BOGOTA, Colombia — Indigenous and rural communities along the Nanay River in Peru’s northern Amazon filed a complaint on Friday accusing the government of failing to stop illegal gold mining that is contaminating their water and food with toxic mercury. The complaint was submitted in the country’s capital, Lima, to the Secretariat General of the Andean Community, a regional trade bloc that includes Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Bolivia. The communities argue that Peru has violated a binding regional policy adopted in 2012 to combat illegal mining.

A delegation of 10 leaders and residents from the Peruvian Amazon traveled to Lima for the complaint.

“Peru is not fulfilling its obligations, and that has allowed illegal mining to expand, threatening the lives and rights of Amazonian communities,” said César Ipenza, an environmental lawyer who brought the case forward on behalf of the communities.

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The Peruvian government did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Mercury levels are too high

Mercury, widely used in gold extraction, is polluting fish — a dietary staple — and entering the food chain in areas surrounding the Nanay and Pintuyacu rivers.

“More than 80% of our population is contaminated with mercury in the blood,” said Jhonny Huaymacari Yuyarima, who represents the Ikito Indigenous people and heads a local alliance of 33 communities in the Nanay basin. “The fish in our rivers and lakes are also poisoned.”

Huaymacari described seeing children with developmental delays, residents with chronic joint pain, skin conditions and intense headaches — symptoms many now associate with prolonged mercury exposure.

A recent study by the Center for Amazonian Scientific Innovation, or CINCIA, and the Frankfurt Zoological Society found dangerously high levels of mercury in hair samples taken from 273 residents across six river communities in the region.

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About 79% of participants had mercury levels above the World Health Organization safety limit of 2.2 milligrams per kilogram.

Children up to age 4 had the highest average levels — nearly six times the recommended limit. Fish from the same area had elevated mercury concentrations, particularly in carnivorous species that are commonly eaten.

‘Widespread exposure’

“These are not isolated cases. This is widespread exposure,” Ipenza said. “And we’re talking about people who depend on fish as their primary protein source, and on the Nanay River for drinking water — including the city of Iquitos.”

Huaymacari says it hurts to think that after more than 20 years of fighting illegal mining, “the state still doesn’t listen to us.”

“The mercury is in our bodies now. We’ll have to live with this if the Peruvian state does nothing,” he told The Associated Press, citing the example of Peru’s southern region of Madre de Dios, long plagued by illegal mining.

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Researchers and environmental groups now warn that the sprawling expanse of Loreto — where Iquitos is the regional capital and the home of the Nanay — is becoming the new frontier.

A 2023 report by the Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project showed growing deforestation and mining activity creeping into Nanay headwaters, even in protected areas.

The CINCIA study, one of the first to systematically assess mercury exposure in Loreto communities, found that while most fish samples did not exceed international safety limits, the amount and frequency of fish consumption meant even moderate levels of contamination are a serious risk.

Loreto has the highest per capita fish consumption in Peru, with some families along the river eating fish two to three times daily.

Beyond the toxic exposure, communities are also reporting serious social and security impacts, including the arrival of armed groups, illegal labor, and sexual exploitation at mining camps. Local leaders say environmental defenders have been threatened and communal governance structures weakened.

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“Almost 80% of the people there are foreigners, and more than 60 (gold mining) dredges are operating in the area,” said Huaymacari of the Ikito.

In one of their communities, a Colombian flag was raised, he said. ”It no longer feels like Peru.”

A call to action

Local police and navy posts lack the staff, equipment, and logistical support to confront the spread of illegal mining, Huaymacari said.

“They’re trying, but they don’t have the tools to fight this plague of illegal mining,” he said.

The Andean Policy to Fight Illegal Mining obliges member states to coordinate regionally and curb organized criminal activities linked to illegal extraction. The complaint asks the regional body to formally declare Peru in violation and issue corrective recommendations.

While the Andean Community cannot impose sanctions, its rulings are binding under regional law, and a formal declaration could pressure Peru to adopt corrective measures or face reputational and diplomatic consequences.

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Ipenza said it isn’t just about Peru and that wider “action needs to be taken.”

“Mercury pollution and illegal gold cross borders — and the damage is not just environmental. It’s deeply human,” he said.

The communities behind the complaint say they are not seeking financial compensation, but urgent recognition of their rights, protection of their territories, and accountability from a state that, they say, has abandoned them.

The Andean Community has yet to comment on the case, which could set a regional precedent for holding governments accountable for cross-border environmental harms.

“We, the 33 communities of this basin, are prepared to raise our voices together and say: enough is enough!” said Huaymacari. “We call on the government to act urgently.”

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Kenyans plan to march countrywide on Wednesday, the first anniversary of the historic storming of parliament by protesters, to honour those killed during last year’s anti-government protests, but there are fears that the march could escalate into unrest.

Rights activists, family members of killed and missing protesters, and young Kenyans, who were the main drivers of last year’s protests, have mobilised online and offline, with opposition leaders terming the day a “people’s public holiday” and the government warning against attempts to disrupt public order.

Last year’s demonstrations, in which 60 people died and many more disappeared, were prompted by proposed tax increases. They started peacefully on 18 June but later turned chaotic after a violent police response, and people accused of being involved in the protests disappeared and were killed. The demands of the protests then widened to calls for reform and the resignation of the president, William Ruto.

In reaction, Ruto scrapped the finance bill that contained the proposed tax increases and restructured his cabinet to include opposition figures and create a “broad-based” government.

The street protests started declining from September, but killings, arrests, disappearances and public resentment towards the authorities continued.

A recent series of demonstrations were triggered by the death of a teacher, Albert Ojwang, this month while he was being held in police custody after reportedly criticising a senior police official on social media. Public anger erupted further as an officer shot a vendor, Boniface Kariuki, at close range during another round of protests last week.

In addition to concerns about police brutality, issues Kenyans protested about last year – including corruption, unemployment, government excesses and rising living costs – persist.

Mikhail Nyamweya, a political analyst, said the trust of many Kenyans – especially younger people – in the government remains low and they view the administration as “unresponsive and detached from everyday struggles”.

“Despite promises of reform, the Kenyan youth view the state as incapable of delivering and always quick to suppress dissent through coercive means,” he said. “Continued reports of human rights violations and inadequate accountability have reinforced the perception that little has changed.”

Wednesday’s plan includes peaceful processions in different parts of the country, and digital campaigns using hashtags. In Nairobi, people are expected to walk towards the parliament and the president’s office, laying flowers along the road and light candles outside the premises. Vigils were scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday.

Recent demonstrations, including those over the death of Ojwang, have been infiltrated by men whom protesters have described as hired goons who disrupt protests by beating and robbing peaceful demonstrators.

Last week, Nairobi’s regional police commander, George Seda, called for calm from those who participate. “What I would like to urge the public is, let’s restrict ourselves to what we call ‘peaceful demonstrations’,” he said. “Let’s not have demonstrations that are going to interfere with other people who may not be part of the demonstrators.”

But some of Ruto’s allies and pro-government politicians have made threats against younger Kenyans. David Ndii, the chairperson of Ruto’s council of economic advisers, posted on X: “You allow yourself to be weaponised by self seekers, there’ll be casualties”, before telling a user: “Wewe tokea [You show up], and say your goodbyes before you leave home just in case you catch a stray.”

Rights activists have called for solidarity. “Let’s stand together as brothers and sisters tomorrow, united in solidarity,” said Hanifa Adan on X. “Let’s look out for one another and protect each other. May the Lord shield us from violence, political interference, and most of all, from the brutality of bloodthirsty police.”

In a joint statement on Tuesday, envoys from 12 countries including the US and the UK stated its support for “every Kenyan’s right to peaceful assembly and to express themselves” and urged all parties “to facilitate peaceful demonstrations and to refrain from violence”.

The Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops called for peaceful activities on Wednesday and criticised excessive use of force by police during demonstrations.

“A society that instils fear in its youth for simply speaking out is a society walking away from justice,” Nyeri archbishop Anthony Muheria said at a press conference. “The government’s primary responsibility is to protect its citizens, not to threaten, silence, or punish them.”

NAIROBI — No one seems to know what happened to Emmanuel Mukuria. Not his friends, who said they last saw him being dragged off the streets of the Kenyan capital by unidentified men during an anti-government protest. And not his family, which has spent a year searching for him. The 24-year-old bus driver disappeared June 25, 2024, during a demonstration against a controversial finance bill that would have sent the price of basic goods soaring. Less than an hour after Kenyan politicians passed the legislation, Parliament was in flames and three protesters had been shot outside the building.

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At least 60 people were killed by security forces in the protests that followed and more than 70 abducted, rights groups say — snatched off the streets by plainclothes officers and held incommunicado without charge or trial. Although most were ultimately released, at least 26 are still missing, according to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, a state investigative body, leaving behind bereft families desperate for answers — and growing calls for accountability.

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“Abductions are now an official state policy,” said Otsieno Namwaya, associate director for Africa at Human Rights Watch.

Last month, Kenyan President William Ruto acknowledged the wave of disappearances for the first time but said all those taken had been returned to their families. Muchiri Nyaga, a spokesperson for Kenyan police, denied any involvement: “Police don’t abduct, we arrest,” he told The Washington Post, saying it was possible “criminal gangs” were behind the abductions. He said that he did not know how many people were missing but that a special team had been appointed to investigate the matter. He declined to comment on the individual disappearances documented by The Post.

Mukuria’s relatives had spent a month searching for him in morgues, hospitals and police stations when a bruised young man turned up at their house unannounced, according to Mukuria’s mother, 55-year-old Susan Wangare, who said she was the only one home at the time. The man told her that her son was still alive, that they had been held together with 200 other young men in Block L8 of the Industrial Area Remand Prison in Nairobi, a pretrial detention facility.

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The prisoners were kept in the dark, she remembers him telling her, and beaten as they were interrogated about who was funding the protests. The man said he would alert her if he heard anything more, Wangare said, but she forgot to write down his name in her excitement and has never been able to remember it. He left his number, she said, but the phone was always off when she tried to call.

After his July visit, the family immediately went to the prison, the first of more than a dozen visits. Each time, officials told them Mukuria was not there.

Kenya’s prison service did not respond to a request for comment.

“Wherever he is, I just want him to come home,” Wangare said.

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Kenya is Washington’s closest ally in Africa. It participates in international peacekeeping missions from Somalia to Haiti, hosts U.S. military bases and is considered an anchor in a volatile region. Last year, Ruto was feted on a state visit to Washington, the first by an African leader since 2008.

At home, though, Ruto’s tenure has been marked by public anger over high taxes and government corruption, as well as increasing violence by state security forces.

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On Wednesday, as Kenyans held nationwide demonstrations to commemorate those killed in the protest over taxes a year ago, police shot at and teargassed young people carrying roses and white crosses bearing the names of the dead. At least 16 deaths were reported, Amnesty International said.

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“A government has to know how to handle its young people,” said Happy Olal, a leading Kenyan social activist. “Killing them is not a solution.”

Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen said in a statement that the protests were “terrorism disguised as dissent.”

A family’s desolation

Mukuria didn’t earn much as a part-time bus driver, but it was the closest thing anyone in his family had to steady work. On the day he vanished, he decided to go to the protest with friends, according to his stepbrother, 44-year-old Boniface Mukuna.

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“I warned them not to go,” Mukuna said. On their way home, Mukuria was taken away by plainclothes police officers, his friends later told Mukuna.

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Four days after Mukuria disappeared, his mother filed a missing-person report with the police. Then she went to the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), a U.S.-funded watchdog group tasked with investigating police misconduct. A week later, she visited the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights. No one could tell her where he was or when he might return.

Family members papered the neighborhood with fliers.

Mukuria’s nephew, 21-year-old Nickson Kamau, showed up to every protest, carrying a giant portrait of his uncle as he dodged tear gas canisters. And family members kept circling back to the prison where their mysterious visitor said he had been held. It was their only lead, however tenuous.

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In October, The Post accompanied Kamau to the Industrial Area Remand Prison. Hassan Tari, the head of the prison, said Mukuria wasn’t there. When Kamau told him the family believed Mukuria had been held in Block L, Tari asked guards to conduct a search.

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“We have thousands of prisoners here at the main prison,” he explained.

After five hours of waiting, Tari delivered the news: “I am sorry, he is not here.” Kamau went home, defeated.

Mukuria’s unused passport is stored under a cushion in the family living room. His mother takes it out from time to time to look at it and think about what might have been.

“He had hoped to go to work in Qatar and change our lives,” she said.

Fading hopes

Not everyone who disappeared was taken during the initial wave of protests. Some were taken months later. Kalani Muema, 27, sold bags at a flyover in Mlolongo, a town east of Nairobi. On Dec. 16, four men in plain clothes showed up at his store and took him away in a white Toyota Harrier, his sister Monica Muende said.

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Muema was targeted for organizing protests over the government’s demolitions of homes in their neighborhood months earlier, according to his attorney, Dan Maanzo. Within hours, Maanzo said, three of Muema’s friends who were involved in the protests also were abducted.

Muema’s phone was switched off a week later, Muende said. Then his WhatsApp profile picture disappeared. The family searched morgues across the country, carrying a photo of Muema from 2021, posing with a smile at his sister’s salon.

“He was a young, ambitious boy,” his sister said. “He had told us that he wanted to change the life of our family.”

She still hopes he will come home.

Like Muema, his friend Steve Kavingu is still missing. The other two friends, Martin Mwau and Justus Mutumwa, were later found dead in a mortuary.

“The bodies were badly brutalized, and they were recorded as murder victims,” Maanzo said.

No answers

In total, 74 people have been “forcibly disappeared,” the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights said in April. Some of those who were released have returned with harrowing accounts of their time in detention. Activists Bob Njagi and Aslam Longton were abducted in August after they participated in protests, they said at a news conference in February. They were held for 32 days in a dark room, they said, stripped naked and whipped.

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“Today, we choose to speak out,” the men told reporters. “Not just for ourselves but to protect other Kenyans at risk of experiencing the same horrors.”

For months, authorities denied any knowledge of the abductions. Then, in May, Ruto acknowledged the disappearances but denied government culpability and said the matter had been put to rest.

“All the people who disappeared, who were abducted, all of them, have been brought back to their families and to their homes, and I have given clarity and firm instructions that nothing of that kind of nature will happen again,” he said at a news conference.

Muema’s mother collapsed when she heard the news, her daughter said, believing it confirmed her worst fear: that her son was dead.

The families of Muema and Mukuria lodged cases with the IPOA, the Kenyan watchdog. Nearly a year later, however, neither family has received any update on the status of their cases.

IPOA, supported with millions in U.S. funding since 2011, did not respond to a request for comment.

“Families are out there moving from police stations and mortuaries, but the state has refused to investigate,” said Namwaya, of Human Rights Watch.

Among the protesters in Nairobi this week was Alaman James, 33, who said he’d been to every demonstration over the past year, carrying the same Kenyan flag. He went again Wednesday, marching for the missing and the dead.

Albert Ojwang’s grieving family claimed their efforts to access funds for his burial preparations were met with shock after discovering a large sum had disappeared from his father’s account

The family said the money, raised through Eric Omondi’s Sisi kwa Sisi initiative, was withdrawn from his father’s M-Pesa account without consent or explanation

The heartbreaking moment mirrored another Sisi kwa Sisi beneficiary’s case, where Boniface Kariuki’s family claimed they had also been swindled of KSh 200,000

The family of the late X blogger Albert Ojwang is crying foul after allegedly being swindled of more than KSh 500,000 raised by well-wishers for his burial and family support.

Albert Ojwang’s uncle claimed that they have been swindled of over KSh 500,000. Photo: NTV, Anthony Esiro, Eric Omondi.

Source: Facebook

How did Albert Ojwang’s family lose KSh 500k?

Albert’s death in police custody triggered a national outcry, with many Kenyans demanding answers over the circumstances surrounding his mysterious passing.

As emotions ran high, thousands of Kenyans rallied behind the grieving family, contributing generously through comedian Eric Omondi’s Sisi kwa Sisi initiative.

Search option is now available at TUKO! Feel free to search the content on topics/people you enjoy reading about in the top right corner 😉

However, in a troubling twist, the family now claims that the funds has mysteriously disappeared from his father Meshack Opiyo’s M-Pesa account.

In a video shared by YouTuber Clinton Chirangah Shim, Albert’s uncle, Polycarp Odhiambo, opened up about the harrowing situation that has compounded their grief.

“A few days ago, my brother went to withdraw the money but encountered a problem, he didn’t have an ID. When he visited Safaricom for assistance, he discovered that even his own KSh 17,000 was missing. Upon checking the statement, they saw the names of those who withdrew the funds. Over KSh 500,000 was gone, along with his personal amount,” Odhiambo claimed.

He further stated that the lost money had been raised specifically through Omondi’s Sisi kwa Sisi initiative.

In the same clip, Albert’s father is seen leaning back in a chair, visibly distressed and in tears as he processes the loss.

The incident echoes a separate case involving Boniface Kariuki, a hawker who was fatally shot during recent protests and another beneficiary Eric’s fundraising initiative.

Albert Ojwang’s death under police custody touched many Kenyans who contributed generously to support his family. Photo: Albert Ojwang.

Source: TikTok

What to know about Albert Ojwang’s death

Did Boniface Kariuki’s family also lose money?

Kariuki’s father earlier claimed that scammers had defrauded him of more than KSh 200,000 under the guise of assisting him in registering for the new Social Health Authority programme.

TUKO.co.ke reached out to Eric to shed light on the situation, but as of the time of publication, he had not yet responded.

Watch the video below:

How much money did William Ruto give Albert’s family?

In other news, Albert’s father disclosed that President William Ruto had reached out to him via phone to personally convey his condolences following the blogger’s tragic death.

The president is said to have donated KSh 2 million to support the bereaved family.

Additionally, ODM leader Raila Odinga reportedly contributed KSh 1 million.

However, the high-profile donations triggered mixed reactions online.

Some Kenyans questioned the need for further fundraising, urging the family to refund the money contributed earlier by the politicians.

Others defended Albert’s father, arguing that it would have been unreasonable to turn down such significant support in a moment of grief.

Eric Omondi later revealed that he felt betrayed after Albert’s dad accepted the politicians’ donation.

Caren Nyota, HoD Entertainment, added details on what to know about Albert Ojwang’s death.

Proofreading by Jackson Otukho, copy editor at TUKO.co.ke.

Source: TUKO.co.ke

NABATIEH, Lebanon — Israel’s air force carried out intense airstrikes on mountains overlooking a southern city in Lebanon on Friday, in an attack that the Israeli military said targeted underground assets of the Hezbollah militant group. Shortly afterward, an apartment building in the nearby city of Nabatieh was struck, killing one woman, wounding 11 and knocking out the building’s top floor, according to Lebanon’s state news agency.

The state-run National News Agency reported that the woman killed lived in Germany and had come back to Lebanon less than a month earlier to visit family. It wasn’t immediately clear if she was a German citizen. The woman’s apartment was hit by an Israeli drone strike, according to the report.

The Israeli army, in a statement posted on X, denied targeting a civilian building. The statement said the building was hit by a Hezbollah rocket that had been stored at another location that was targeted by an airstrike and “launched, and exploded as a result.” It blamed Hezbollah for storing weapons near residential areas.

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Since the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war ended with a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in November, Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes on southern Lebanon. Friday’s strikes were more intense than usual.

“We are steadfast no matter how much you bomb us with your fighter jets and drones,” Hassan Ghandour, a Shiite cleric from Nabatieh, told The Associated Press at the scene of the building.

Lebanon’s president and prime minister condemned the Israeli strikes on south Lebanon, saying they violated the ceasefire deal.

The airstrikes on the mountains overlooking Nabatieh came in two waves, and bunker busters were used, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported. NNA said that four people were slightly wounded in the airstrikes outside the city.

The Israeli military said in a statement that its fighter jets struck a site used by Hezbollah to manage its fire and defense array in the area and is part of a significant underground project that was completely taken out of use.

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The Israeli army said that it identified rehabilitation attempts by Hezbollah beforehand and struck infrastructure sites in the area.

There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah.

Hezbollah suffered significant losses on the battlefield during the war, which left more than 4,000 people dead in Lebanon and caused destruction amounting to $11 billion. In Israel, 127 people died, including 80 soldiers.

As part of the ceasefire deal, Hezbollah was pushed away from areas bordering Israel in south Lebanon and isn’t allowed to have an armed presence south of the Litani River.

Friday’s airstrikes were north of the river.

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