HUNDREDS of people have been killed in Tanzania during three days of protests following Wednesday’s general election, the country’s main opposition party has said.
The death toll varies, and a nationwide internet shutdown is making it difficult to verify the numbers.
While a spokesperson from the opposition Chadema party told AFP news agency that “around 700” people had been killed in clashes with security forces, a diplomatic source in Tanzania told the BBC there was credible evidence that at least 500 people had died.
The government has sought to play down the scale of the violence – and authorities have extended a curfew in a bid to quell the unrest.
The demonstrations have seen mostly young protesters take to the streets in cities across Tanzania to denounce the election as unfair.
They accuse the government of undermining democracy by suppressing the main opposition leaders – one is in jail and another was excluded on technical grounds, thus bolstering President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s chances of winning with her ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party.
Protests continued on Friday, as demonstrators in the port city of Dar es Salaam defied warnings from the army chief to end the unrest.
Foreign Minister Mahmoud Kombo Thabit has described the violence as a “few isolated pockets of incidents here and there” and said “security forces acted very swiftly and decisively to address the situation”.
“We are [also] continuing to receive reports of vandalised properties,” the minister told BBC Focus on Africa, adding that the internet blackout was necessary to stop such vandalism and save lives.
Reuters Burning tyres on a main road in Dar es Salaam with dark smoke rising from the flames. In the background a poster can be seen of President Samia
It has been difficult for journalists and human rights groups to check the reports of deaths, and hospitals have been refusing to give out information when asked about casualties.
A source at one hospital in Dar es Salaam told the BBC it had been overwhelmed with casualties since Thursday, and that most public hospitals in the city were in the same position, reportedly with full morgues.
One Chadema politician said that he fears for his life as “massacres are carried out during night hours when no-one is there to witness them”.
“[The security forces] are tracking down all our leaders and some have had to leave the country. These people kill with impunity,” John Kitoka, Chadema’s director of foreign and diaspora affairs, told the BBC’s Newshour programme.
“We remain concerned that the run-up to the elections was marked by harassment, abductions and intimidation of opposition figures, journalists and civil society actors,” he added.
The UN has called on Tanzania’s security forces to refrain from using unnecessary force, and foreign ministers from the UK, Canada and Norway issued a joint statement urging authorities “to act with maximum restraint” and respect “freedom of expression”.