The US examines Tanzania’s relationship due to issues with investment and religious freedom

Concerns over religious freedom, free speech, barriers to U.S. investment, and violence against civilians have prompted the U.S. to evaluate its relationship with Tanzania, the State Department said on Thursday.

Following violent protests during a general election in October, the United States issued security alerts for Americans residing in the East African nation. Although the government rejects those statistics as inflated, rights organizations, opposition parties, and the UN have stated that hundreds of people were probably murdered in the confrontations.

Following the chaos that resulted in the nation’s largest political crisis in decades, President Samia Suluhu Hassan declared the election to be fair and pledged to look into the violence.

Following recent government measures that generated serious concerns about the bilateral relationship and Tanzania’s dependability as a partner, the State Department announced that the U.S. was undertaking a thorough investigation.

“The government of Tanzania’s ongoing repression of religious freedom and free speech, the presence of persistent obstacles to U.S. investment, and disturbing violence against civilians in the days leading up to and following Tanzania’s October 29 elections, required this reconsideration of our ties,” the department stated in a statement.

It claimed that those acts endangered Americans living in the nation.

The human remains of those murdered in the election skirmishes are reportedly being buried in mysterious mass graves or burnt after going missing from mortuaries, according to a separate statement from U.N. human rights experts.

According to the experts, “the government must ensure the identification and dignified return of the remains to their families and provide information on the fate and whereabouts of all disappeared persons.”

A request for comment on the U.S. statement was not immediately answered by Tanzanian government spokeswoman Gerson Msigwa.

Msigwa responded to the U.N. experts’ statement by claiming that a large number of reports that are making the rounds in the media and on social media don’t have confirmed proof.

“It is therefore important that we allow the investigation team to complete its work so that we can rely on accurate information and confirmed figures,” he stated.
What the State Department views as barriers to U.S. investment in Tanzania was not explained.

Citing the murder of Christians, President Donald Trump reinstated Nigeria on a list of nations the United States claims have violated religious freedom in November.