Tanzanian authorities have lifted a night-time curfew in the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, marking the first signs of calm after a week of deadly unrest following a disputed election that handed President Samia Suluhu Hassan a controversial 98% victory.
The nationwide internet shutdown that followed the election has begun to ease, though social media platforms remain restricted. Businesses have reopened cautiously, and traffic has resumed in Dar es Salaam — but scars from the violence remain visible.
Opposition supporters, who denounced the poll as a “sham,”clashed with security forces across several cities, prompting widespread arrests, deaths, and disappearances. Chadema, the main opposition party, claimed that at least 800 people were killed in the unrest, a figure partially supported by diplomatic sources citing over 500 deaths, though the UN human rights office confirmed only 10 verified fatalities so far.
Families continue to search for missing relatives. Doctors at Muhimbili Hospital told the BBC that bodies of victims were being secretly removed at night by vehicles marked Municipal Burial Services, denying families access to remains.
Chadema Deputy Chairman John Heche has reportedly gone missing after being taken from a police station in Dodoma on Tuesday. His family says his whereabouts remain unknown, deepening fears of targeted abductions.
Rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, condemned what they described as “lethal force and other abuses” by security forces, urging independent investigations into the killings and disappearances.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan, in her swearing-in speech, acknowledged the loss of lives and damage to public property but blamed foreign national for stoking unrest. Her administration’s credibility, once buoyed by initial reforms following John Magufuli’s death in 2021, now faces serious international scrutiny.
Observers from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) said the elections fell short of democratic standards, citing the detention of opposition leader Tundu Lissu and the exclusion of candidate Luhaga Mpina.
As Tanzania struggles to restore normalcy, the shadow of repression and grief continues to hang over Africa’s once-promising democracy.
