Tanzania rights crackdown a threat to peace — Rights groups

NAIROBI : Tanzanian civi l society groups have called on the government and security forces to protect fundamental human rights, in a rare outspoken criticism of the rule of President John Magufuli.

The coal i t ion, the Civi l Society Organisations Directors Forum, made up of 65 influential rights groups from across the East African nation, said they had watched with alarm the deterioration of rights over the past two years.

“Democratic rights, freedom of assembly and association is getting worse,” the group said in a joint statement, released late Monday.

“For us, this situation can be viewed as a threat to national unity and disruption of national peace.”

Crit ics say Maguful i has unleashed a wave of oppression since his election in 2015, cracking down on opposition figures.

“Leaders should respect national l aws a n d the constitution,” the statement read, saying the security forces should ensure “political meetings are protected, instead of banning and disrupting them.”

The police were “suppressing multi- party politics”, the group said, noting that “internal meetings of opposition parties have been attacked or banned.”

They also called on Magufuli to hold talks directly with opposition parties and leaders, warning of “restrictive” laws on parties they said violated the constitution.

The group includes the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) and the Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition ( THRDC), both key civil society groups, as well as organisations from Zanzibar, the semi- autonomous Indian Ocean archipelago.

All said they were concerned that a deterioration in basic rights would undermine peace in Tanzania, and wanted to raise a red flag warning that the country was headed in the wrong direction. — AFP