The Tanzanian government had planned to lease the 1,500 square kilometers of Maasai ancestral land to Otterlo Business Corporation, which a group of Dubai royal families own, according to petitioners. But after evictions in 2009, 2013 and 2017, the Maasai sought legal recourse, reports Charles Wachira.
Rwanda’s economic and social accomplishments—while impressive—mask the underbelly of one of the world’s cruelest states. But Western powers remain silent on human-rights abuses as they reap profits.
Three months after Yoweri Museveni was re-elected president of Uganda for a sixth term, citizens of this strategic East African state are trying to come to terms with the dismal likelihood that he will never be unseated in free and fair elections. Ever since 1986, when he came to power in the country’s first plural elections, this African strongman has enjoyed the continued and tacit support of successive US administrations. The fact that Uganda discovered oil in 2006 has also enhanced his value as a close ally to the West in a turbulent neighborhood. Today, Uganda is described as having the fourth largest onshore oil reserves in sub-Sahara Africa.
A popular Rwandan musician was found dead in a jail cell, in a country where danger lurks for opponents of the president.
A capital punishment law was shelved, but Uganda is still fraught with discriminatory acts directed at LGBTQI+ people.
The Kenyan government claims that since July of this year, approximately 2,200 households have been evicted from the Mau Forest
Copyright Toward Freedom 2019