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Tag: main opposition leader

  • Police fire teargas as protests erupt during Tanzania election

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    Police in Tanzania’s main city Dar es Salaam have fired tear gas to disperse opposition supporters protesting against the general election taking place in the East African state.

    The election is expected to be a shoo-in for President Samia Suluhu and her ruling party, as the main opposition leader is in in jail on treason charges, which he denies, and his party has boycotted the vote.

    Several people have been injured in the confrontation after groups of protesters gathered along major highways to demand electoral reforms, and free political activity.

    Reports say that voter turnout in Dar es Salaam was low when polls opened on Wednesday, with many hesitant to show up amid safety concerns.

    A police spokesperson assured the public there was no threat to their safety, saying “people should come out and vote”, according to a message posted on social media.

    More than 37 million registered voters are eligible to cast their ballots in the presidential and parliamentary election.

    Sixteen fringe parties, none of whom have historically had significant public support, have been cleared to contest against President Samia, who is seeking a second term.

    The only other serious contender, Luhaga Mpina of the ACT-Wazalendo party, was disqualified on legal technicalities.

    President Samia is expected to win the election [BBC]

    Samia’s ruling party, CCM, has dominated the country’s politics and has never lost an election since independence.

    Ahead of the election, rights groups condemned government repression, with Amnesty International citing a “wave of terror” involving enforced disappearances, torture, and extrajudicial killings of opposition figures.

    The government rejected the claims, and officials said the election would be free and fair.

    Samia came into office in 2021 as Tanzania’s first female president following the death of President John Magufuli.

    She was initially praised for easing political repression under her predecessor, but the political space has since narrowed, with her government accused of targeting critics through arrests and a wave of abductions.

    The electoral body is expected to announce results in three days after voting ends.

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  • Ex-Kenyan leader Raila Odinga buried after days of memorial events

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    Former Kenyan prime minister and revered long-time opposition leader Raila Odinga was buried in the west of the country after a service attended by thousands on Sunday.

    “Now finally Baba is home,” his son, Raila Odinga junior, said beside his father’s casket, draped in the Kenyan flag.

    The burial concluded days of memorials that at times led to chaos, with at least five mourners dying at other events and dozens injured at a public viewing on Saturday.

    Odinga died on Wednesday aged 80 in an Indian hospital.

    He became prime minister after the bloody and disputed 2007 election, and was the main opposition leader for many years, losing five presidential campaigns, most recently three years ago.

    He retains a devotional following in the west of the country. Former US President Barack Obama, whose Kenyan family hails from the same region, called Odinga a “true champion of democracy”.

    Politicians, relatives and throngs of his supporters waved Kenyan flags and held his picture aloft as they gathered at Sunday’s memorial service, which was held at a university in Bondo.

    “Even in the grave, he still remains our hero,” one mourner told the AFP news agency.

    Military personnel carried Odinga’s coffin to the front, where a choir sang and speakers, including Kenyan President William Ruto, remembered him.

    “His courage, his vision, and his unyielding faith in our collective destiny will forever illuminate the path of our nation,” Ruto said in a post on Facebook about the event.

    “His return to Bondo was not merely a homecoming; it was the embrace of a grateful Republic bidding farewell to one of its greatest sons, a patriot who devoted his life to the cause of justice, democracy, and the enduring unity of our beloved Kenya.”

    Odinga was buried nearby at his late father’s homestead, where there is a family mausoleum.

    Multiple memorial events had already taken place, including a state funeral in Nairobi on Friday and a public viewing in a stadium in his home city of Kisumu on Saturday.

    At the viewing, tens of thousands filed past his open coffin, many crying out the phrase “we are orphans”.

    At least three people were killed when police opened fire to disperse mourners, with dozens more injured in the chaotic scenes that followed.

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