A government-appointed commission of Inquiry in Tanzania has revealed that at least 518 people were killed in violence that broke out during Tanzania’s elections last October.
This is the first official acknowledgment of the scale of the deadly unrest, but the Commission of Inquiry placed the blame for the violence with the protesters, infuriating the government’s opponents who accused it of bias.
The U.N. Human Rights office last year estimated that hundreds were killed in violence driven by the exclusion of leading opposition candidates from presidential and parliamentary elections and the main opposition party has said thousands died.
Tanzanian authorities have previously declined to comment on casualty figures, saying they were awaiting the report of the Commission of Inquiry, which was appointed by President Samia Suluhu Hassan in November last year.
The Commission of Inquiry Chairman Mohamed Chande Othman said the death toll could be an undercount because of difficulties identifying victims an did not pass judgment on the actions of law enforcement, instead recommending that a commission of criminal investigation be formed to probe specific incidents.
Chande said that the Commission had “indisputable evidence” that the violence was planned and funded by trained people but did not name them.
He explained that the organisers used various techniques, including using people without deep understanding and desperate youth, while encouraging simultaneous acts of violence across different locations.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who was declared the winner of the presidential election with nearly 98% of the vote, has said the protests were an attempt to overthrow her government and received foreign funding, without providing evidence.
The main opposition party, CHADEMA, rejected the Commission’s work, in a statement issued yesterday saying that a government accused of carrying out violent abuses cannot investigate itself.
However, Chande acknowledged receiving allegations that people were shot in homes and shops, including near a cafe in the northern city of Mwanza.
Earlier reporting found that Police officers massacred more than a dozen unarmed young men at the cafe far from any known protest and witnesses to other incidents in Mwanza and two other cities also told Reuters they saw officers shoot at people who were not protesting.
The government said at the time that it took concerns about the use of force seriously but that many allegations were based on unverified and out-of-context information.
Additional Reporting from Associated Press
