Dodoma [Tanzania], November 1 (HBTV): Tanzania’s main opposition party has alleged that hundreds of people were killed in violent protests following this week’s disputed elections, while the United Nations has reported ‘credible information’ indicating at least ten deaths, Al Jazeera reported on Friday.
‘As we speak, the number of deaths in [Dar-es-Salaam] is around 350 and there are more than 200 in Mwanza,’ Chadema party spokesperson John Kitoka said on Friday, referring to the commercial capital and a major northern city. ‘If we add the figures from other places in the country, we arrive at a total of around 700 deaths,’ Kitoka claimed, as quoted by Al Jazeera.
The Chadema party said its members toured hospitals nationwide to gather the figures. Tanzania’s government has not released any casualty estimates, stating only that its forces were working to restore order following ‘isolated incidents’.
The opposition’s estimate stands in sharp contrast to that of the UN. In a Friday briefing, UN human rights spokesperson Seif Magango told reporters in Geneva that credible sources had confirmed at least ten deaths caused by security forces so far.
‘We call on the security forces to refrain from using unnecessary or disproportionate force, including lethal weapons, against protesters, and to make every effort to de-escalate tensions,’ Magango said.
Demonstrations erupted on Wednesday in Dar-es-Salaam—a city of more than seven million people—after chaotic elections in which the two main opposition parties were barred from participating. Several vehicles, a petrol station, and police stations were set ablaze by protesters angered by the limited electoral choices and alleged harassment of opposition figures.
By Friday, hundreds of demonstrators were still clashing with police, demanding that the national electoral body halt the announcement of results. In response, the government deployed the military and enforced an internet shutdown.
A day earlier, protesters who defied a curfew in the Mbagala, Gongo la Mboto, and Kiluvya neighbourhoods of Dar-es-Salaam were dispersed with tear gas and gunfire.
Wednesday’s elections saw President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s two main challengers excluded from the race, sparking widespread outrage among citizens and rights groups, who have also condemned what they describe as an intensifying crackdown on opposition members, activists, and journalists, Al Jazeera reported.