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Arrest of 520 opposition members and supporters in Tanzania
On Tuesday, several arrested leaders of Tanzania’s largest opposition party, Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (CHADEMA), were released on bail. Among them were the prominent CHADEMA politician and former presidential candidate Tundu Lissu and the party chairman Freeman Mbowe. This was preceded by a wave of arrests of around 520 party members and supporters following a planned meeting of the party’s youth organisation in the south-western town of Mbeya. On the occasion of World Youth Day on Monday, the party had called for a rally under the motto ‘Take charge of your future’, which according to the party was expected to attract around 10,000 participants. However, the police had banned the gathering in advance on the grounds that it would disturb the peace in the country. The police commissioner for operations and training, Awadh J. Haji, accused CHADEMA and its youth organisation of not wanting to celebrate World Youth Day with the gathering as announced, but to organise anti-government protests of the kind recently seen in Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda.
The opposition and human rights organisations such as Amnesty International have criticised the police’s actions. Tanzania is currently preparing for the local elections at the end of the year and the parliamentary and presidential elections in 2025, and the latest wave of arrests is part of the government’s efforts to further intimidate the opposition, according to Sarah Jackson, Deputy Regional Director of Amnesty International.
The arrest of 520 high-ranking CHADEMA party officials and supporters has also fuelled criticism of President Samia Suluhu Hassan. The former vice president took over the presidency in 2021 following the sudden death of President John Magufuli and has since pushed ahead with opening up the country. Among other things, she lifted the ban on political parties holding rallies and conducting domestic political activities in January last year. She also re-authorised previously banned media and announced her intention to restore party-political competition in the country. However, this week’s crackdown by the security forces and reports of the suppression of protests against a port management deal, the violent expulsion of Maasai communities from their land, the closure of media outlets and the arrest of journalists are now raising doubts about Hassan’s opening course. Critics also accuse her of delaying the necessary reform of the constitution, which currently grants the executive far-reaching powers and dates back to the time when Tanzania was a one-party state.
Egypt and Somalia sign defense pact
On Wednesday, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and his Somali counterpart Hassan Sheikh Mohamud signed a defense agreement in the Egyptian capital Cairo. The agreement, which also aims to improve the exchange of information and expertise, is an important sign of the joint fight against international terrorism, Mohamud said at a joint press conference afterwards. Meanwhile, Al-Sisi reiterated that Egypt continues to support Somalia’s unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity and rejects any interference in its internal affairs. In addition, Cairo offered to provide troops to the new African Union (AU) peacekeeping mission African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM), which is due to replace the current African Transitional Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) in January 2025, if Somalia wishes.
The two foreign ministers Ahmed Moalim Fiqi (Somalia) and Badr Abdelatty (Egypt) also held talks on joint projects in Cairo on Tuesday. For example, Somali diplomats are to be trained in Egypt and cooperation in the education sector is to be strengthened through exchange programs. The Egyptian embassy in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu was also officially inaugurated on Tuesday. The opening of the embassy should help to further boost trade and economic relations between the two countries, after the value of Egyptian exports to Somalia rose by 27.7% to 54 million US-dollar in 2023 compared to the previous year. Somalia in turn exported goods worth 2.2 million US-dollar to Egypt. The launch of a direct flight connection between Cairo and Mogadishu by Egyptair last month and the establishment of the Egyptian bank Banque Misr in Somalia are also expected to further improve economic cooperation.
The signing of the protocol on military cooperation and Egypt’s reaffirmation of its support for Somalia’s sovereignty comes just one day after the second round of talks under Turkish mediation between Ethiopia and Somalia ended without final results in Ankara. Relations between Ethiopia and its neighbor Somalia have been strained since the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Ethiopia and Somaliland, a de facto autonomous region of Somalia with separatist ambitions. According to the agreement, Somaliland would grant the landlocked state of Ethiopia access to the Red Sea and cede 20 km of the Somali coast for the construction of a naval base. In return, Ethiopia held out the prospect of recognising Somaliland’s independence (Press Review CW 2/2024). Numerous states have strongly criticised Ethiopia’s move, including Egypt, which sees its military supremacy in the Red Sea and its maritime trade threatened. With the recently signed defense pact with Somalia, Egypt is responding to its rivalry with Ethiopia over influence in Africa. At the same time, according to analysts, the North African country wants to secure the support of other African states in the dispute over the Grand Renaissance Dam (GERD) with the agreement. The mega dam, which was built in Ethiopia on the Blue Nile, is seen by Egypt as an existential threat to its water resources and has contributed to an enormous deterioration in Egyptian-Ethiopian relations in recent years. With the recently signed defense pact with Somalia, Egypt is responding to its rivalry with Ethiopia over influence in Africa.
In other news
The Summer Olympics in Paris came to an end on Sunday. The African teams won a total of 38 medals. The most successful African nation is Kenya with eleven medals, followed by Algeria, which won only three medals in total, but one more gold medal than South Africa (six medals in total). Ethiopia, Egypt and Tunisia won a total of three medals each, Botswana, Uganda and Morocco two and Cabo Verde and Zambia one medal each. On the very first day at the Stade de France, South Africa secured the bronze medal in 7-a-side rugby and thus the first African medal. Ahmed Elgendy from Egypt won his Olympic team’s first gold medal in the modern pentathlon, Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi from Tunisia made history as the first taekwondo gold medallist and Kaylia Nemour from Algeria became Olympic champion on the uneven bars. She is the first Algerian and African gymnast ever to win an Olympic medal. Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo secured the first gold medal for his home country with his victory in the men’s 200 meter sprint and was also the first African athlete to win gold in this discipline. Parallel to these successes, several athletes born and raised in Africa won gold for other countries.