Kenya’s President William Ruto has publicly apologised to Tanzania following days of tension between the neighbouring countries.
Some Kenyans on social media have been targeting Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan following the recent detention and deportation of prominent East African activists.
Angry Tanzanian MPs on Monday accused Kenyans of cyberbullying and disrespecting Tanzanian sovereignty and “meddling in domestic affairs”.
Speaking at a national prayer breakfast on Wednesday, Ruto appeared to extend an olive branch to Tanzania.
“To our neighbours from Tanzania, if we have wronged you in any way, forgive us,” he said.
“If there is anything that Kenyans have done that is not right, we want to apologise,” the president added.
Ruto also apologised to young Kenyans, popularly known as Gen-Zs, who have been critical of his administration since the deadly anti-tax protesters last June.
Some of them have dismissed Ruto’s apology, insisting that the president should resign.
The president made the remarks in response to a call by visiting American preacher Rickey Allen Bolden, who urged leaders to pursue reconciliation.
The diplomatic row was triggered by the deportation of activists who had travelled to Tanzania to attend the trial of opposition leader Tundu Lissu.
Among them were Kenyan Boniface Mwangi and Agather Atuhaire from Uganda.
The two said they were held incommunicado for several days and tortured, before they were left at the border by Tanzanian security forces, sparking widespread condemnation across the region and from international rights groups.
Tanzania is yet to comment on the torture claims but President Samia had earlier warned that she would not allow activists from neighbouring countries to “meddle” in her country’s affairs and cause “chaos”.
Both Kenya and Uganda had formally protested against the detention of the activists, accusing the Tanzanian authorities of denying consular access despite repeated requests.
The alleged mistreatment of the activists triggered an online war, with social media users from Kenya and Tanzania clashing over the claims.
In a heated debate on Monday, Tanzanian parliamentarians expressed outrage over the young Kenyans trolling President Samia.
The MPs said Samia had every right to defend Tanzania’s national interests.
The legislators’ comments angered some Kenyans who hit back by sharing lawmakers’ contacts and flooding their phones with messages to express their disapproval.
Tanzania’s Iringa Town MP Jesca Msambatavangu said that most of the messages came via WhatsApp, forcing her to temporarily switch off her phone.
Msambatavangu, however, welcomed the engagement, encouraging Kenyans on social media to “counter ideas with ideas”.
She asked young Kenyans to create a WhatsApp group for further engagement and promised to engage them in a live session on Saturday.
“Kenyans are our neighbours, our brothers, and we cannot ignore each other,” she added.
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