A government-appointed commission of inquiry has reported that at least 518 people were killed in violence that broke out during Tanzania's elections last October, marking the first official acknowledgment of the scale of the deadly unrest.
While the report offers the first formal casualty figure, it has intensified scrutiny over the conduct of security forces during the post-election period, even as the commission places responsibility for the violence on protesters.
The findings have been strongly disputed by opposition groups and rights observers, who argue that the report does not adequately address allegations of excessive force by state security agencies.
The commission’s conclusions differ from earlier estimates by the U.N. human rights office, which said hundreds were killed following the exclusion of leading opposition candidates from presidential and parliamentary elections. The main opposition party has maintained that the death toll could be in the thousands.
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Tanzanian authorities had previously withheld official casualty figures, saying they were awaiting the commission’s report after it was appointed by President Samia Suluhu Hassan in November. The government has denied allegations by human rights organisations that security forces used excessive force.
Speaking during the handover of the report, commission chair Mohamed Chande Othman said the death toll could be higher due to difficulties identifying victims. He recommended the establishment of a separate criminal investigation body to examine specific incidents and did not directly assess the conduct of law enforcement.
Chande said the commission had “indisputable evidence” that the violence was organised and funded by “trained people,” though he did not identify those alleged to be involved.
“Organisers used various techniques, including using people without deep understanding and desperate youth, while encouraging simultaneous acts of violence across different locations," he said.
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President Hassan, who was declared winner of the election with nearly 98% of the vote, has said the unrest was an attempt to overthrow her government and alleged foreign involvement, without presenting public evidence.
The commission’s report has not been released in full, with Hassan describing it as “the property of the president,” a position that has raised concerns among critics about transparency and public access to findings involving loss of life.
Opposition party CHADEMA rejected the report, saying a government facing allegations of abuses cannot credibly investigate itself, further intensifying questions about accountability.
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The report also cites allegations of shootings in homes and commercial areas, including in Mwanza. Reuters investigations previously found that police officers killed more than a dozen unarmed young men at a cafe far from any protest activity, alongside other reported incidents in different cities.
The government has maintained that security forces acted within the law and said many allegations were based on unverified or out-of-context information.
With questions still unresolved over the role of security forces and the credibility of the inquiry, pressure is mounting for a fully independent investigation into one of Tanzania’s most violent election periods in recent history.
