Tanzania: US urges probe after opposition figure is killed

Tanzania's President Samia Suluhu Hassan has pledged an investigation after a senior member of the main opposition party was found dead with signs of beating and acid poured on his face.

Suluhu said she had learned of the death "with great sadness," and offered apologies to the opposition Chadema party and to the relatives and friends of Ali Mohamed Kibao, a former intelligence official and senior party member.

"I have ordered the investigation agencies to bring me detailed information about this terrible incident and others like it as soon as possible," she wrote online. "Our country is democratic and every citizen has the right to live. The government I lead does not tolerate such brutal acts." 

Suluhu has been trying to foster an image as a moderate and a modernizer since the death of her predecessor John Magafuli in 2021, though critics allege the changes are anything but far-reaching.

Under Magafuli's leadership opposition rallies were banned for six years, a step Suluhu only undid in January 2023.

Police said in a statement that they were investigating what they called a "tragic incident." 

Opposition says Kibao suffered acid burns to face, calls for independent inquiry

The chairman of the center-right opposition Chadema party, Freeman Mbowe, told reporters late on Sunday that a preliminary autopsy of Kibao's body showed clear signs of torture. 

"The [preliminary] post-mortem has been done and it is obvious that Ali Kibao has been killed after being severely beaten and even having acid poured on his face," Mbowe said. 

Kibao was abducted from a bus on the outskirts of the commercial capital Dar es Salaam late on Friday, with Chadema officials saying the people who kidnapped him claimed to be soldiers. 

Mbowe called on President Suluhu to set up an independent judicial committee to investigate the case, saying that alone would ensure transparency given that police were among the suspects in the case, in his view.  

Another Chadema politician, John Mnyika, similarly called for an independent investigation in a response to Suluhu online, saying it "is not easy for the police to investigate TISS [Tanzania's intelligence service] and the police cannot investigate themselves." 

The regional director of the East African Human Rights Institute, Onesmo Olengurumwa, also said in comments addressed to Suluhu that establishing an independent fact-finding body "is the only way for you to to get to the truth of these events." 

Although Suluhu's statement online was not particularly explicit, it had said that the "investigation authorities" would be looking into the case, seemingly implying law enforcement.

US Embassy urges 'independent, transparent and prompt' investigation

The US Embassy in Dar es Salaam on Monday said it "joins those calling for an independent, transparent and prompt investigation" into Kibao's kidnapping and killing. 

"Murder and disappearances, as well as last month's detentions, beatings, and other efforts to disenfranchise citizens ahead of elections, should have no place in a democracy," it said. 

Tanzania is scheduled to hold local elections later this year, and general elections by the end of October 2025 at the latest.

Chadema last month complained that leading figures including former presidential candidate Tundu Lissu, John Mnyika, and several hundred youth supporters of the party were detained en masse before a planned rally to mark International Youth Day. The government accused the organizers of planning a violent demonstration.

msh/rm (AFP, Reuters)