Tanzanian kidnappings: Samia tells foreign officials not to look into reports

Foreign officials were told on Tuesday not to get involved in Tanzania’s business, as President Samia Suluhu Hassan fights claims that the country’s security forces are behind the recent disappearances and deaths of opposition leaders.

The worrying trend comes as the country gets ready for local elections in November. President Samia says her government can and will handle the situation on its own.

The president said that condemnations from several Western diplomatic missions in Tanzania were not welcome and were against the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. This was her first substantive comment on the recent violent events that have cast a shadow over the upcoming elections.

Foreign diplomats “have a duty not to interfere in the internal affairs of that State,” according to Article 41 of the convention.

Samia said that Tanzania would not agree with any other country on how to investigate the violence that had political ties.

On September 6, a top Chadema secretariat member named Ali Mohamed Kibao was kidnapped and then killed in Dar es Salaam. This was the worst act of violence to date.

Kibi was taken from a bus going upcountry by people who were thought to be security agents in normal clothes. This happened on the edge of the city, where everyone could see.

After hours, his dead body was found in a nearby bush. A chemical that was thought to be acid had messed up some of his face.

A lot of political and human rights activists have been missing, detained, and beaten in recent weeks. In a statement released on September 9, the US mission in Dar es Salaam said these actions were “efforts to disenfranchise citizens ahead of (the) elections.”

The European Union, the British and Canadian High Commissions, as well as the offices of Norway and Switzerland, all spoke out against the trend on September 10.

The US embassy in Dar asked for a “independent, transparent, and prompt investigation.” The other five missions, on the other hand, called for a detailed look into what happened.

At a live speech in Moshi on Tuesday, marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Tanzania Police Force, President Samia said that “outsiders” should not say that the events were more painful for them than they were for Tanzanians.

It is our job to figure out why these things are happening right now: kidnappings and killings. As an independent nation, we know what we need to do and don’t like it when other countries tell us what to do,” she said.

“I believe these statements were not sanctioned by the heads of state of those countries, but I have my own ways of checking with my fellow presidents and once I confirm that they were not, I will lodge formal complaints with them.”

Before the foreign corps got involved, the president had already told the police to look into Kibao’s death as soon as possible and make a final report public.

Monday of this week, Prime Minister Majaliwa said that it was “easy to point fingers at the police,” but that “such incidents that tend to happen during election periods” could also be caused by people working behind the scenes to cause trouble.

Also, Freeman Mbowe, the head of the Chadema party, wants Britain’s Scotland Yard to be involved in the investigation into the murder of Kibao. He said that the party did not trust Tanzanian police to do a “proper and transparent” investigation.

Also, the party has said that it will lead protests across the country starting next week if the Kibao investigation doesn’t make real progress by then.

People are angry about Kibao’s death and other recent incidents, which have made them more worried about their safety ahead of the nationwide municipal elections on November 28. These elections are meant to set the pattern for next year’s general election, where President Samia will be defending her position as president and the ruling CCM its majority legislative control until 2030.