2023 during a protest called by the opposition coalition Azimio la Umoja against the government and high food prices. PHOTO | YASUYOSHI CHIBA | AFP

Tear gas canisters

Mr Isinta said police lobbed three tear gas canisters directly at him with one getting into his clothes and another hitting his face.

“There were many tear gas canisters that were thrown as we were getting near the junction. I could not see where I was going. One tear gas canister hit me on the head and another one on my chest and into my clothes. I got it out before it could burn me but a third one hit my face and I was injured,” Mr Isinta said.

He sustained a serious injury on the right side of the face.

Read: How politicians planned Kenyatta farm attack

In Kisumu, a Citizen TV cameraman was critically injured while fleeing from rowdy protesters. Mr Dismas Nabiswa, who was covering the riot from a footbridge on the Kisumu-Nairobi highway, was injured after he missed a step and fell, breaking some of his ribs. He was rescued by boda boda (motorcycle taxi) operators who rushed him to the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital where he was treated before being transferred to Avenue Hospital.

Kenya’s opposition leader Raila Odinga addressing his supporters at Nairobi’s Pipeline Estate on March 30, 2023. PHOTO | DENNIS ONSONGO | NMG

Hostile hooligans, police

His phone, camera and a live video transmission gadget were damaged during the melee. Azimio leaders condemned the attack on the press.

Read: AU calls for calm, restraint in Kenya

“It is very unfortunate that in the whole of these skirmishes, the media is being targeted for attack. The other day and today, several journalists have been injured,” Mr Odinga said shortly after the incident.

In a similar incident on Monday, journalists covering the protests were attacked by hooligans and the police in different areas. Reporters covering the protests said they faced hostility from both the protesters and the police.

source

A barrage of tear gas canisters and a deluge from an armoured water cannon directed at journalists in Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga’s convoy highlighted the brutality of security forces […]

Continue reading "Outrage as Kenyan police attack journalists during protests" →
Vehicles recently acquired by the Uganda Police Force to be used in dealing with civil disobedience in the country and also help in their missions in Somalia. PHOTO | MONITOR

Uganda police carry out drills in anticipation of protests

Posted on News, Posts, Ugandaby civic_admin

Officers of the Uganda Police Force have performed anti-riot drills in anticipation of Kenya-like protests in urban areas due to the rising cost of living.

Police’s directorates held joint drills at a training facility in Kigo, Wakiso District on Monday where they displayed their capabilities to deal with terror attacks and protests at the same time.

The Deputy Inspector-General of Police Maj Gen Geoffrey Katsigazi personally witnessed the drills.

Police spokesperson Fred Enanga told Daily Monitor on Monday that several groups, including those from the opposition, are holding secret meetings with the intention of rallying their members to carry out street protests.

Read: Raila and Malema take supporters to streets

“Our joint security teams have got intelligence that groups are holding meetings to protest against the rising prices of commodities like it is the case in Kenya,” Mr Enanga said.

High cost of living

In several African countries, including Kenya, people are rising up to protest the high cost of living and democracy.

Similar uprisings due to food prices in 2011 led to the toppling of African leaders in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya. In Uganda, the protests — code-named Walk-to-Work — led by Mr Mathias Mpuuga, now the leader of the opposition in Parliament, and Dr Kizza Besigye, lasted for five years and left more than a dozen people killed and hundreds injured.

Read: Kenya’s chaos puts Uganda on edge

Mr Enanga said they will deal firmly with any uprising.

“There are many sections of the Public Order Management Act that are still in place, including notifying the inspector-general of police about the planned demonstrations. Organisers of demonstrations should follow the law,” he said.

At the Kigo drill, the joint police team re-enacted an incident that happened during the recent general elections where police arrested National Unity Platform leader Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine in Luuka District leading to protests in which security personnel killed 54 people and arrested hundreds of others.

Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson Patrick Onyango said the drill was intended to show how to handle incidents that evolve fast from the use of teargas to live bullets.

Read: Raila’s ‘mother of all demos’ acid test for Ruto

Since the November 2020 protests, the Ugandan government has invested billions of shillings in the procurement of equipment to deal with civil disobedience.

Police bought 65 trucks, including 15 riot control vehicles this month. Some of the trucks use laser beams to target protestors. The laser causes serious headaches.

source

Officers of the Uganda Police Force have performed anti-riot drills in anticipation of Kenya-like protests in urban areas due to the rising cost of living. Police’s directorates held joint drills […]

Continue reading "Uganda police carry out drills in anticipation of protests" →

South Sudan releases journalists held over viral Kiir video

Posted on East Africa, Kenya, Media, News, Posts, South Sudanby civic_admin

South Sudanese President Salva Kiir. Two journalists detained over a video reportedly showing him urinating on himself have been freed. PHOTO | PETER LOUIS | AFP

Two South Sudanese journalists detained over a video reportedly showing President Salva Kiir urinating on himself have been freed, a media lobby group said Wednesday as it demanded the release of two other colleagues.

Two of the seven journalists arrested in January remain in police custody over the video that went viral on social media in December, the Union of Journalists of South Sudan (UJOSS) said.

The journalists — staff at the state-run South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation — were arrested by agents from the National Security Service as part of an investigation into the source of the clip.

In the footage, Kiir, dressed in his trademark black hat and a grey outfit at what is described as a road commissioning ceremony, is seen with a damp patch on his left trouser leg.

“We are still calling on the government to release the two (journalists) who are still behind bars,” UJOSS president Patrick Oyet told AFP.

Probe dragged

Oyet urged the government to present the duo in court if they have broken any law, adding that the probe had dragged on for months. 

“The law says you should carry out investigations and produce somebody in the court within 24 hours.”

“If there is no case they should be released,” he said.

In January, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists called for the unconditional release of the journalists and for state authorities to “ensure that they can work without further intimidation or threat of arrest.” 

Arbitrary detention

The arrests match “a pattern of security personnel resorting to arbitrary detention whenever officials deem coverage unfavourable”, said CPJ’s sub-Saharan Africa representative, Muthoki Mumo.

Kiir, 71, oversaw the birth of South Sudan as an independent nation after it broke free from Sudan in July 2011.

But the world’s youngest country has lurched from crisis to crisis since then, enduring brutal conflict, political turmoil, natural disasters and hunger.

South Sudan ranks 128th out of 180 countries on the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) press freedom index.

According to the media watchdog, freedom of the press is “extremely precarious” in the landlocked nation, “where journalists work under constant threat and intimidation, and where censorship is ever-present.”

source

South Sudanese President Salva Kiir. Two journalists detained over a video reportedly showing him urinating on himself have been freed. PHOTO | PETER LOUIS | AFP Two South Sudanese journalists […]

Continue reading "South Sudan releases journalists held over viral Kiir video" →

CIVIC SPACE IN NUMBERS

Posted on Africa, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, East Africa, Kenya, Media, News, Posts, Rwanda, South Sudan, Stories, Tanzania, Tips, Ugandaby civic_admin

The CIVICUS Monitor measures enabling conditions for civil society or civic space. We provide ratings for civic space in 197 countries and territories (all UN member states and Hong Kong, Kosovo, Palestine, and Taiwan). At CIVICUS, we see civic space as the respect in policy and practice for the freedoms of assembly, association and expression which are underpinned by the state’s duty to protect civil society.

We view civic space as a set of universally-accepted rules, which allow people to organise, participate and communicate with each other freely and without hindrance, and in doing so, influence the political, economic and social structures around them.

CIVIC SPACE IN 2022

Today, only 3.1% of the world’s population lives in countries with Open civic space. 

For better accuracy and comparison over time, this year we added a decimal point to the percentages.

GLOBAL CIVIC SPACE RESTRICTIONS 

Over the past year, civil society across the world has faced a variety legal and extra-legal restrictions. Below we document the top ten violations captured in the CIVICUS Monitor.

Top 10 Violations to Civic Freedoms

COUNTRY RATINGS

The CIVICUS Monitor currently rates 39 countries and territories as Open, 41 rated as Narrowed, 42 rated as Obstructed, 50 rated as Repressed and 25 rated as Closed.

REGIONAL BREAKDOWNS

 OpenNarrowedObstructedRepressedClosed
Africa2413246
Americas 109952
Asia and Pacific8710114
Europe and Central Asia1921644
Middle East and North Africa00469
This page was last updated on 22 June 2022

source

The CIVICUS Monitor measures enabling conditions for civil society or civic space. We provide ratings for civic space in 197 countries and territories (all UN member states and Hong Kong, Kosovo, Palestine, and Taiwan). […]

Continue reading "CIVIC SPACE IN NUMBERS" →

Congolese Tutsis describe violent campaign to stop them voting

Posted on Democratic Republic of Congo, Newsby civic_admin

A group of Congolese Tutsis were guarded by armed police as they registered to vote in the eastern town of Nyangezi in February, with one of the groups describing a campaign of threats and violence aimed at excluding them from the upcoming election.

One newly registered voter at the enrolment centre had a bruised face and cradled her wrist after she was allegedly beaten with sticks and rocks by youths on her way to sign up.

“They were saying, ‘go home’,” said Philippe Ruhara, a local representative of the Tutsi ethnic group in South Kivu province known as the Banyamulenge.

“Look at how her arm is broken, her face injured,” he said on February 25, gesturing towards the woman who asked not to be named or quoted.

Anonymous leaflets

He said members of his community had received anonymous leaflets warning them not to vote — part of a hostile campaign that has also seen groups of young men gather at registration centres to deter would-be Tutsi voters.

Elsewhere, in the courtyard of a school in the provincial capital Bukavu, a group of young men shouted and jeered as they scuffled with a Tutsi man who had come to register to vote on February 24, according to a Reuters witness.

The state representative in Nyangezi, Papy Migabo, said on Sunday local authorities and the police had intervened after such incidents were reported in February. Since then “enrolment is going well and we hope that it will continue like this,” he told Reuters.

The Tutsi minority has long faced discrimination in the Democratic Republic of Congo due to their ethnic link to Rwanda’s Tutsi community.

M23 rebel group

Congo accuses Rwanda of seeking to destabilise its eastern territories — most recently by supporting an offensive by the M23 rebel group that has displaced hundreds of thousands of people. Rwanda denies supporting the armed group.

The offensive has fuelled internal tensions as Congo gears up for presidential and parliamentary elections in December. The United Nations has expressed concern about the spread of hate speech in the run-up to the vote, particularly towards the Banyamulenge.

On February 27, President Felix Tshisekedi addressed the issue in a speech to the UN Human Rights Council.

“The Congolese government stands firm against any individual or group of individuals who would engage in such a speech and reiterates its request to every person, organisation or external partner to denounce it.”

There is no data on how many Banyamulenge have been prevented or deterred from registering to vote since enrolment kicked off in South Kivu on February 16.

Cases of intimidation

Enock Sebineza, a prominent community elder and former deputy minister, told Reuters he was aware of numerous cases of intimidation in South Kivu and elsewhere, including in the eastern city of Goma and the capital Kinshasa.

“Today, unfortunately, hate speech based on how you look is excluding us from the country and we are excluded from the electoral process,” he said.

Everyone with the appropriate voter card has the right to register to vote, said Godens Maheshe, head of the election commission in South Kivu province.

“Citizens must respect the law,” he told Reuters.

Source

A group of Congolese Tutsis were guarded by armed police as they registered to vote in the eastern town of Nyangezi in February, with one of the groups describing a […]

Continue reading "Congolese Tutsis describe violent campaign to stop them voting" →

EU to inject $574m in women-led businesses in Tanzania

Posted on Business, News, Tanzaniaby civic_admin

The European Union, through the Europe Investment Bank, has entered into an investment deal with Tanzania that will unlock over $574.4 million worth new business investments in women-led businesses and the blue economy agenda.

The investment is meant to facilitate businesses and projects in different areas including electricity, clean energy, regional airports, Dar es Salaam port, clean water around Lake Victoria and the blue economy agenda in Zanzibar.

This was revealed by the bank’s Vice President Thomas Östro during the opening ceremony of the Tanzania-EU Business Forum on Thursday in Dar es Salaam.

“After a seven-year gap, it is great to be back in Tanzania. These new investments are specifically targeted to support the blue economy and dedicated to finance women-led businesses and entrepreneurs. My colleagues and I are also looking forward to discuss further investment and business opportunities in Tanzania,” he said.

Tanzania also used the platform to market its potential investment areas of agriculture, tourism, the energy sector, manufacturing, logistics and technology to European businesses in a joint business forum with the EU.

“Tanzania is a de facto gateway to and from landlocked countries, making it a strategic investment hub. We welcome investors in our potential investment areas including agriculture, tourism, logistics and energy sector including oil and gas exploration in Zanzibar, different power sources such as wind and water. ICT is also another area posing potential investment for the EU,” noted Tanzania’s Vice President Phillip Isdor Mpango.

The EU-Tanzanian Business Forum brought together high-level dignitaries and businesses from across the host country and various European countries. The forum was jointly organised by the European Union in Tanzania, together with the government of Tanzania, in cooperation with the EU member states and the Tanzanian private sector.

“Tanzania values very highly the good and cooperative relations we have had with the European Union since the 1970s and the support we have been getting from EU to complement our development efforts,” said Dr Mpango.

Data shows that Tanzania has so far received support and investment from the EU to a tune of more than $1 billion.

“But special mention goes to the vaccine support we received from EU which was much needed,” added Dr Mpango

Tanzania signed three investment deals with European Union institutions including an MoU on air service agreement between France and the Tanzania Civil Aviation Agency.

The air service agreement will allow the airlines of both countries to increase the number of flights between them.

Air France will benefit from it as it plans to increase the number of flights to Tanzania with the incoming inauguration of a direct flight between Dar es Salaam and Paris in June 2023.

source

The European Union, through the Europe Investment Bank, has entered into an investment deal with Tanzania that will unlock over $574.4 million worth new business investments in women-led businesses and […]

Continue reading "EU to inject $574m in women-led businesses in Tanzania" →
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