UN believes hundreds were killed in Tanzania election protests

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(Reuters) -The U.N. Human Rights Office said on Tuesday it believes hundreds of people were killed in Tanzania in protests that erupted during last month’s elections, adding it has received reports that security forces are hiding bodies.

Tanzania government spokesperson Gerson Msigwa did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

The main opposition party, CHADEMA, and some human rights activists have said security forces killed more than 1,000 people in the unrest surrounding the October 29 vote, which plunged the East African country into its biggest political crisis in decades.

GOVERNMENT HAS CALLED OPPOSITION’S FIGURE EXAGGERATED

President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s government has said the opposition’s death toll is exaggerated but has not put forward its own figure for the number of dead.

Hassan was declared winner of last month’s election, garnering nearly 98% of the vote. Her two leading challengers had been disqualified from the race.

The U.N. had previously said on October 31 that it had reports that at least 10 people were killed in three cities.

The U.N. Human Rights Office said in a statement it had been unable to independently verify casualty figures because of volatile security and an internet shutdown in the days after the election.

However, it said: “Information obtained by the U.N. Human Rights Office from different sources in Tanzania suggests hundreds of protesters and other people were killed and an unknown number injured or detained.”

The statement also quoted U.N. human rights chief Volker Turk as saying there were reports security forces had removed bodies from streets and hospitals and taken them to undisclosed locations “in an apparent attempt to conceal evidence”.

The government has previously denied that security agents used excessive force and has said they were responding to violence by criminal elements.

HUNDREDS HAVE BEEN CHARGED OVER THE PROTESTS

On Monday, police released on bail four senior opposition leaders, including the vice chairman of CHADEMA. More than 300 other people have been charged in connection with the protests, including at least 145 with treason.

CHADEMA’s leader, Tundu Lissu, was charged with treason in April. His exclusion from the presidential ballot was one major trigger of the protests.

Hassan’s opponents have accused her government of suppressing dissent and carrying out widespread abductions of critics. Observers from the African Union said last week that the election was not in line with democratic standards.

Hassan, in office since 2021, has rejected criticism of her human rights record and defended the fairness of the election. Last year, she ordered an investigation into the reported abductions, but no findings have been unveiled.

(Reporting by Humphrey MalaloWriting by Vincent Mumo NzilaniEditing by George Obulutsa, Thomas Derpinghaus and Frances Kerry)