PRE- EMPTIVE ARREST …
Tanzania police arrest opposition party leader ahead of protests
DARER SALAAM - Tanzanian police arrested the leader of the main opposition party Chadema, according to Tundu Lissu, the party’s candidate in last week’s disputed presidential election.
The opposition has demanded a repeat vote citing widespread irregularities and called for protests against the outcome, which returned President John Magufuli to office with 84 percent of the vote.
Those arrested with Freeman Mbowe include a former member of parliament Godbless Lema, the former mayor of Dar es Salaam, Isaya Mwita, and the former mayor of Ubungo municipality, Boniface Jacob.
“I got a message around midnight that they had been taken in,” Lissu said yesterday.
Mwananchi, a privately owned daily that publishes in Swahili, quoted Dar es Salaam’s regional police commander Lazaro Mambosasa as saying they detained Mbowe and other opposition leaders.
Lissu previously said he will not accept the eventual election results.
The vote “marked the most significant backsliding in Tanzania’s democratic credentials,” Tanzania Elections Watch, a group of regional experts said in an assessment released on Friday. It noted a heavy deployment of military and police whose conduct created a “climate of fear”.
The United States has said it was concerned about reports showing “systematic interference in the democratic process,” while the United Kingdom said it was “troubled by the reports of violence and heavy-handed policing in the elections.”
In Ivory Coast, the ruling party has warned opposition leaders against any attempt to destabilise the country after they rejected Saturday's election in which President Alassane Ouattara stood for a controversial third term.
The opposition, which boycotted the poll, has called for mass protests to block what they describe as an electoral coup.
Ouattara has taken a commanding early lead, winning 99 percent of the vote in some ruling party strongholds. Ouattara announced he was running again after his party's chosen successor died suddenly in July. –