Tanzania president sworn in as opposition says hundreds killed in protests / Photo: © POOL/AFP/File
Tanzania president sworn in as opposition says hundreds killed in protests
Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan played down days of bloody protest as she was inaugurated on Monday, with an internet blackout still in place as the opposition says hundreds were killed.
The electoral commission said Hassan won 98 percent of the vote.
The main opposition party, Chadema, which was barred from running, has rejected the results. It has called for fresh elections, saying last Wednesday's vote was a "sham".
In her speech, Hassan called for "unity and solidarity" but also alleged that some of the young protesters came from "outside Tanzania".
"Our defence and security agencies continue to investigate and examine in detail what happened," she said, promising a return to normalcy as she addressed officials and foreign dignitaries in the capital Dodoma.
The ceremony was held in State House without the public, rather than a stadium is usually the case.
A total internet blackout has been in place since protests broke out on election day, meaning only a trickle of verifiable information has been getting out of the east African country.
A diplomatic source said there were credible reports of hundreds -- perhaps even thousands -- of deaths registered at hospitals and health clinics around Tanzania.
Chadema told AFP it had recorded "no less than 800" deaths by Saturday, but none of the figures could be independently verified.
The government has not commented on any deaths, except to reject accusations that "excessive force" was used.
Schools and colleges remained closed on Monday, with public transport halted and reports of some church services not taking place on Sunday.
The diplomatic source said there were "concerning reports" that police were using the internet blackout to buy time as they "hunt down opposition members and protesters who might have videos" of atrocities committed last week.
Dar es Salaam and other cities were much calmer over the weekend as a near-total lockdown was in place, but prices were soaring for basic goods.
An AFP reporter said police were stopping almost everyone who moved around the city, checking IDs and bags, and allowing shops to open only in the afternoon.
AFP journalists on the island of Zanzibar, which has greater political freedom and had few protests, saw masked armed men patrolling without visible insignia or identification in the days after the election.
A rights group in neighbouring Kenya presented footage on Sunday that it said was gathered from inside Tanzania, including images of dead bodies piled up in the street.
The images could not be independently verified.
Pope Leo XIV on Sunday called for prayers for Tanzania where he said post-election violence had erupted "with numerous victims".
"I urge everyone to avoid all forms of violence and to pursue the path of dialogue," the pope said.
- 'Wave of terror' -
Hassan was elevated from vice-president on the sudden death of her predecessor, John Magufuli, in 2021 and wanted an emphatic victory to cement her place and silence critics within the ruling party, analysts say.
Rights groups described a "wave of terror" ahead of the vote, including a string of high-profile abductions that escalated in the final days.
Despite a heavy security presence, election day descended into chaos as large crowds tore down Hassan's posters and attacked police and polling stations.
Polling stations had been largely empty before the violence broke out, AFP journalists and observers saw, though the electoral commission later claimed turnout was 87 percent.
"In some polling stations, they (police) were more than the number of voters," an initial report by Southern African Development Community observers said Monday.
They emphasised censorship and exclusion of the opposition ahead of the vote and said their "tentative conclusion" was that Tanzanians "could not express their democratic will".
G.Morris--TNT
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