Opposition challenger the latest to be arrested over call
for mass protests against what government critics say were rigged polls.
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| Presidential candidate Tundu Lissu was arrested in Dar es Salaam as he was leaving European Union missions [File: STR/AFP] |
Tanzanian police have released opposition presidential
candidate Tundu Lissu after questioning him for more than two hours, the main
opposition party Chadema has said.
Lissu’s arrest on Monday came hours after police also detained
several other opposition figures over a call for mass protests against
what government critics say were rigged elections.
The main opposition parties have rejected official results
which saw President John Magufuli win a second term with 84 percent of the
October 28 vote and his governing Chama Cha Mapinduzi party take 97 percent of
seats in parliament. They had called for peaceful demonstrations on Monday as
well as fresh elections.
A Chadema party spokesman said Lissu was detained in Dar es
Salaam while at a building housing the embassies of Britain, Germany and the
Netherlands along with the European Union delegation to Tanzania, adding that
more details were to come.
Regional police Commander Lazaro Mambosasa said of Lissu
earlier on Monday that his arrest is “in connection with the banned protest,”
according to the AFP news agency.
Lissu had garnered an official 13 percent in last week’s
polls. He survived an assassination attempt in 2017 and returned from exile
this year to join the presidential race.
Jeffrey Smith, of Vanguard Africa, a Washington-based,
pro-democracy nonprofit organisation, said Lissu – who has partnered with them
– told him on the phone earlier he had been seeking diplomatic protection for
several hours without luck.
Earlier on Monday, Lissu and ACT Wazalendo leader Zitto
Kabwe said in a joint statement that they believed “there have been attempts to
arrest the two of us”.
Scores of ACT Wazalendo members remain in custody in the
semi-autonomous region of Zanzibar, they said.
The statement called on other countries to condemn the
Tanzanian government for its “tyrannical behaviour” and said protest efforts
will continue.
Following Lissu’s arrest, Kabwe wrote on Twitter that “for
sure” he was also going to be arrested. “I want to make clear, I believe in
this cause, Magufuli wasn’t legitimately elected and I believe in fully 100%
peaceful protests. We are believers in non-violence. We shall win this too.”
Lissu’s arrest came hours after that of the chairman of his
Chadema party, Freeman Mbowe, and six other top opposition members.
“We arrested them in a meeting to organise the protests
which we already banned. Some of these people travelled from upcountry to Dar
es Salaam and are trying to use youths to take it to the streets,” the Dar es
Salaam police chief, Mambosasa, said on Monday.
Mambosasa said those arrested had “admitted that they were
organising criminal activities such as setting petrol stations, markets,
vehicles and some government offices on fire”.
US Ambassador Donald Wright said reported arrests were of
“extreme concern”.
“I urge the government to ensure the safety and security of
all opposition leaders, cease these targeted arrests, release detainees,
restore telecommunications and afford due process under the law to all
citizens,” he wrote on Twitter.
Opposition leaders said police charged their colleagues with
“terrorism-related offenses” and sealed off areas where a peaceful protest was
to begin over last week’s election that they call too flawed to stand.
Emmanuel Mvula, campaign manager with the ACT Wazalendo
party, told The Associated Press news agency there was “heavy deployment of
security forces” in the commercial hub of Dar es Salaam, where the two main
opposition parties planned to march to the national electoral commission.
“We have not been able to protest,” Lissu told Reuters news
agency earlier on Monday, citing heavy deployments of the police on the streets
and the arrest of several party officials and supporters
The opposition has alleged widespread irregularities before
and during the vote in the country that some observers say has taken a sharp
turn away from democratic ideals in the past five years.
In his bid for a second term, Magufuli promised to boost the
economy by completing infrastructure projects started in his first term and
continue a crackdown on corruption.
But the opposition and rights groups have complained that
his administration has cracked down on critical voices, closing down media
outlets and preventing opposition rallies. The government has denied stifling
dissent.
Allegations over the electoral process include the rejection
of thousands of observers, a massive slowdown in internet and text-messaging
services and deadly violence.
Few independent observers were allowed while many
journalists from foreign media, including Al Jazeera, were not able to obtain
accreditation to cover the elections.
In its latest critical statement on Monday, the United
States warned that “in coordination with our partners [it] will consider
actions including visa restrictions, as appropriate, to hold accountable those
found to be responsible for human rights abuses and interference in the
election process”.
The US statement added: “We remain deeply concerned by
credible reports of significant and widespread voting irregularities, internet
interruption, arrests, and violence by security forces both in mainland
Tanzania and on Zanzibar.” It called on all sides to show restraint.
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