26/05/2026
[ IN THIS WEEK'S IBA LEGALBRIEF AFRICA ]
Senegal is facing a deepening political crisis after President Bassirou Diomaye Faye dismissed his Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, fuelling internal tensions and fears of unrest amid a ballooning debt problem. Faye sacked Sonko and dissolved the national government after months of tensions between the two men. Sonko's dismissal followed a parliamentary session last Tuesday, during which the Prime Minister openly criticised Faye for his approach to the debt crisis. Faye was in the unusual situation of owing his position, in large part, to his Prime Minister's popularity.
In Kenya, the High Court has issued a landmark ruling declaring that the blanket criminalisation of consensual s*x between minors is unconstitutional, in a decision expected to significantly impact the enforcement of the Sexual Offences Act. In a constitutional petition judgment, Justice Bahati Mwamuye held that applying Sections 8, 9, 11 and 43 of the Sexual Offences Act to adolescents engaging in consensual, non-coercive and non-exploitative s*xual relations violates the Constitution. The judge ruled that children deserve protection and guidance rather than punishment in cases involving consensual adolescent relationships that do not involve coercion or exploitation.
And the US has sanctioned a senior Tanzanian police official over allegations linked to the ‘torture and s*xual assault’ of East African rights activists Boniface Mwangi and Agather Atuhaire last year. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the State Department had designated Faustine Mafwele based on ‘credible information that he was involved in gross violations of human rights’. The sanctions come amid growing scrutiny of Tanzania's human rights record, with US lawmakers calling for tougher action. The two activists had travelled to Tanzania to observe the trial of opposition leader Tundu Lissu last May when they were detained and later released, with Kenyan Mwangi saying he was held for several days alongside Uganda's Atuhaire. Mwangi alleged that he was stripped naked, hung upside down, beaten on his feet and s*xually assaulted in detention, while Atuhaire also said she was r***d during her detention in Tanzania. Tanzanian police at the time dismissed the torture allegations, describing the activists' accounts as ‘opinions’ and ‘hearsay’.
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