Tanzania: Exploring America’s and EU’s Double Standards on Human Rights in Africa
By SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT – FOR Heaven’s sake, does the United States of America command any moral authority to point an accusing finger at other countries when it comes to human rights? This is a million dollar question that continues to boggle the minds of level headed people.
Time and time again the successive governments of the US have acted as ‘the world police’, imposing on other countries what they describe as human rights and democracy and yet what they have been doing in other countries such as Iraq, Libya, Syria, among others, tells a different story.
Meddling on affairs of other countries in the name of protecting human rights and democracy has been the order of the day of the US government. If there were people living in other planets out there and just land on Earth for a visit they would think the US is some sort of an ‘Angel.’
Just recently, the US Embassy in Tanzania issued yet press statement blaming what it termed as “abuse of human rights, arbitrary arrests, discrimination of ‘special groups’ (read homosexuals) and intimidation of human rights activists and journalists.”
In general, the statement accuses the government of using legal channels and state organs to clamp down on democracy, freedom of speech and assembling, among others. The list goes on and on, blaming the government of Tanzania for no good reason and with no explicit evidence. Bad enough few other countries seems to play the same old US tune.
This is not the first time, in August; the US embassy issued another statement claiming that the by-election in Buyungu constituency marred with violence and irregularities. The EU also followed suit. You wonder despite some isolated incidences, what really is troubling these countries? Is it personal interests? Economic interests?
I will give my scent. The motive behind the statements is now obvious: discrediting every progress being made by the government to bring about socio-economic development to the people of Tanzania. They would want to see a poor Tanzania always at their doors begging for aid.
Funny as it is, when state organs pounced on perpetrators behind the killings of priests and attacks on tourists in Zanzibar or the armed bandits that terrorized residents in Kibiti, Rufiji and Mkuranga in Coast Region, the Americans and their fellow EU diplomats never issued any congratulatory message.
It is apparent that the Americans and now infecting it to some other countries are not happy that Tanzania and many other African countries are making headways in economic growth and strengthening their intelligence aptitudes and hence clipping the US interference and dominance of affairs in the continent.
They have been using all sorts of dirty tricks, formal and informal intelligence agencies to intimidate and impose on other countries what they want to be accomplished for their interests and those of their allies.
For starters, you will find surprising comments in both EU and US statements against Tanzania when they mention press freedom. It is clear the ordeal of the two New York based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) journalists who were blocked from operating in Tanzania, is disturbing the US in particular. Why? Circumstantial evidence suggests that the CPJ is a de-facto “ally” of US’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) which has been working behind the doors on pretext of protecting journalists. For a detailed discussion on CIA and journalists read: https://cpj.org/attacks96/
CPJ has been using its reporters to spy on countries worldwide under a cover of working as journalists. This was proved just lately in Tanzania when two of its ‘agents’ sneaked into the country for a mission which was beyond journalistic work.
The two ‘media activists’ Angela Quintal and Muthoki Mumo who were apprehended by authorities last week are said to be undercover agents of CIA but they use CPJ as a cover. They entered the country with a holiday visa but they were instead engaging in other activities including meeting politicians and local media activists.
As a matter of fact, while the so called CPJ Coordinator in Africa, Angela Quintal, said to be a South African, spends most of her time in the US. This could be no problem, but why did they hide their true reasons for coming to Tanzania. Why did they pose as “holiday visitors?” Many foreign journalist are based in Tanzania and have accreditation, all are not bothered, why Angela and her friend had to conceal their true identity adds up to what I believed above.
Even South African Minister for International Relations and Co-operation, Lindiwe Sisulu, seemingly surprised the cover up condemned the sneaking of the two journalists, urging members of the press to adhere to visa requirements of host countries. Every country in the world has conditions to which must be adhered to by foreign journalists and Tanzania is not an exception.
Even in the US, the Department of State-Bureau of Consular Affairs requires foreign media practitioners to obtain non-immigrant (JI visa) for temporary stay or an immigrant visa for permanent visa to work as a journalist.
“Activities in the United States must be informational in nature and generally associated with the news gathering process and reporting current events,” reads part of visa requirements on the Department’s website citing activities that imposes a media visa requirements.
Similarly in Tanzania, the Media Services Act of 2016 stipulates that; “A journalist who is not a citizen of the United Republic of Tanzania or is not regarded as a permanent resident by virtue of immigration laws may be accredited for a specified purpose for a period of not exceeding ninety days.”
And, even as many countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) offer visas on arrivals, media practitioners need to understand specific requirements for each country ahead of their travels and upon arrivals.
“Visitors’ visas may also have limitations on what activities can be conducted in the respective countries with regard to work and employment even on short term basis such as during the SADC Summit,” a statement from the 15-member grouping says on its website.
While purporting to be defender of freedom of expression, the US is no stranger when it comes to intimidating journalists. The recent revocation of press credentials by the White House against CNN journalist Jim Acosta is a clear testimony. Acosta and CNN have now sued the President, his aides and the Secret Services for violating his human rights. Yet, you have a Tanzanian bracing the US for condemning human rights in Tanzania!
Not only that, numerous journalists have been murdered or killed in the US while covering military conflicts, or because of their status as a journalist in many other areas.
At least 39 of these have been directly targeted as a result of their journalistic investigations. The most recent journalists killed in the US were four reporters for The Capital in Annapolis, Maryland, who were killed on June 28, 2018 in a mass shooting at the newspaper’s office.
The most dangerous sector of the US media after 1980 has been the race and ethnic press. Reports indicate that ten journalists serving the Vietnamese, Haitian and Chinese immigrant communities were killed in political assassinations between 1980 and 1993.
And while the US has been making a lot of ‘noise’ on human rights and democracy, it has remained tight-lipped on the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.
This is because Saudi Arabia is a close ally of the US. Members of Congress have been pressing for sanctions against Saudi Arabia which attributed the killing of the journalist to rogue agents and this was after initially denying it.
Had the murder been orchestrated by developing countries like Tanzania; the hell would have broken loose but for Saudis it is different, not statement on human rights violation or anything.
To add more salt in the wound, many of us still remember that the US invaded Iraq in 2003 on pretext that the Saddam Hussein’s government had Weapons of Mass Destruction but it was clear evident that no such weapons existed and it ended as a nightmare after no one could show a single weapon.
Through what they dubbed; “Operation Iraqi Freedom,” the American invaded Iraq without the resolution of the United Nations’ Security Council and caused untold sufferings to the people of Iraq and this continues to date.
On September 16, 2004, the then Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr Kofi Annan (now deceased), speaking on the invasion, said, “I have indicated it was not in conformity with the UN Charter. From our point of view, from the charter point of view, it was illegal.”
It is clear that the move by the US embassy amounts to blatant meddling of Tanzania’s independence and internal affairs which are protected through Article 3 (1) of the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania of 1977.
The reckless statement as well tantamount into interfering in Tanzania’s independence, inciting violence and eventually disturbing peace, harmony and unity which the country has enjoyed for years since independence.
*The Author is A Political Scientist based in Sandton, South Africa.
