Kenyan journalists and bloggers have scored a legal victory in their fight against a new cyber law that they say erodes freedom of speech and endangers millions of Kenyans who express themselves online.

Justice Chacha Mwita, a high court judge, on Tuesday suspended 26 sections of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act, which President Uhuru Kenyatta signed into law earlier this month.

Kenyatta said the law would protect Kenyans and ensure the security and safety of the country’s vast communications network.

But critics argued that it violated Kenya’s Constitution and infringed on freedom of expression, along with the rights to privacy and property.

Petition

In its petition to the High Court of Kenya on Tuesday, the Bloggers Association of Kenya (BAKE), an alliance of digital content creators chaired by Kennedy Kachwanya, said that the act would “deny, violate, infringe and threaten various rights and fundamental freedoms in the Bill of Rights in a manner that is not justified under Article 24.”

Article 24 states that freedoms cannot be limited unless doing so is “reasonable and justifiable in an open and democratic society.”

BAKE argued that much of the act was “vague” and “overbroad,” with key terms such as “publish” lacking definitions.

Article 19 Eastern Africa and the Kenya Union of Journalists were listed as interested parties on the petition.

Erick Odur, the union’s secretary general, tweeted that “Section 12 of the Act takes away media freedom as required by Article 34 of the Constitution and seeks to reintroduce criminal libel by imposing heavy fines” when Kenyatta signed the act into law.

Expanded offenses

The act, signed into law May 16, lists 33 offenses, including 15 that were added after the bill’s introduction to the National Assembly last June. Most of the additions are among the suspended sections.

Phishing, cyberterrorism, identity theft and cybersquatting, or appropriating another’s name, were among the offenses listed in the expanded law.

Most of the offenses carry penalties that include millions of shillings in fines, multiple years in prison or both.

“I am satisfied that the issues raised affect the Constitution and fundamental rights and freedoms. I, therefore, grant the conservatory orders sought,” the bloggers association quoted Mwita as saying.

Accountability

Supporters of the law believe it is needed to contain the spread of misinformation on the internet.

Bitange Ndemo was Kenya’s minister of information and communication from 2005 to 2013. He said the spread of misinformation showed that media in Kenya needed more accountability.

“It’s very dangerous because there is no verification mechanism. You can easily confuse people with what you call fake media or fake news,” Ndemo told VOA by phone.

He said Kenyan media “hasn’t woken up to” the necessity of verifying facts. “That is the downside of developing countries when it comes to fake news.”

The suspension covers more than half of the criminal offenses listed in the law, but the matter is far from resolved legally. With some portions of the law now in effect, the case will resume July 18.
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Islamic State is spreading its influence to other regions, including Africa’s Sahel, and experts are warning that countries in the region should take measures to keep the militant groups from regrouping in these areas.

Having lost most of the territory it once controlled in Iraq and Syria, the terror group’s fighters are reportedly establishing ties with local militant organizations.

“A key strength of these extremist organizations has been their ability to move with ease across national borders within the Sahel, allowing them to regroup after setbacks, and to replenish their ranks with inflows of fighters, weaponry and resources,” Jennifer G. Cooke of George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs told VOA.

Officials in the Sahel region have also voiced concerns over growing militancy and warned that the militant groups are not only destabilizing the region, but also pose a threat to the security of other countries.

“Most of these terrorists are leaving these places to come to the Sahel, to harbor there and to organize attacks against everybody.” Abdoulaye Diop, Mali’s foreign minister, said during a discussion at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) late last year.

Michael Shurkin, a senior political scientist with the Rand Corporation, shares Diop’s concerns.

“There is legitimate concern that if allowed to, the extremist groups will make themselves into a direct threat to the U.S. and its friends by turning the region into a new Afghanistan, where the Taliban gave al-Qaida the freedom to organize the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.”

G5 Sahel

In order to crack down on militant groups in the region, five countries including Niger, Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso and Mauritania established a joint force known as the G5, which is a 5,000-person military and police force, tasked with carrying out counterterrorism operations along the common border regions of all five countries.

However, the G5 Sahel is not yet fully operational due to funding and logistical issues.

On Tuesday, while on a visit to Mali, the country most affected by terrorism among the G5, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to donors to provide more sustainable support to the G5 Sahel force.

“The international community must understand the need to provide the G5 Sahel countries with predictable support,” Guterres said.

In February, various countries pledged $509 million to G5, just shy of the group’s initial budget of $529 million, but the contributions have not been made yet.

Some analysts, like George Washington University’s Cooke, warn that the G5 must pull its act together to ensure that international partners do no lose interest.

“The force has won initial support from European partners, the United States, Saudi Arabia and others, all of whom have been convinced of the need for a greater regional security cooperation,” Cooke said. “If operationalization of the joint force becomes bogged down in disagreements or delays, international partners will very likely lose interest.” 

Military option

Some experts charge that the military option is not the only answer to the problem of extremism in the region.

“Equally important, however, will be to use U.S. diplomatic and development leverage to press governments of the region to think beyond the military and address not just the symptoms, but the drivers of violence and insecurity as well,” Cooke said.

The Rand Corporation’s Michael Shurkin agrees with Cooke’s assessment.

“The answer is some combination of longer-term economic and political development paired with steady progress on the part of the member nations’ security force,” Shurkin said. “It’s about opportunities as well as about integrating marginalized populations.”

U.S. role

A U.S military spokesperson told VOA that they are coordinating with G5 on the ground.

Samantha Reho, spokesperson for the U.S. Africa Command, said that last month, several military officers from G5 Force participated in the annual Flintlock Exercise, organized by the U.S. Special Forces Command in cooperation with nations across the Sahel. Flintlock is designed to foster regional cooperation to stabilize regions of North and West Africa, and reduce the presence of violent extremist organizations.

Reho added that the G5 Force is a new initiative and that there is no determination yet as to how the U.S. will support it.

“But what I can tell you is that any direct support we provide will be [in] conjunction and in coordination with those respective host nations and other U.N. and international partners, mainly France’s 4,000 troops, who have had a long-standing military presence in the region,” said Reho.

Shurkin of the Rand Corporation believes that working with the French in the Sahel will be a good idea.

“The U.S. can help the G5 force be more effective, working in tandem with the French, not in isolation from the French,” he said.
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One day before the United Nations Security Council votes on proposed U.S. sanctions against six South Sudanese officials accused of obstructing the peace process, President Salva Kiir left his nation’s capital, Juba, for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He is seeking Ethiopian support to stop the U.S.-drafted sanctions.

Presidential spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny says Kiir will ask Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali to use his position as head of the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development, or IGAD, to block the proposed sanctions. IGAD sponsored a series of failed peace talks between the government and rebel groups aimed at revitalizing a peace agreement signed in 2015.

Ateny told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus program that President Kiir will assure Prime Minister Ahmed that the Kiir government is committed to restoring peace in South Sudan. He says Kiir will argue that U.N. sanctions could hinder efforts to restore peace. South Sudan’s defense minister, Kuol Manyang Juk, would be among the six officials blacklisted if the measure passes.

“The gap is always widened by the fact that each time the peace process is about to start, the United States of America issues standing orders in regard to sanctioning individuals within the government. So that one is translated by the rebels to be of their advantage and they become more intransigent,” Ateny told South Sudan in Focus.

Ethiopia is currently one of three African non-permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. Members are expected to vote on the proposed sanctions Thursday in New York. All council members must vote in favor of the resolution for it to pass.

Juba-based political analyst James Okuk, a professor of politics at the University of Juba, says Kiir probably wants Ethiopia to persuade other council members to vote against the U.S. proposal.

“Maybe this time, Kiir wants to lobby so that Ethiopia doesn’t vote in favor of the sanctions, and it might also use its influence as an African country to convince others not to vote so that they don’t get the nine votes needed in the U.N. Security Council,” Okuk told South Sudan in Focus.

Okuk said Kiir’s lobbying efforts will only succeed if he assures the Ethiopian leader that he will make concessions on the contentious issues which prevented the warring parties from reaching a peace deal during the last round of talks earlier this month in Addis Ababa.

“He has to let go some of those positions and give in to the opposition and if he does that, [it] means those who will go home will not be happy and that is the tough time he is in now. But if he doesn’t make those concessions, it means there will be no peace in the country,” Okuk said.

He said it is now up to the president to make concessions that will appease the opposition parties so peace can be achieved in South Sudan. And Okuk warns that if Kiir does not offer serious concessions, South Sudanese leaders could face more sanctions in the near future.

South Sudan’s conflict began in 2013 as a power struggle between Kiir and his former deputy, Riek Machar. The war has driven more than 4 million South Sudanese from their homes and caused a humanitarian crisis that has left some 7 million people in need of aid. South Sudan won independence from Sudan in 2011 and is the world’s youngest country.
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