Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan on Tuesday backed the country’s security forces suspected of killing hundreds of unarmed protesters, saying the protesters were aiming to overthrow the government.
East African leaders have claimed without evidence that young people were being paid to take to the streets after October’s disputed elections. “These were not protests, but malicious violence,” he said in a speech to the nation. “What happened was a fabricated event, and those who planned it intended to overthrow our government. In such situations, the government is responsible, and we pledge to defend this country and its borders, and to protect the security of its people and its property. And in that case, the force used will be proportionate to the event.”
The main opposition party, CHADEMA, claims that more than 2,000 people were killed after the election. The government dismissed the figure as “grossly exaggerated” but refused to confirm the death toll, focusing instead on property damage.
“So when we are said to have used excessive force in that incident, what was the minimum force? Should we have waited until the protesters who were planning to overthrow the government were successful?”
CNN’s exclusive investigation found that police fired on unarmed protesters who posed no threat. Satellite images, eyewitness accounts and video obtained by CNN also found evidence of mass graves north of Dar es Salaam. The government denied CNN’s report, saying it was misleading, but did not dispute the specific facts.
Hassan dismissed widespread youth dissatisfaction with the government, calling the protesters unpatriotic. “Young people had no reason to take to the streets, but they were just misled into singing about issues that don’t concern them,” she said, speaking at a gathering of elders in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam.
She also falsely claimed that the opposition party refused to participate in the election (she claimed she won with 98% of the vote), even though the two main rival parties were prohibited from running on technical grounds. CHADEMA leader Tundu Lissu has been imprisoned since April on charges of treason, which carries the death penalty. Human rights groups say many other government critics have disappeared, been arrested or abducted by police to silence them in the run-up to the election.
The president angrily criticized opposition parties, civil society, religious leaders and foreign governments, accusing them of a brutal crackdown on protests and the backsliding of democracy in the country. “Those foreigners keep saying that Tanzania should do one, two, three, but who are you?” she asked. “Do they still think they are our masters and colonizers? Why is it because of the little money they give us?”
