Opposition says ‘hundreds’ killed in Tanzania post-election protests

Tanzania’s main opposition party has claimed that hundreds of people have been killed in protests following this week’s disputed elections, while the United Nations says it has “credible reports” that at least 10 people died.

“As we speak, the number of deaths in [Dar-es-Salaam] is around 350 and there are more than 200 in Mwanza,” Chadema party spokesperson John Kitoka told the AFP news agency on Friday, referring to the commercial capital in northern Tanzania. “If we add the figures from other places in the country, we arrive at a total of around 700 deaths.”

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Chadema said its members had toured hospitals across the country to reach the figure. Separately, a security source and diplomat in Dar-es-Salaam both told AFP that deaths were “in the hundreds”.

Al Jazeera has been unable to independently verify the number of deaths since the elections on Wednesday.

However, Tanzania’s Foreign Minister Mahmoud Thabit Kombo, denied that “excessive force” has been used, telling Al Jazeera the government has “no official figures” on any protesters killed.

“Currently, no excessive force has been used,” Kombo said on Friday, denying opposition reports about hundreds of people killed. “I’ve not seen these 700 anywhere … There’s no number until now of any protesters killed.”

Kombo said there have been “pockets of violence” and “vandalism” in various areas against “government properties” including offices and vehicles. “The national electricity supply utilities have been burned,” he added.

The opposition’s estimated toll contrasted with that of the UN. In a Friday briefing, UN human rights spokesperson Seif Magango told Geneva reporters that credible sources had indicated at least 10 deaths at the hands of security forces so far.

“We call on the security forces to refrain from using unnecessary or disproportionate force, including lethal weapons, against protesters, and to make every effort to de-escalate tensions,” Magango said in the same briefing.

Later on Friday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for an investigation into allegations of the excessive use of force against protesters, his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

“The Secretary-General is also deeply troubled by reports of enforced disappearances and detentions in the lead-up to the elections,” Dujarric added.

Demonstrations erupted on Wednesday in Dar-es-Salaam, a city of more than seven million people, after disputed and chaotic elections that saw the two main opposition parties barred from participating.

Several vehicles, a petrol station and police stations were set ablaze by protesters infuriated by the restricted election choices and harassment of opposition figures.

The latest developments arrived as hundreds of demonstrators squared off with police for the third day on Friday, demanding the national electoral body stop announcing electoral results.

The government deployed the military onto the streets and enforced an internet shutdown.

“We are calling for the protests to continue until our demands for electoral reforms are made,” Chadema’s Kitoka told the Reuters news agency on Friday.

‘Extensive’ government restrictions

A day earlier, protesters who defied a curfew in the Mbagala, Gongo la Mboto and Kiluvya neighbourhoods of Dar-es-Salaam were met with tear gas and the sounds of gunfire.

State television was broadcasting the mainland results of Wednesday’s vote in which the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party, which has governed Tanzania since independence in 1961, was seeking to extend its time in power.

Wednesday’s elections saw President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s two biggest challengers excluded from the race, infuriating citizens and rights groups that have also decried an intensifying crackdown against opposition members, activists and journalists.

Hassan took office in 2021 when her predecessor, John Magufuli, died in office, and has faced rising criticism for what the United Nations has called a pattern of “escalating” attacks, disappearances and torture of critics.

It is the latest election this month in Africa to stir deep-seated anger among citizens after longtime leaders in the Ivory Coast and Cameroon also sought to cling to power.

Only minor opposition figures were eligible to compete against Hassan in the elections after the Independent National Electoral Commission disqualified the Chadema party in April for refusing to sign an electoral code of conduct.

The move came days after party leader Tundu Lissu was arrested at a rally where he called for electoral reforms and was charged with treason.

The commission also barred Luhaga Mpina, the candidate for the second largest opposition party, ACT-Wazalendo, after an objection from the attorney general.

Local and international watchdogs have sounded alarms over election-related violence and repression for months.

In June, a panel of nine UN experts called the government’s actions “unacceptable” and said they had tallied more than 200 disappearances since 2019.

And in September, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said it had documented at least 10 recent instances of politically motivated assault, harassment, abduction and torture as well as “extensive restrictions” on media and civil society organisations.

Nomathamsanqa Masiko-Mpaka, HRW’s South Africa researcher, warned at the time that Tanzania’s October elections were at “great risk”.

“The authorities need to stop muzzling dissenting voices and the media and instead engage in meaningful reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections,” Masiko-Mpaka added.

‘Massive fraud’ in Zanzibar

The ruling CCM retained the presidential seat in the semi-autonomous archipelago of Zanzibar, which remained calm on Friday with a heavy military presence.

The electoral commission in Zanzibar said on Thursday that the incumbent, President Hussein Mwinyi, had won 78.8 percent of the votes.

The opposition said there was “massive fraud” in Zanzibar’s results and announced it would reveal its next steps.

The protests have spread across the country, and the government has postponed the reopening of colleges and universities, which had been set for next Monday.

The army chief, Jacob John Mkunda, condemned the violence and said on Thursday that the military would work with other security agencies to contain the situation.