Tanzania's Repression of Dissent Intensifies Ahead of General Elections

Strategic Insights -

Tanzanian authorities have significantly increased their repression of dissent, targeting opposition leaders, journalists, civil society, and human rights defenders in a deliberate attempt to instill fear, suppress civic engagement, and entrench power ahead of the country's general elections on 29 October. Despite President Samia Suluhu Hassan's initial promises of reform, her government has continued and intensified repressive practices, including assaults, arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial killings, and enforced disappearances, with no accountability for those responsible.

Key Takeaways:

  • Amnesty International has documented 43 cases of human rights abuses, including enforced disappearances, torture, and extrajudicial killings, mostly targeting opposition figures and activists.
  • Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International's Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, has stated that President Samia Suluhu Hassan's government has "dashed hopes for reform" and continued to use the criminal justice system to repress opposition, with opposition leader Tundu Lissu facing charges of treason and publishing false statements.
  • The Tanzanian authorities have passed flawed laws and regulations, including amendments to the Political Parties Affairs Laws Act 2024 and the Independent National Electoral Commission Act 2024, that have further suppressed civic space and the right to participate freely in elections.
  • Amnesty International has called for prompt and rigorous investigations into all reported abductions, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and attacks, and for those responsible to be brought to justice.
  • The human rights situation in Tanzania has worsened since President Hassan's initial months in office, particularly as the country approaches general elections on 29 October.
  • Amnesty International has warned that the 2025 elections risk becoming a procedural exercise devoid of legitimacy, conducted in an environment where fear, violence, and exclusion have replaced open political participation.

Statistics:

  • 43 victims, witnesses, family members of victims, legal representatives, and members of civil society organizations were interviewed by Amnesty International for the briefing "Unopposed, unchecked, unjust: The disquiet beneath the 2025 Tanzania vote."
  • 83 cases of people going missing under mysterious circumstances were documented by the Tanganyika Law Society as of August 9, 2024.
  • 7 September 2024, the body of Ali Mohammed Kibao, a senior strategist for Chadema, was found dumped near the shores of the Indian Ocean a day after being abducted from a bus in Dar es Salaam.
  • More than a year since Chadema youth activists Deusdedith Soka and Jacob Mlay, and Frank Mbise, a motorcycle taxi driver, were abducted by a group of men suspected to be police officers, their whereabouts remain unknown.

Sources:

  • Amnesty International -- "Unopposed, unchecked, unjust: The disquiet beneath the 2025 Tanzania vote"
  • Tanganyika Law Society -- 83 cases of people going missing under mysterious circumstances as of August 9, 2024
  • Amnesty International -- "Lawfare: Repression by Law ahead of Tanzania's General Elections" (2020)