(Reuters) -Tanzania’s government on Friday downplayed protests that have rocked several cities since a general election earlier this week as “isolated incidents” and said it was working to swiftly restore normalcy.
Protests erupted on Wednesday over anger about the exclusion of President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s two biggest challengers from the race and what the government’s critics say is widespread repression.
Police have imposed an overnight curfew in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam over the past two nights after government offices and other buildings were set ablaze, and internet access has been disrupted since Wednesday.
There have been no confirmed casualty counts, but a diplomatic source said there were credible reports of dozens of deaths.
The government issued its first comments directly addressing the unrest in the form of a message from the foreign affairs ministry to foreign diplomatic missions broadcast on the state television channel on Friday.
The ministry informed them that, “owing to isolated incidents of breaching to law and order, the Government has heightened security and taken several other precautionary measures”, it said.
“…the security measures in place are temporary but necessary and normalcy will return shortly.”
ELECTION RESULTS SHOW HASSAN WITH COMMANDING MAJORITIES
The military and police patrolled the streets and heavily restricted movement on Friday. The government extended a work-from-home order to civil servants and said anyone else without an urgent reason to go out should also work from home.
The unrest presents a test for Hassan, who won praise after taking office in 2021 for easing repression that marked her predecessor John Magufuli’s tenure but has more recently been assailed by critics for a series of arrests and alleged abductions of opponents.
Hassan has denied allegations of widespread rights abuses. She said last year she had ordered an investigation into reports of abductions, but no official findings have been released.
The electoral commission began announcing provisional election results on Thursday, which showed Hassan winning commanding majorities in various constituencies.
Hussein Mwinyi, the president of the semi-autonomous Zanzibar archipelago who is from the ruling CCM party, was re-elected with over 78% of the vote, the commission said.
MILITARY SAYS IT HAS ‘CONTROLLED THE SITUATION’
Speaking on the state broadcaster late on Thursday, army head Jacob Mkunda said the military and other security agencies had “controlled the situation”.
Tanzania’s main opposition party CHADEMA had called for demonstrations during the election. The party was disqualified in April after it refused to sign a code of conduct, and its leader Tundu Lissu was charged with treason.
The election commission also disqualified the presidential candidate for the opposition party ACT-Wazalendo, leaving only minor parties to take on Hassan.
In a statement on Thursday, leading members of the European Parliament called the elections a “fraud”, saying they “unfolded in an atmosphere of repression, intimidation, and fear”.
(Writing by Vincent Mumo Nzilani and George Obulutsa; Editing by Aaron Ross and Ros Russell)
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