1 hour agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleAlfred LasteckBBC Africa, Dar es Salaam
Getty ImagesTanzania’s police have arrested three park rangers after a man died and two others were injured in a conservation area which they were accused of entering illegally.
The three men had been detained by rangers on Wednesday morning in the protected Ngorongoro Conservation Area, where rights groups have long raised concerns about alleged human rights violations linked to conservation enforcement.
They were arrested after they were accused of entering the area on a motorcycle without following required procedures.
Police said the men had been travelling from the northern city of Arusha towards Babati, about 166km (103 miles) away, to attend a funeral when they lost their way.
Police are investigating the circumstances in which Sefu Musa, 25, later died.
Musa’s fellow traveller, Salimu Haji, is being treated in hospital, while the third man Abdallah Nuru, managed to return to Arusha following the incident.
Speaking to local media, Nuru alleged they were brutally assaulted by the rangers at the park.
He said they had gone through the Ngorongoro gate before realising they had taken the wrong route and decided to turn back. They were arrested as they returned through the park gate by the rangers, who accused them of being poachers, despite explaining that they had lost their way and were travelling to attend a funeral.
Nuru alleged they were ordered to strip off their clothes and roll on thorny shrubs while the rangers poured water over them. He said they were also beaten.
Nuru said both Musa and Haji lost consciousness amid the ordeal.
He said although injured, he helped move his colleagues to hospital, where Musa was declared dead and Haji remains in critical condition.
Police said the rangers were arrested as part of the investigation into the matter.
Rights groups and local communities have previously raised allegations of excessive force, arbitrary arrests and harassment during law enforcement and conservation operations in Ngorongoro.
This includes the forced relocation of Maasai communities who have coexisted with wildlife in the area for generations.
The authorities have maintained that such measures are aimed at protecting the conservation area and enforcing regulations.
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