Following Tanzania’s elections, the United States announced a comprehensive review of its relationship with the country—a move just days before planned demonstrations and, ironically, ahead of Tanzania’s Independence Day—that has raised eyebrows and serious questions. In response, Dr. Godwill G. Wanga, Executive Secretary of the Tanzania National Business Council, emphasized that any review must be based on official facts and direct engagement with Tanzanian authorities.
“Tanzania is a sovereign country and, as our president said, would not be influenced in terms of its internal affairs. It will not allow any other country to have influence in its internal affairs because Tanzania has never interfered in any internal affair [...] so since we have never interfered in any affair of Western countries like the US, we also expect similar treatment [....] The international pressures are not really good for the stability, for the political stability and even economic stability, and the social development stability. They are not good, and therefore they are not acceptable. And that's why Tanzania as a country adopted the non-aligned status, non-aligned stance. In all aspects, be it social, economic, or political. So we don't expect other countries also to intervene or interfere in our internal affairs,” Wanga noted.
Similarly, Said Bakkali, a member of the Political Bureau for International Relations from Morocco, framed the US review not as routine diplomacy but as a propaganda weapon. He connects this move to a broader trend, noting that African countries must learn to engage other countries with mutual respect and the unwavering priority of their own people’s development.
“This is a very clear intervention in the internal affairs of a sovereign country and government. The United States, by this announcement, has guided a kind of disturbance inside Tanzania. For this reason, I think that this report of the US Department of State is a weapon, a diplomatic weapon, a propaganda weapon in order to destabilize the situation in Tanzania and in order to discredit the current governments [...] the African states have to maintain their sovereignty and to be aware of all kinds of external pressure that may put its sovereignty and stability in jeopardy,” Bakkali asserted.
Meanwhile, in Kenya, a parliamentary committee has exposed decades of alleged abuses by British troops stationed in the country. James Mwangi, founder of the African Center for Corrective and Preventive Action, testified to environmental devastation and human right violations, including sexual abuse and a lack of accountability for crimes committed by foreign soldiers.
“The move by the parliament to oversight the training activities by the British Army is a major breakthrough, especially knowing that we have so many military bases scattered across the African continent. It's a wake-up call that other African parliaments should take initiative and oversight. Most of these bases that have gone have been conducting their training with the utmost disrespect for African culture, the African environment, and everything. The impunity that we've seen here in Kenya from the British Army for the past 60 years was quite appalling,” Mwangi explained.
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