In Tanzania, tensions are high between the incumbent President Samia Suluhu Hassan and the opposition, well ahead of the presidential elections scheduled for October next year.
On Sept. 9, the police found the body of Ally Kibao, a senior member of the main opposition party CHADEMA. "Two armed men" abducted Kibao from a bus a day earlier. The autopsy of his body confirmed that the abductors had beaten Kibao and burned him with acid, Reuters reported.
CHADEMA leadership said the police abducted and killed Kibao.
But President Hassan said on X that the government she leads is a democracy and "does not tolerate such brutal acts." Hassan, however, described the killing as an "assassination" and said she ordered a thorough investigation of the crime.
Hassan has been seen as a reformist since assuming the presidency in 2021, after her predecessor, the hardliner John Magufuli, died in the office. In 2023, Hassan lifted Magufuli's long-standing ban on opposition rallies. Her ruling party, Chama cha Mapinduzi, has won six consecutive elections. But the abduction and killing of an opposition leader taints Hassan's image and lowers her party's chances to win again in October 2025.
Kibao's abduction and brutal death sparked outrage among Tanzanian social media influencers like Marai Tsehai.
Tsehai, a media and communications analyst, accused the president of trying to silence the opposition, including by using her security apparatus to target dissidents for abduction.
"@SuluhuSamia through her security has overseen the abductions of opposition leaders and activists, threatened activists like @TitoMagoti and she is on a roll! THEY WANT TO SPREAD FEAR! She is not stopping or slowing down as elections are looming and internal polls show her unpopular…"
That is likely true.
Investigations by international human rights groups and witness testimonies provide evidence of government agencies' involvement in the disappearances of at least three prominent opposition figures as well as mass arrests.
Tanzanian human rights activist Tito Magoti, mentioned in Tsehai's post on X, says the government agents have been sending him threats for his monitoring of rights abuses.
In just one broadly reported case on August 12, the police arrested more than 500 people, including leaders of the opposition party, former presidential candidate Tindu Lissu among them, together with at least 520 youths, accusing them of planning to commit violence.
The young people planned to attend a rally to mark International Youth Day — a civil right guaranteed by the Tanzanian constitution. But the police canceled the rally and detained its participants, only to release them later on bail.
The independent Tanzanian news media reported that in August alone five people went missing, including three opposition leaders, after criticizing government policies.
At least two international human rights watchdogs reported the Tanzanian security forces' suspected involvement in the abduction of the three opposition figures.
The New York-based Human Rights Foundation urged the Tanzanian government to release "three opposition figures who have been abducted in recent weeks by suspected state security agents and remain missing."
Another New York-based international group, Human Rights Watch, reported that authorities in Tanzania have detained or threatened at least 22 people since June 2023, including demonstrators who protested the Tanzanian National Assembly's lawmakers for adopting legislation they say went against the interests of Tanzanians.
Social media influencers launched a campaign on X calling for the release of those gone missing in Tanzania, describing them as "abducted by the police," and using the hashtags #FreeDeusdedithSoka, #FreeChaula #FreeDioniz, #FreeMlay, #FreeMbise #FreeAliKibao.
Earlier this year, on March 24, the U.K.-based Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) said that more than 100 Tanzanians went missing between 2021 and 2023, citing Tanzanian human rights groups.
Family members accuse the police of their loved ones' disappearances. The police deny involvement, insisting the cases were linked to criminal activities.
Most of the missing were entrepreneurs, traders or mining dealers.
According to IWPR, one of the missing persons, mining dealer Mussa Mziba, was arrested at his home by police on December 7, 2023.