Tanzania arrests top opposition figure Lissu in mass round-up

Tanzanian police have arrested leading opposition Chadema party figure Tundu Lissu and other top officials, a Chadema official said. (Ericky Boniphace/AFP)

• Tanzanian police detained key figures of the opposition
  Chadema party, including Tundu Lissu, and arrested around 500 youth supporters
  on their way to a rally in Mbeya to mark International Youth Day.
• The police had banned the Chadema youth gathering,
  accusing the party of planning violent demonstrations. 
• The arrests come amidst President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s
  political reforms, moving away from predecessor Magufuli’s authoritarian
  policies, including lifting a ban on opposition rallies.

Tanzanian police have detained leading opposition Chadema
party figures including former presidential candidate Tundu Lissu, and rounded
up several hundred youth supporters, a Chadema official said on Monday.

The Chadema leaders were arrested in the southwestern city
of Mbeya, where the party was due to hold a rally on Monday to mark
International Youth Day, Chadema’s director of communications and foreign
affairs John Mrema told AFP on Sunday.

He said that around 500 youth supporters had also been
arrested by police as they were making their way to the Mbeya gathering and
were being escorted back home.

Tanzanian police had announced Sunday a ban on the Chadema
youth gathering, accusing the party of planning violent demonstrations.

The youth wing had said about 10 000 youngsters were
expected to meet in Mbeya to mark International Youth Day under the slogan
“Take charge of your future”.

Chadema leader Freeman Mbowe said he “strongly”
condemned the arrests of his deputy Lissu, secretary general John Mnyika, zonal
chair Joseph Mbilinyi and leaders of the youth council.

“We demand the immediate and unconditional release of
all our leaders, members, and supporters who were arrested in various parts of
the country,” he said on X, formerly Twitter.

“The party is closely monitoring the situation and will
continue to inform the public of every development step by step.”

Chadema officials had on Sunday denounced the police ban and
called on President Samia Suluhu Hassan to intervene.

Since taking the helm in 2021 after the sudden death of
president John Magufuli, Hassan has moved away from her predecessor’s
authoritarian policies and embarked on political reforms, including relaxing
some restrictions on the media and the opposition.

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In January 2023, she lifted a ban on opposition rallies
imposed in 2016 by Magufuli, in an overture to political rivals seeking the
restoration of democratic traditions.

Lissu had returned to Tanzania soon after Hassan lifted the
ban, ending five years spent largely in exile following a 2017 assassination
bid.

In March 2022, Mbowe was freed about seven months after he
and other Chadema leaders were arrested just hours before the party was to hold
a public forum to demand constitutional reforms.

Announcing the ban on Sunday, Awadh Haji, Tanzania’s police
chief in charge of operations and training, said the force had “clear
indications that their aim is not to celebrate the International Youth Day but
to initiate and engage in violence”.

Lissu had on Sunday vowed that the youth event would go
ahead as planned.

“President Samia, don’t bring Magufuli’s strange ways.
International Youth Day is celebrated globally. Why are your police blocking
Chadema youth on the road and arresting them?” he said on X.

“This is not a time to stay silent, be afraid, or just
talk. It’s a time to stand up and be counted. Let’s raise our voices with all
our strength!”

Tanzania is due to hold presidential and parliamentary polls
late next year.