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Tanzania’s main opposition party claimed on Thursday that more than 2,000 people were killed during a week of unrest surrounding the country’s recent elections, urging international sanctions against officials it accuses of committing crimes against humanity.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan was declared the victor of the October 29 polls with an overwhelming 98 per cent of the vote.
Her administration, however, faces widespread allegations of electoral manipulation and orchestrating a brutal crackdown on critics, triggering demonstrations and violent clashes across the country.
John Heche, deputy chairperson of the opposition party Chadema, told journalists that Tanzania had witnessed “mass killings of more than 2,000 people and over 5,000 injured in the space of just one week”.
He alleged that the violence was carried out “with the direct involvement of the state” and amounted to “crimes against humanity”.
Earlier estimates from the opposition had placed the death toll at more than 1,000. The government has yet to provide any official figures.
Heche called on foreign governments to impose targeted sanctions on those he said were responsible for planning and executing the brutal crackdown, including travel bans extending to their families.
He also reported a surge in civilians fleeing the country, as well as numerous cases of abduction and enforced disappearance.
Chadema accused Tanzanian security forces of rape, torture and “gruesome killings”, along with widespread looting and arbitrary arrests. The party also urged authorities to hand over the bodies of the victims so their families could perform proper burials.
Dissent continues to be heavily suppressed in the aftermath of the vote, with planned demonstrations this week resulting in deserted streets and a strong security deployment.
President Hassan last week defended the lethal force used by security units, insisting it was necessary to prevent what she described as an attempted overthrow of the government.
“The force that was used corresponds to the situation at hand,” she said.
Although Hassan has announced an inquiry into the violence, the opposition argues that the commission consists solely of government loyalists and has renewed its demand for an independent investigation.
