Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | President Yoweri Museveni has joined world leaders in mourning Tanzania’s third President Benjamin Mkapa who passed away this week. Museveni hailed Mkapa for his role in bringing unity in Uganda and East Africa, saying his death “is a great loss for Africa.” He announced …
Read More »Tanzania’s Benjamin Mkapa dies at 81
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania | THE INDEPENDENT | Former Tanzanian President Benjamin William Mkapa, 81, has died at a Dar Es Salaam hospital. President John Magufuli announced the death of Tanzania’s third president Mkapa last night. Mkapa was Tanzania’s president from 1995-2005. One of the first world leaders to send a condolence …
Read More »Tanzanian Presidents celebrate Mkapa 81st birthday, launch memoir
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania | THE INDEPENDENT | Retired President Benjamin William Mkapa was joined by the current and two other former Tanzania Presidents as he launched his book “My Life, My Purpose” in Dar on Tuesday. In the memoir launched by President John Magufuli at the Uongozi (Leadership) Institute, Mkapa …
Read More »Tanzanian newspaper suspended for pointing finger at ex-presidents
Tanzanian newspaper suspended for pointing finger at Mkapa, Kikwete Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Tanzanian weekly, Mawio, has been ordered to suspend publication for two years after pointing the finger at two former presidents in connection with huge revenue losses, the country’s interior ministry said Friday. The weekly, regularly critical of …
Read More »Mediator seeks heads of state summit on Burundi crisis
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | The mediator in Burundi’s nearly two-year political crisis on Sunday asked regional leaders to call an urgent summit as deep discord and a government boycott hamper peace talks. Former Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapa wrapped up four days of talks with some 30 Burundian representatives who …
Read More »Burundi govt again refuses crisis talks with opposition
Mediator Benjamin Mkapa and Burundi’s foreign minister Nyamwite at previous talks.Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Burundi’s government affirmed Tuesday it will shun peace talks with opposition figures planned for later this week in Tanzania, dragging out a political crisis that has stretched for over a year. The talks are intended …
Read More »Burundi peace bid stumbles as opposition slams mediator
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | The latest effort to end Burundi’s dragging political crisis ran into trouble Friday as the opposition accused the mediator of siding with government by accepting it as “legitimate”. Former Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapa has failed to get peace talks off the ground since he was …
Read More »Mkapa flies to Brussels in fresh bid to end Burundi strife
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | A former Tanzanian president mediating talks to end Burundi’s deadly crisis will meet the opposition this weekend in a bid to end the deadlock, diplomatic and opposition sources said Tuesday. Benjamin Mkapa is to hold talks in Brussels with members of CNARED, which groups almost …
Read More »Burundi crisis talks delayed again
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Long-stalled peace talks that many hope will solve a year-long crisis in Burundi have been delayed again, the opposition said Friday. Hundreds have been killed and a quarter of a million people have fled Burundi since President Pierre Nkurunziza’s controversial decision last April to run …
Read More »Burundi govt won’t join crisis talks unless consulted
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Burundi’s government on Wednesday refused to participate in stalled talks to end months of political crisis unless it was first consulted on who else was taking part. As Washington urged the authorities to defuse a year-long crisis, a presidential statement, broadcast on national radio and …
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