People protest a day after the general election following allegations of electoral irregularities in Arusha, Tanzania, on October 30, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP

People ride on a motorcycle waving a Tanzanian flag during violent protests that marred the election following the disqualification of the two leading opposition candidates in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, October 29, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Much has been written about the universally loved Jane Goodall, primatologist and animal rights campaigner, on whom awards and honours far too numerous to list have been showered. She passed away on October 1 aged 91. One recognition, however, she did not but should have received is the Nobel Peace Prize. For all her life, Goodall worked for peace and harmony not just between humans but between Homo sapiens and all life on Earth.

Her own words best describe the start of her seven-decade-long journey to convince humanity to protect our magical planet: ‘If you are interested in animals,’ someone said to me about a month after my arrival in Africa, ‘then you should meet Dr. Leakey.’ I had already started on a somewhat dreary office job, since I had not wanted to overstay my welcome at my friend’s farm. I went to see Louis Leakey at what is now the National Museum of natural history in Nairobi, where at that same time he was Curator. Somehow he must have sensed that my interest in animals was not just a passing phase, but was rooted deep, for on the spot he gave me a job as an assistant secretary.

First encounter

I never got to meet Jane Goodall but she entered my life in 1966, six years after she began her work with the legendary Louis Leaky in Tanzania’s Gombe Stream National Park, when the National Geographic magazine placed her on their cover. Down the years, I could not help but compare her to the other Jane… Tarzan’s Jane, about whom she recently said with an impish smile: “Tarzan married the wrong Jane.” Her fascination for Africa and chimpanzees was undoubtedly influenced by her love for Tarzan of the Apes (1912) and Tarzan’s sidekick Cheeta the chimpanzee. Her version was a stuffed toy chimp named Mr. H. “[He] goes everywhere with me. We’ve been to 59 countries together and he’s probably been touched by about nearly 4 million people,” she once said.

In 1978, I bought a large format pictorial book, Savage Africa, authored by Hugo van Lawick, only to discover that Jane Goodall was Lawick’s former wife, and that they had jointly put together a book in 1971, Innocent Killers, with Goodall doing the writing and Hugo the photography. The detailed descriptions of hunts by carnivores such as hyenas, cheetahs and leopards were graphic and gory, but they conveyed an elemental truth: unlike humans, wild animals were not ‘cruel’ as judged by ethical human standards. Animals ate what they killed. Nothing went to waste.

Blazing a trail

Down the decades, Goodall showed the world that it was possible to love animals (she likes dogs more than chimps!). She told us that chimps lived in societies akin to ours and used tools to access food, an ability thus far attributed only to humans. What’s more, they had distinct personalities. Some, like one individual she named David Greybeard, displayed likeable traits, while some were unlikeable, even cannibalistic. None of these field observations came easy. It took years to win the trust of the chimps, never hiding from them until she became a part of the non-threatening backdrop, a harmless pale-coloured ape. No naturalist had ever attempted this before. The most important of all her observations was the ability of apes to insert twigs into termite nests, pull them out repeatedly with ants attached and consume as food. When Louis Leaky saw evidence of this from images shot by a National Geographic photographer, he sent this now-famous telegram to his protégé: “NOW WE MUST REDEFINE TOOL STOP REDEFINE MAN STOP OR ACCEPT CHIMPANZEES AS HUMAN”.

Goodall faced considerable opposition over the years, largely by testosterone-driven males who questioned both her capability and ability to survive in the rough-and-tumble world of Africa’s jungle life. Her mother, nevertheless, travelled all the way to be with her young daughter as the attitude of men spurred her on to achieve more and discover more, and cut a trail not merely in Africa but clean through academia in England.

Misplaced criticism

She was also the target of misplaced criticism from human rights activists who accused her of protecting apes at the cost of local human communities. Working in a male-dominated sector in her early days, she was unfairly criticised for being an amateur with anthropomorphic biases that ended up superimposing human attributes and capabilities onto wild apes.

A decade ago, some academics pointed out that a manuscript of hers, for Seeds of Hope (2013), omitted crediting sources. Emily Brelage of DePauw University wrote, “It’s important to not ignore the flaws that make them [admired heroes] human, while we celebrate what makes them great.” With characteristic grace, Goodall responded that she would delay publication with added credits, saying, “I hope it is obvious that my only objective was to learn as much as I could so that I could provide straightforward factual information.”

She never needed to respond to the accusations of anthropomorphic biases because in 1965, Newnham College in Cambridge University settled the issue by accepting her deeply scientific doctoral thesis titled ‘The Behaviour of Free-living Chimpanzees in the Gombe Stream Reserve’. Valerie Jane Morris Goodall was now Dr. Jane Goodall.

To the human rights activists, she responded as saying that protecting the apes’ jungles was in the interests of the African people whose jungles were being brutally colonised by the industrial North.

Even today, the developed world continues to trot out arguments to justify deforestation, a primary cause of our current climate crisis. In my book, that amounts to intergenerational colonisation. In her last days, Goodall travelled the globe, met young and old, villagers, royalty and power brokers, urging them all to rein in carbon, protect the biosphere, and leave our children a climate-safe world.

She was met everywhere with what can only be called veneration. Jane Goodall did her job on Planet Earth by re-emphasising conclusively what Charles Darwin had posited on November 24, 1859, the day his controversial book On the Origin of Species was published. He said we were descended from apes. She revealed that chimps’ brains were capable of using tools, a fact that scientists of the day refused to accept.

Both suffered severe criticism from religious quarters that believed only humans had souls, and were given dominion over all other life by ‘the creator’. What is more, Jane Goodall sprinkled us with the magic of hope with the example of a life well lived.

The writer is editor of Sanctuary Asia and founder of Sanctuary Nature Foundation.

Published – October 09, 2025 06:16 pm IST

Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan confirmed on Monday that there was a new outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus in the East African country.

One “confirmed case of Marburg virus marks the second outbreak” in Tanzania since 2023, the president told a press briefing broadcast from the capital Dodoma.

Last week, the World Health Organization said that a suspected Marburg outbreak in Tanzania had killed eight people, assessing the risk at the national level as “high”.

That report has not been confirmed by Tanzania.

Instead, Hassan said that authorities had “identified one patient (who) has been infected with Marburg virus”.

“The cause of the earlier reported deaths in the community has not been confirmed and efforts are ongoing to ascertain the source of the infection,” she added.

A total of 26 suspected cases have been tested and only one came back positive, she said.

The case was recorded in the northwestern Kagera region, which borders Uganda and Rwanda.

Kagera was the site of the country’s first Marburg outbreak in March 2023, which lasted for nearly two months and involved nine cases including six deaths, the WHO said.

“We have demonstrated in the past our ability to contain similar outbreaks and are determined to do the same this time around,” Hassan said.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, visiting Dodoma, pledged the UN agency’s “continued support to bringing the outbreak under control”.

“Since the first suspected cases of Marburg were reported earlier, Tanzania has scaled up its response by enhancing case detection, setting up treatment centres and a mobile laboratory for testing samples, and deploying national response teams,” he said in a statement.

“Considering the low global risk, and the strong capabilities of the Tanzanian government, WHO advises against restrictions on trade and travel to the country.”

The latest case in Tanzania comes a month after WHO declared the end of a three-month Marburg outbreak in neighbouring Rwanda, which killed 15 people.

Marburg causes a highly infectious haemorrhagic fever. It is transmitted from fruit bats and belongs to the same family of viruses as Ebola.

With a fatality rate that can reach close to 90 percent, Marburg’s fever is often accompanied by bleeding and organ failure.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Abu Dhabi’s International Holding Company (IHC), one of the largest sovereign funds that manages assets close to $100 billion, has reaffirmed its support to the Adani Group, saying its outlook on investments in the group remains unchanged despite the US indictment.

“Our partnership with the Adani Group reflects our confidence in their contributions to the green energy and sustainability sectors,” IHC, one of Adani group’s key foreign investors, said in a statement.

“As with all our investments, our team continues to evaluate relevant information and developments. At this time, our outlook on these investments remains unchanged.” IHC had, in April 2022, invested about $500 million each in the renewables arm Adani Green Energy and power company Adani Transmission and a further $1 billion in the group’s flagship Adani Enterprises. Later, it sold its 1.26 per cent stake in AGEL and 1.41 per cent in ATL, now called Adani Energy Solutions Ltd, but hiked its stake in Adani Enterprises Ltd to over 5 per cent.

The IHC statement comes soon after Adani group emphasised that its chairman and his aides have not been charged under the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act but faced three other charges, including securities and wire fraud, that are punishable with monetary fines.

The US Department of Justice’s (US DoJ) indictment filed in a New York Court last week does not mention Gautam Adani, founder chairman of the ports-to-energy conglomerate, his nephew Sagar or Vneet Jaain in any count related to conspiracy to violate the FCPA, AGEL had said in a filing to the stock exchange.

The three, who are executives at AGEL, have only been charged with securities fraud conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, and securities fraud, the company said. In general, the penalties for such charges are less severe than bribery.

The Adani Group last week termed all allegations baseless and said it would seek legal recourse to defend itself.

Meanwhile, other international partners have also expressed their continued support. The Sri Lanka Ports Authority has expressed its ongoing confidence in its partnership with Adani, as the Indian group plays a vital role in expanding the country’s port infrastructure.

With a $1 billion investment in the Colombo terminal, the project is poised to be the largest foreign direct investment in Sri Lanka’s port sector.

Sri Lanka Ports Authority chairman Admiral Sirimewan Ranasinghe (Retd) has reportedly stated that there are no discussions regarding the project’s cancellation. The project will be operational in the next couple of months.

Also, the Tanzanian government has reaffirmed its commitment to its agreements with Adani Ports, as it feels that there are no concerns regarding the ongoing projects and that all contracts fully comply with Tanzanian law.

In May 2024, Tanzania and Adani Ports finalised a 30-year concession agreement to operate Container Terminal 2 at Dar es Salaam port.

Additionally, Adani Ports acquired a 95 per cent stake in Tanzania International Container Terminal Services, a state-owned entity, for $95 million.

(Disclaimer: New Delhi Television is a subsidiary of AMG Media Networks Limited, an Adani Group Company.)

Tanzania’s main opposition Chadema party chairman Freeman Mbowe speaks during a press conference in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on March 18, 2022. Tanzania’s main opposition party demanded Monday the release of its top leaders detained in a mass roundup ahead of a planned youth rally, a move rights activists have condemned as “troubling”.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Tanzanian police have detained leading opposition figures including Chadema party leader Freeman Mbowe and his deputy Tundu Lissu and rounded up several hundred youth supporters on the eve of a planned rally, a move condemned by rights activists on Monday (August 12, 2024) as “troubling”.

Mr. Mbowe was arrested on Monday (August 12, 2024) in the southwestern city of Mbeya, the day after other leaders were detained ahead of the event that was to mark International Youth Day, Chadema director of communication and foreign affairs John Mrema posted on X, formerly Twitter.

He also told AFP that around 500 youth supporters had been arrested by police as they were making their way to the Mbeya gathering and were being escorted back home.

Tanzanian police on Sunday (August 11, 2024) declared a ban on the rally, accusing the party of planning violent demonstrations.

The arrests came despite President Samia Suluhu Hassan in January 2023 overturning a ban on opposition gatherings.

The youth wing had said about 10,000 youngsters were expected to meet in Mbeya to mark International Youth Day on Monday under the slogan “Take charge of your future”.

Tanzania is due to hold presidential and parliamentary elections late next year, the first since the 2021 death of Hassan’s predecessor John Magufuli, who was nicknamed the “Bulldozer” for his authoritarian policies.

“It’s troubling because it’s very similar to the mass opposition arrests we saw when Magufuli was president,” Oryem Nyeko, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, told AFP.

“Tanzania shouldn’t be going back in that direction, especially in the period leading up to elections.”

Reports of beatings

Mr. Mbowe, who has previously been held behind bars, had on Sunday (August 11, 2024) condemned the arrests of Lissu, secretary general John Mnyika, zonal chair Joseph Mbilinyi and leaders of the youth council.

“We demand the immediate and unconditional release of all our leaders, members, and supporters who were arrested in various parts of the country,” he said on X.

The Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition, which represents a network of over 250 organisations, called for the unconditional release of all those detained.

“Unconfirmed reports indicate that there was use of force during the arrests and that some of the arrested were beaten. If this is true, we strongly condemn the action as it goes against the constitution, the laws and all the procedures of arrest,” the coalition said.

Chadema officials on Sunday (August 11, 2024) denounced the police ban and called on Hassan to intervene.

– ‘Let’s raise our voices’ –

Since taking the helm in March 2021 after Magufuli’s sudden death, Hassan has moved away from her predecessor’s repressive policies and embarked on political reforms, including relaxing some restrictions on the media and the opposition.

In January 2023, she lifted a ban on opposition rallies imposed in 2016 by Magufuli, in an overture to political rivals seeking the restoration of democratic traditions.

Lissu, a fierce critic of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party who has been arrested multiple times, returned to Tanzania soon after Hassan lifted the ban.

The 56-year-old had spent the previous five years largely in exile in Belgium following a 2017 assassination bid which saw him shot 16 times.

In July 2021, Mbowe was arrested along with several other Chadema leaders just hours before the party was to hold a public forum to demand constitutional reforms.

He was freed the following March after prosecutors dropped terrorism charges against him.

Announcing the ban on Sunday (August 11, 2024), Awadh Haji, Tanzania’s police chief in charge of operations and training, said the force had “clear indications that their aim is not to celebrate the International Youth Day but to initiate and engage in violence”.

Lissu on Sunday (August 11, 2024) vowed that the youth event would go ahead as planned.

“President Samia, don’t bring Magufuli’s strange ways,” he said on X.

“This is not a time to stay silent, be afraid, or just talk. It’s a time to stand up and be counted. Let’s raise our voices with all our strength!”

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania:

Tanzania President Samia Suluhu Hassan has fired two senior ministers, including the head of the foreign ministry, in a mini-cabinet reshuffle.

The move comes ahead of expected national elections next year, with the sacked information minister caught in a viral video last week saying “winning in elections is not always determined by the number of votes in the ballot box”.

“Mahmoud Thabit Kombo has been appointed a member of parliament and the new minister for foreign affairs and East African cooperation to replace January Makamba whose appointment is revoked,” according to a presidency statement issued late Sunday, which did not detail the reasons for the dismissals.

Jerry Silaa — previously Lands, Housing and Settlement Development — was appointed to replace Nape Nnauye, Minister for Information, Communications and IT, the statement said.

A viral clip of Nnauye emerged last week in which he said: “Winning in elections is not always determined by the number of votes in the ballot box but depends on who counts and announces the results.”

The video attracted widespread criticism from both the opposition and the ruling party, which said the remarks did not reflect its stance.

Nnauye apologised for the clip, saying his comments were meant as a joke and he had been quoted out of context.

But local media reported opposition politician John Mnyika saying the statement “indicates what has been planned within the government and the ruling party”.

The reshuffle has also left analysts speculating about the 2025 election, which Hassan is expected to contest.

“I think it’s a power play towards the general election next year,” said University of Dar es Salaam lecturer Abel Kinyondo.

The move follows her decision in early July to appoint a new intelligence chief.

“Suleiman Abubakar Mombo was sworn to replace Ali Idi Siwa who retired,” the presidency said.

Hassan, then deputy president, took office in 2021 after the death of John Magafuli.

Since taking the helm, Hassan has moved away from Magafuli’s authoritarian policies and embarked on political reforms, including relaxing some restrictions on the media and the opposition.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)