President of Tanzania recognizes deaths and promises to look into vote violence
Tanzania’s president acknowledged the impact of the conflicts in her most public statement to date on Friday, offering condolences to families affected and promising to look into the violence during last month’s elections.
According to Samia Suluhu Hassan, the state would form a commission to pursue “reconciliation and peace.” Despite claims that security forces killed over 1,000 people, CHADEMA, the main opposition group, did not immediately respond.
The exclusion of the two main opposition candidates and what activists referred to as a crackdown on dissent—charges the government has denied—were the main causes of the protests, which the U.N. said this week resulted in hundreds of deaths.
In her first speech to parliament since she won the election on October 29 with nearly 98% of the vote, Hassan urged members to observe a moment of silence and said, “I extend my condolences to all families who lost their loved ones.”
She said, “The government has taken the step of establishing an inquiry commission to investigate what happened, so that we may know the root cause of the problem,” but she did not identify the perpetrator of the assault.
The government has rejected opposition claims of excessive fatalities and injuries, but it has not provided its own estimates of the damage caused by the unrest that sparked the largest political crisis to hit the East African nation in decades.
CHARGES FOR TREASONS
Tanzanian activist Maria Sarungi Tsehai, who resides in Kenya, reacted to Hassan’s comments by demanding that the president resign.
“Your gang’s brutality and the atrocities they committed must stop! “Justice is necessary for peace,” she wrote on X.
Hundreds of youths have been accused of treason by state authorities for their alleged participation in the demonstrations.
Hassan asked prosecutors to drop charges against individuals who “merely followed the crowd” after claiming on Friday that others “did not know what they were doing.”
Ballot box stuffing, according to African Union observers, tainted the vote process.
The administration has denied claims of massive violations of human rights and defended the actions of security forces throughout the demonstrations. The voting was deemed fair as well.
No results have been made public since Hassan launched an investigation last year into claims that government critics had been kidnapped.
The building of roads, railroads, and power plants is expected to contribute to Tanzania’s estimated 6% economic growth this year. Tanzania is a producer of gold and copper.
