Nairobi County Senator Edwin Sifuna has returned back to Kenya a day after he was denied entry into Angola.
The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party Secretary General was on Thursday, March 13, 2025, forced to fly to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia after he, together with several African leaders of opposition parties, were denied entry into the South African country.
Taking to his official X account on Friday, March 14, 2025, Sifuna notified his supporters that he had jetted back into Kenya safely.
Sifuna further shared a joint official statement by the Platform for African Democrats (PAD) that detailed the events in Luanda and Benguela, Angola.
“Back home! Here is the Official Statement by the Platform for African Democrats (PAD) on the events in Luanda and Benguela, Angola,” Sifuna captioned the statement.
The Angola incident
According to the statement, the Angolan regime tried to prevent their third annual meeting scheduled for Friday, March 14, from taking place.
PAD says the location to host the meeting in the President João Lourenço-led nation was chosen since Angola is the current Chair of the African Union (AU).
“The Platform for African Democrats gathering of African leaders committed to democracy and accountability-haid its third annual meeting in Angola on 14 March 2025, despite every effort by the Angolan regime to prevent the meeting from taking place. In recognizing the centrality of democracy to improving African governance, the PAD was established in 2023 as a forum to strengthen the performance of African political parties try sharing experiences and identifying best electoral and party political practices.
“The location was chosen since Angola is the current Chair of the African Union. The same. weekend, the African Union held its summit in Addis Ababa to hand over authority to President João Lourenço, It should be noted that the theme of the All over the next year is “Justice for Africans and People of African Descent Through Reparations”,” the statement read in part.
Former heads of state blocked
The event in Benguela was to be attended by several past heads of state and dignitaries, members of government, and leaders from civil society and opposition parties.
Among those who flew to Angola, PAD says, were lan Khama, the former President of Botswana, Moeketsi Majoro, the former Prime Minister of Lesotho, Andrés Pastrana Arango, the former President of Colombia, and Othman Sharift, First Vice President of Zanzibar.
However, the Angolan regime responded to the meeting in a manner that has been condemned.
Delegates denied visas
PAD says several delegates were refused visas for ‘technical reasons’, including those from Uganda.
The statement goes ahead to say that twelve delegates who either had visas or were eligible for visas on arrival-were held at the airport and deported before being allowed to enter, including guests from Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique and South Sudan.
Several others were detained at the airport without being given an explanation, with their passports being released when it was late for them to make the scheduled flight to Benguela.
“Another group, including President Khama, Prime Minister Majoro, President Pastrana, Vice-President Othman, and 24 others, were detained at the airport for as long as nine hours with no explanation. Their passports were returned, and they were released when it was late for them to make the scheduled flight to Benguela,” the statement read.
“The government claimed that it would make up for these actions by providing transport to get the delegates to Benguela the following day. However, several vehicles “broke down’ en route to the airport, several different airport destinations were given, and ultimately no aircraft was made available.”
Incident condemned
The leaders have condemned the actions by the Angolan government, stating that they point to a systematic and cynical campaign to attack and undermine progress towards democracy and accountability in Africa.
“The above actions point to a systematic and cynical campaign to attack and undermine progress towards democracy and accountability in Africa by a regime that presents itself as a democracy. At no point were those held given any explanation for their detention or for the deportation of the others.
“The true nature of the Angolan regime has been exposed. It is willing to humiliate and embarrass former African heads of government and those wishing to discuss democracy in a desperate attempt to hold back the tide of progress towards people-centered societies in Africa,” the affected leaders stated.
