Africans Warned Against Working as Mercenaries

The Tanzanian government has warned citizens against working as mercenaries and fighting for foreign armies, saying the act contravenes the law of the country.

Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation Minister Stergomena Tax issued the warning after the death of a 33-year-old Tanzanian student, Nemes Tarimo. He was killed in the battlefields of Donbas while apparently fighting for Wagner group, a Russian privately owned military company. 

In November 2022, the Zambian ministry of information and media spokesperson Thabo Kawana confirmed that the ministry of foreign affairs was spearheading efforts to bring the body of Lemekhani Nathan Nyirenda back to Zambia for burial. Nyirenda, a 23-year-old Zambian, died while fighting for the Russian military in Ukraine. Nyirenda was killed on the front lines in September, but Russian authorities had only just informed Zambia of the death.

Boniface Cheembe, a human rights defender and executive director of the Southern African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes said Nyirenda's basic human rights were violated by Russia. His family and the Zambian government questioned how he was recruited into the army while serving a nine-year prison sentence in Russia.

InFocus

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