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Opposition MP, environmentalist released

    NAIROBI

    The police in Kenya have released a prominent opposition member of parliament, James Orengo, and environmentalist Wangari Mathaai of the Greenbelt Movement, who were arrested on Saturday, the BBC reported. The two (along with other members of the Greenbelt Movement) were detained in connection with a tree-planting ceremony in Uhuru Park in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, to mark the eleventh anniversary of ‘Saba Saba’ on 7 July 1990, when police killed at least 17 people demonstrating in favour of multiparty politics. Orengo and Mathaai had been due to address an opposition rally in Kamukunji grounds (where the multiparty campaign was launched in 1990) but which riot police prevented from taking place. The meeting had been given the go-ahead by [Internal Security] Minister of State in the Office of the President, Marsden Madoka, and the police had not explained why they prevented it taking place, Kenya Television Network (KTN) reported.

    Every year since ‘Saba Saba’, opponents of President Daniel arap Moi and his ruling Kenya African National Union (KANU) have tried to gather at Kamakunji to mark the day, and every year police have prevented them from doing so, the Associated Press agency (AP) reported at the weekend.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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