By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Opposition parties in Tanzania have raised concern that about 700 people have been killed during three days of post-election demonstrations in the East African country.
Protests had erupted on Wednesday over what analysts say is the stifling of opposition following the disqualification of key candidates from the presidential ballot.
According to spokespersons of the main opposition party CHADEMA, John Kitoka, hundreds of persons have been killed since the October 29 election.
“As we speak, the figure for deaths in Dar [es Salaam] is around 350 and for Mwanza it is 200-plus. Added to figures from other places around the country, the overall figure is around 700,” he told reporters.
He added that the toll could be much higher because killings could be happening during a night-time curfew that was imposed from Wednesday.
AFP quoted a security source as saying that there had been reports of more than 500 dead, “maybe 700-800 in the whole country”.
Amnesty International said it had received information that at least 100 people had been killed.
Kitoka said CHADEMA’s numbers had been gathered by a network of party members going to hospitals and health clinics and “counting dead bodies”.
He demanded that the government “stop killing our protesters” and called for a transitional government to pave the way for free and fair elections. “Stop police brutality. Respect the will of the people which is electoral justice,” Kitoka said.
Tanzanians went to the polls on Wednesday in an election in which the incumbent President Samia Suluhu Hassan was expected to strengthen her grip on the country amid rapidly intensifying repression and the exclusion of key opponents from the presidential contest.
In April, Tundu Lissu, the vice-chair of CHADEMA, was arrested and charged with treason and cybercrime offences. His party was later disqualified from participating in the election over its call for reforms of the electoral system to ensure credibility.
Last month, Luhaga Mpina, the leader of ACT-Wazalendo, another opposition party, was also disqualified. This left President Hassan, the first female President of the country to contest with barely known candidates from small political parties.
Government critics were also abducted and arrested in the run-up to the election.
Since Wednesday, huge crowds of protesters have attacked police and destroyed property belonging to businesses connected to the ruling party.
The demonstrations were focused mainly in the port city of Dar es Salaam but have since spread across the country.
The government reacted by imposing a curfew. Internet disruption was also reported, with the global monitor NetBlocks saying it was countrywide.
On Thursday, the army chief, Gen Jacob John Mkunda, condemned the violenceand called the protesters “criminals”. He said security forces would try to contain the situation.
