Hundreds Detained in Tanzania in Crackdown on Opposition

(Bloomberg) -- Tanzanian authorities detained hundreds of opposition leaders and supporters ahead of a planned rally to mark International Youth Day, a crackdown they said was necessary to avert the risk of violence.

Tundu Lissu, the deputy leader of the opposition Chadema party, and its chairman Freeman Mbowe were among those apprehended in the central Mbeya region, party spokesman John Mrema said.

“We demand the immediate and unconditional release of all our leaders, members and supporters who were arrested in different parts of the country,” Mbowe said in a post on social media platform X before his arrest on Monday.

With Tanzania due to hold a local government vote in November and general elections next year, President Samia Hassan appears intent on demonstrating her resolve not to tolerate unrest. The clampdown follows violent anti-government protests in neighboring Kenya, where at least 61 people have died, and in Nigeria, where more than 20 people have been killed.

Chadema “leaders have continued to issue statements which suggest that the real intention is not to mark the International Youth Day, but to mobilize youths to engage in acts aimed at disrupting peace,” Commissioner of Police Awadh Haji said in a statement on Sunday, in which he justified the arrests.

ACT Wazalendo, another Tanzanian opposition party, held its own rally to mark youth day in Pemba in the semi-autonomous Zanzibar archipelago Sunday, and three of its youth leaders were arrested in Dar es Salaam, the commercial hub, on Monday.

In all, more than 300 people have been taken into custody, according to the Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition.

Unidentified gunmen shot Lissu 16 times in the capital, Dodoma, in 2017 and he left the country to seek medical treatment. He recovered and went on to contest the 2020 presidential election but lost to John Magufuli, who died in office the following year. Lissu returned to the political stage last year after spending two years in self-imposed exile in Belgium.

“We don’t know the whereabouts of our leaders who were arrested, including Lissu,” Mrema told journalists on Monday. “Police continued to arrest youths last night from different parts of the country who were heading to Mbeya and forced others to turn back under police escort.”

While Hassan lifted a ban on rallies and some newspapers after succeeding the autocratic Magufuli in 2021, opposition leaders have accused her of rowing back on democratic reforms.

“What’s happening in Mbeya with the arrests is an ominous sign that we could return to the previous authoritarian era at any time,” said Onesmo Olengurumwa, a Dar es Salaam-based human rights lawyer. “If you ban political rallies, you will force youths to launch their own social movement.”