Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan has come out strongly in support of the nation’s security forces following allegations that hundreds of unarmed civilians were killed during violent unrest after October’s contested election. Speaking in a national address, the president claimed without providing evidence that the demonstrations were part of a coordinated effort to topple her administration.
Hassan said young people were allegedly paid to take to the streets and insisted the events were far from peaceful gatherings. “These were not ordinary protests. What unfolded was a deliberate plot meant to destabilize the country,” she told citizens. According to her, the authorities acted within their mandate to protect the nation’s security, arguing that the force used matched the scale of the threat.
Opposition party CHADEMA disputes that narrative and asserts that more than 2,000 people lost their lives in the aftermath of the election. Government officials have rejected that figure as “grossly inflated” but have refrained from releasing an official death toll, instead highlighting incidents of property destruction.
A separate CNN investigation documented police firing on unarmed crowds and reported evidence of mass burial sites outside Dar es Salaam, based on videos, satellite images and eyewitness testimony. Although the government dismissed the report as biased, it has not refuted the specific findings.
In her speech, Hassan brushed aside concerns about growing discontent among young Tanzanians, accusing them of being misled into supporting causes “that do not belong to them.” She also misleadingly claimed that the opposition boycotted the election despite the fact that the major rival parties had been barred from participating due to technical disqualifications. CHADEMA’s leader, Tundu Lissu, remains detained on treason charges, and human rights groups report widespread arrests and disappearances of government critics leading up to the polls.
The president also directed sharp criticism at opposition figures, civil society organizations, religious leaders and foreign governments who have condemned the heavy-handed response and democratic decline. “They tell us what to do as if they still own us,” she said. “Is it because of the small aid they give?”
