The Albany Gazette - 'My blood was spilled here': a year on, Tanzania unable to mourn election violence

The October 29 election, in which President Samia Suluhu Hassan was declared the winner with 98 percent of the vote after opposition figures were barred from running, triggered days of protests that security forces brutally suppressed.

Rights groups and the opposition say thousands were killed, while a government-appointed commission put the death toll at 518.

For 61-year-old Twaha Bomeza, life changed on election day when shrapnel lodged in his eye during a shootout to disperse protesters, leaving him in need of surgery he cannot afford.

"I tried to save myself, but I was shot. I fell down here and lost four front teeth," Bomeza told AFP on the streets of the economic capital, Dar es Salaam, displaying his dentures.

"I am still nursing an internal wound in my eyes," he said, adding that he now experiences shortness of breath and constant headaches.

"My blood was spilled here, but a year has passed, and there is no more blood here," he added.

As the anniversary approaches, the Catholic Church has called for nationwide masses to honour the victims, while the main opposition party, Chadema, has announced a seven-day mourning period.

But the police have warned against any plans for "criminal" mobilisation, despite a presidential commission recommending a memorial.

Tanzania is "tense", multiple analysts told AFP, with arbitrary arrests on the rise.

"The country is not only in a mourning mood but also in a state of terror. We live in paranoia," rights defender Tito Magoti said.

Over the past week, senior opposition official John Pambalu was charged with treason, while a Tanzanian dissident, Twaha Mwaipaya, was abducted in Kenya and remains missing.

"The state is very nervous and they're ready to use a heavy-handed approach to contain anything that might be planned around the one-year anniversary," Anna Bwana, director of civil society group Twaweza East Africa, told AFP.

"If you commemorate, then you're acknowledging what happened and you're acknowledging the numbers of those who lost their lives. And how can you commemorate when you're still kidnapping others," she said, adding that many had still not been able to bury their loved ones.

- 'Silence' -

Another potential flashpoint is the treason trial of opposition leader Tundu Lissu, whose verdict is due on November 6.

Lissu, who staged a hunger strike this week to demand access to his lawyer, was arrested ahead of the election for championing a "no reform, no election" campaign.

"They are trying to silence all critics and opposition figures to make sure nothing much will happen around the two events," said Fulgence Masawe, director of advocacy and reforms at the Legal and Human Rights Centre.

Masawe told AFP his organisation is representing around 56 people facing terrorism-related charges.

Tanzania formed a presidential commission to investigate last year's deadly violence, but little progress has been made. Critics say it was established in "bad faith" to help the government "clean Tanzania's image" internationally.

"The state is trying to deny and delete the history of their complicity in the massacre that they conducted last year," Magoti said.

Amnesty International has criticised Tanzania for failing to hold those responsible to account, saying it has instead been "weaponising counterterrorism laws to silence critics and instil fear."

Even if the state is suppressing the commemorations, many carry visible reminders.

Joseph Zakayo, 37, shows off a huge scar in his thigh where he was shot during the unrest. He can no longer operate his motorcycle taxi business.

"My life has taken a major step backwards," he said.

(Y.Harris--TAG)