Tanzania is witnessing a tentative return to normalcy as the government partially lifts restrictions, including a stringent curfew and a near-total internet blackout, which were imposed following post-election violence that the opposition claims has resulted in hundreds of deaths.
The country’s electoral body declared President Samia Suluhu Hassan the overwhelming winner of the October 29 poll with 98 percent of the vote, a result the political opposition has vehemently rejected as a “sham.”
The sudden violence, which erupted immediately after the controversial election, has left the nation tense, despite the partial lifting of controls.
An AFP journalist in the economic capital, Dar es Salaam, observed a slow resumption of daily life on Tuesday, but the prevailing sentiment among the population was fear. Food vendor Rehema Shehoza, 32, expressed the desperation of the working class, telling the AFP, “I hope violence will not come again… Some of us would die from hunger because I need to get out for work to get my daily bread.”
Authorities announced the formal lifting of a curfew on Monday, which had been imposed on election day, and subsequently, some public bus services resumed operation after a near-total shutdown of transport.
This limited return to mobility led to long queues at reopening gas stations, where prices had soared, with private transportation, such as tuk-tuks and motorbikes, working to fill the gaps in the public transport network.
While a security presence remained visible in Dar es Salaam, it was noted to be considerably reduced compared to the intense deployments of recent days.
The severe internet blackout, in place since protests began on election day, has also been partially eased, leading to the intermittent sharing of graphic images, reportedly depicting the protests and subsequent violence, across social media platforms.
However, the information flowing from the East African nation remains difficult to independently verify, hindering attempts to accurately assess the scale of the violence. The police responded to the online activity by circulating a text message on Monday threatening to punish anyone caught spreading footage that could potentially “create panic or humiliate people” online.
The opposition party, Chadema, provided a chilling account of the fatalities, claiming to have recorded “no less than 800” deaths by the preceding Saturday.
This aligns with highly alarming reports cited by a diplomatic source, which indicated credible reports of hundreds perhaps even thousands of deaths registered at hospitals and health clinics across Tanzania.
During her acceptance speech, the declared winner, President Hassan, acknowledged the unrest, expressing sadness over “incidents of violence that have led to loss of lives,” though she offered no further details or casualty figures, instead promising that security and defense forces would launch an investigation.
The diplomatic source also relayed “concerning reports” suggesting the police may have strategically utilized the internet blackout to gain time for a targeted operation, specifically to “hunt down opposition members and protesters who might have videos” documenting atrocities committed during the preceding week of violence.
The human toll of the crackdown was underscored by a Dar es Salaam resident who communicated with Human Rights Watch, recounting that her neighbor, a non-protester, was shot dead by a man in civilian clothing outside his home just a day after the election.
