Kenya: stranded Tanzanian truck drivers suffered inhuman treatment

A Tanzanian truck driver who has been waiting for 5 days to enter Kenya, in Namanga, in the north of Tanzania, on May 5, 2020. Filbert RWEYEMAMU / AFP

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Kenya and Tanzania calm the game. The two neighbors were in cold water following Nairobi's decision to close its southern border after having tested positive for Covid-19 several hundred Tanzanian truck drivers. Decision which had set fire to the powder and pushed the government of Dodoma to prohibit any Kenyan truck on its territory. Finally, an agreement was reached with new measures to protect the stigmatized Tanzanian drivers.

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With our correspondent in Nairobi, Charlotte Simonart

Freight trucks are indeed resuming their round trips between Kenya and Tanzania. But from now on, the drivers will be subjected to a Covid-19 test before starting their journey to the neighboring country. A maximum of 3 people will be allowed on board the vehicle.

These measures must prevent the circulation of the virus across borders while dozens of Tanzanian drivers are tested positive for Covid-19 every day and sent back to their country by the Kenyan authorities. Figures that make the headlines. From now on, the nationality of patients can no longer be publicly disclosed.

Stuck in endless queues

Because Tanzanian drivers are more and more stigmatized and say they are humiliated. The Kenyan media also denounce the inhuman treatment they endure, trapped for long hours in their trucks in endless queues at border posts.

These new measures should ease the tensions between the two neighbors that oppose the management of the Covid-19 crisis. In Kenya, partial containment was adopted at the end of March. In Tanzania, President Magufuli relies on God to protect his population and is already inviting tourists to return.

► Read also: The tension is rising between Kenya and Tanzania against the background of coronavirus

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  • Kenya
  • Tanzania
  • Coronavirus

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