Tanzania's grim anniversary

By Nosmot Gbadamosi 

One year after Tanzania's disputed October 2025 presidential election, the country remains in a political crisis. 

Demonstrators carry a man shot and killed during violent protests that marred the election following the disqualification of the two leading opposition candidates in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 29 October 2025.  - Onsase Ochando

Incumbent President Samia Hassan ran largely uncontested, winning 98 percent of the vote after the country's electoral body disqualified her main opponents. 

Her second term began with a deadly crackdown on protesters by state security forces that saw more than 1,000 people killed, according to rights groups.

Since before the elections, prominent opposition figures have been charged with treason, allegations that they strongly reject. 

Among them is Tundu Lissu, the leader of opposition party Chadema, whom authorities blocked from running against Hassan last year. 

Last Friday, Lissu was sentenced to four years in prison for "incitement" but acquitted of treason.

"History will record how the court searched for a lesser charge simply to keep me in prison," read a post published by Lissu's team on his X account after the verdict.

Fellow Chadema party member John Pambalu was charged with treason last month.

Following Lissu's verdict, Chadema on Sunday accused police of holding 10 of its leaders and members for "prolonged periods" without bringing them before a court, alleging torture and forced confessions. 

Rights groups, including Amnesty International, labeled Lissu's trial "a deeply flawed process" and called on Tanzania's government to "end the misuse of treason" and other laws to silence government critics.

Tanzanian activists report a continuous wave of state-sponsored intimidation and abductions since last year's election, allegations that the government denies. 

In July, authorities arrested more than 130 people over planned anti-government demonstrations—before they took place. The government had banned political rallies the previous month.

"Young people are wandering around with no place where they feel they can speak out. When they do speak, they face intimidation. They are threatened and told they could disappear, be abducted, or face various other forms of harassment," said Gasper Kagonda, a prominent Tanzanian content creator, at a July conference on the country's political landscape. 

Much of Kagonda's TikTok channel is devoted to anti-corruption activism.

One year on from the post-election violence, Tanzanians are no closer to accountability. 

Even casualty figures are still in dispute: In April, a government-appointed commission of inquiry said that it documented at least 518 deaths and more than 2,000 injuries during the unrest, a fraction of the numbers estimated by rights groups. 

The commission also placed most of the blame on protesters.

The government withheld its full report from the public, drawing criticism from Amnesty International and the United Nations Human Rights Office. 

Hassan then ordered a second commission of inquiry in August that is still underway. Critics say that both commissions have failed to engage with victims' families.

"There has been no justice or accountability for the hundreds of victims of enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests and those subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment," wrote a group of U.N. experts last month.

Tanzania's weakened opposition continues to resist Hassan's growing authoritarianism through legal appeals and underground movements. 

But with her mandate secured through 2030, it is unlikely that she will face major domestic opposition during the remainder of her term.

The international community is unlikely to speak out, either: Amid new discoveries of natural gas deposits in Tanzania, foreign powers appear to be prioritizing critical minerals investment and energy security over human rights.

A U.S. government-backed consortium is negotiating an agreement to invest more than $500 million in a nickel mining project in Tanzania. The Tanzanian government is also nearing a previously stalled $42 billion gas deal with Norwegian energy firm Equinor and British energy giant Shell. U.S. multinational ExxonMobil also has stakes in the project.

These investments are mistakes, argued Kenneth Mohammed in the Guardian. "The world cannot celebrate Africa's economic rise while ignoring the blood staining the streets," he wrote last year. "Tanzania's tragedy is not an isolated event—it reflects the broader struggle for democracy across the continent."

**Nosmot Gbadamosi is a multimedia journalist and the writer of Foreign Policy's weekly Africa Brief.

EAST AFRICA NEWSPAPERS 13/11/2026

 

US envoys head to meet Zelensky after talks with Putin in Moscow

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates 

United States envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff held a fresh round of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, a day after the latest discussions aimed at ending the war in Ukraine wrapped up in Abu Dhabi.

The pair are now flying to Dublin to meet Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, and Witkoff said a new round of trilateral talks had already been agreed with Putin.

Earlier on Thursday Zelensky said Ukraine's military was again facing "systematic" restrictions to Starlink's military-grade satellite service, Starshield, meaning Kyiv was struggling to intercept Russian jet-powered drones.

The talks in the Emirates were framed as being centred around European security arrangements in a post-war scenario, although a resolution to the war sparked by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 still appears distant.

Comments by both President Vladimir Putin and Kremlin officials suggest that Russia's position on the war has not shifted, and that Moscow's demands for territory and neutrality continue to far exceed what Ukraine is prepared to consider.

Witkoff said that Europeans would join the next round of talks. "They are our partners and it's important to us that they take part," Witkoff told Russian state TV after meeting Putin in the Kremlin.

Zelensky said Ukraine was trying to clear up the Starlink situation with the American side but added "some things" were already clear:

"If someone in America is making decisions that basically treat Ukrainian territory as if it is not Ukrainian, then this tells us where things are going." He did not elaborate further.

Starshield was developed by Elon Musk's SpaceX company for government and military use. Along with Starlink, it has come to play a vital role in facilitating communication on Ukraine's front line. 

A similar issue with connectivity affected the front line in late October and lasted about a week before it was fixed and it remained unclear who had ordered the temporary restrictions.

Zelensky said the current disruption had been ongoing for several days and was "helping the Russians kill more Ukrainians and carry out more accurate strikes against Ukraine".

‘South Sudan prepares for elections it may not afford’

NEW YORK, United States 

South Sudan appears to lack the financial resources to fund its planned December 22 elections, the African Union’s top envoy to the country, Jakaya Kikwete, told the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday, appealing for international assistance to help avert a deeper political and security crisis.

Kikwete, Tanzania’s former president, said the government cannot finance the elections on its own and needs support from international partners to ensure the vote proceeds peacefully.

“The government does not seem to have enough resources to be able to finance these elections,” Kikwete told the council in a video address.

“That’s why they need support from some countries. Some have expressed readiness, but some have not yet,” he said, urging countries to provide assistance to the government.

“Whatever can be done to assist the government of South Sudan, so that at least we have peaceful elections under the circumstances, so that we don’t have to end up with a bigger political and security crisis,” he added.

Kikwete also called for security sector reforms and dialogue among political parties after the elections, saying these are necessary to “help heal the nation”.

Warning of the potential consequences of a flawed or violent vote, he said: “If the vote is not conducted properly and peacefully, you cannot contemplate what would happen.” He cautioned that the country could face an even “bigger political and security crisis”.

South Sudan has repeatedly postponed elections since gaining independence from Sudan in 2011. A civil war erupted in 2013, killing about 400,000 people before a 2018 peace agreement brought President Salva Kiir and his rival Riek Machar into an interim power-sharing government.

Kiir dissolved the transitional government on 22 September, removed his deputies and appointed a caretaker administration. The national legislature and state governments were also dissolved.

Machar remains under house arrest and is standing trial on charges including treason over an attack on a military garrison that authorities allege he helped orchestrate. His allies deny the allegations.

The December 22 elections are increasingly drawing concern from diplomats and analysts, who question whether the fragile country is politically, financially and institutionally prepared to hold a credible vote.

Uganda ruling party rejects plan for son to succeed president

By Our Correspondent, KAMPALA Uganda 

The leadership of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni's party has rejected his plan to designate his son, known for boasting of kidnapping and torturing rivals, as his successor, five party sources told our correspondent on Wednesday.

Uganda President, General Museveni with son, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba

The president's son, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, 52, is currently head of the army, and wields huge and growing influence as his 82-year-old father plays a declining role in governing the east African country after four decades in power.

"Muhoozi", as he is widely known, has vowed to run in the next presidential election scheduled for 2031, but many are unnerved by his flouting of the law, and inflammatory posts on social media, where he frequently boasts of torturing opponents in his "basement".

In recent months, he has had political rivals imprisoned, threatened to behead opposition leader Bobi Wine, and forced the closure of the country's leading independent media group for several weeks.

Although Museveni has ruled with an iron grip since 1986, many within his party, the National Resistance Movement (NRM), have voiced concern at the apparent moves to hand power to his son.

In a closed-door meeting of the NRM's executive committee on Tuesday, convened to determine a successor, a vote on the son's candidacy had to be abandoned as several of the 28 members spoke against the plan and received loud cheers, according to five people present.

Four people had voted in favour of the son, three had voted against, by the time the vote was called off, the sources told our correspondent.

"The combative nature of the (army chief) has created uneasiness among some people. He is fighting and threatening people on social media. Let him start convincing people but not using coercive means to capitulate the population," said one source.

NRM vice-chairman Calvin Echodu told Museveni to retire the son from the army and give him a civilian assignment to get acquainted with the population and prepare himself well for leadership," said another participant.

Echodu also reportedly advised the president that he should stand again in 2031 "as his son is not yet ready," the source added.

The attendees say it was an unprecedented show of defiance against the long-ruling president, who first broached the subject of his succession by presenting a paper to the party grandees in late October, in which he suggested his son had the right credentials for the job.

In recent days, Kainerugaba has once again drawn attention with bellicose posts on X, threatening Vice President, Jessica Alupo, with arrest over claims she was involved in a plot to overthrow the government.

EAST AFRICA NEWSPAPERS 12/11/2026

 

World leaders face pressure to act at COP31 as climate warnings intensify

ANTALYA, Türkiye

Leaders of Australia and Ethiopia both highlighted the importance of supporting developing nations with the challenge of adapting to climate change. 

Australia is leading negotiations at a time of fears that the world is not moving quickly enough, as Turkey is hosting the event.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that wealthier countries must support pacific island nations which are already heavily impacted by climate change.

"We must share the opportunities that climate action creates with the people who need the most to adapt and thrive, the most vulnerable countries need capital. We must ensure that they get it," added Albanese.

When it comes to climate change, many of the world’s island nations have banded together to be heard better. Their voices play the role of a conscience to a warming world, pleading to stop carbon pollution before it’s too late.

Abiy Ahmed, Prime Minister of Ethiopia, echoed similar sentiments, saying that Ethiopia, and other countries, need financing that is accessible and fair. "High borrowing costs limit countries' capacity to invest in resilience. Lowering them is a test of our collective credibility," he added.

Turkey and Australia, which are presiding over the climate talks this year, were ranked among the worst performers on reducing planet-heating emissions.

Scientists say global warming is likely to exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels of the early 1800s.

Limiting temperature rise to that threshold was a goal set during the 2015 Paris Agreement and has been a focus of international negotiations.

Rubio says ‘no need’ to attack Iran as diplomacy gathers pace

TEHRAN, Iran 

Top US diplomat Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that he saw no need to attack Iran again, as diplomatic efforts to end the war gathered steam and Tehran urged Washington to accept its demands for reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Hours after President Donald Trump said he saw “positive momentum” toward resolving the eight-month war, Rubio said the United States’ squeezing of Iran’s economy made further attacks unnecessary.

“The economic campaign (against Iran) is so devastating that right now there is no need for major combat operations,” the secretary of state said after a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Paris. “That’s what I told our allies here today.”

Iran’s efforts to blockade Hormuz, the major exit route for Gulf energy shipments, have sent oil prices soaring — a major factor in the humbling of Trump’s Republicans in last week’s midterm elections.

Washington has imposed a counter-blockade on Iranian ports and in August announced what it called an “economic asphyxiation” campaign aimed at financially strangling Iran, already battered by years of sanctions.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband called for greater efforts to end the conflict, while warning of the economic damage of an ongoing impasse.

“We need to move beyond the ‘no war, no peace’ stalemate, which is causing deep economic pain for our countries,” he said in Paris.

“We must see an all-out diplomatic effort to end this conflict, prevent a nuclear Iran and the threats it poses around the world, and get the Strait of Hormuz properly reopened.”

Washington has appeared to taper down its threats of renewed strikes after the Republicans’ defeat, and even Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — who launched the war alongside Trump and recently lobbied to “forever eliminate the existential threat of Iran” — appeared to recognize the shifting diplomatic reality.

“In the very near future, we’re going to be confronted by international pressure to accept a nuclear-armed Iran and the preservation of this terror regime that seeks to annihilate us,” he said on Tuesday.

Tehran said its offer to reopen Hormuz within two days — if Washington agreed to a raft of conditions — remained on the table.

Iran’s demands have included ending the war on all fronts, unfreezing its assets, lifting oil sanctions and ending the US blockade of its ports.

“The conflict with Iran will not be resolved through military means, nor by intensifying sanctions,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told the IRNA news agency.

“The only solution is to adopt a language of respect, engage in diplomacy, and address Iran’s demands and conditions — which were outlined in the two-day proposal and remain on the table.”

Meanwhile, vessels continue to come under attack in and around the strait.

The Emirati state oil company ADNOC said on Tuesday that one of its vessels had “sustained damage following an attack in the UAE’s territorial waters,” while the British maritime agency UKMTO reported a tanker was “struck by an unknown projectile” off the Omani coast.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said that three oil tankers were on fire in the Strait of Hormuz, though it was unclear whether they were referring to the same ships.

On Monday, after meeting Qatar’s prime minister at the White House, Trump said that the US was “locked and loaded,” but further strikes were “quite unlikely” given that key US allies in the Gulf “would prefer the status quo.”

“We are seeing positive momentum toward an end to this Conflict, and will ensure that America’s interests are at all times protected,” he wrote on social media.

Qatar and Pakistan are leading diplomatic efforts to resolve the war, which began with US-Israeli strikes that killed Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in late February.

Qatari foreign ministry official Ibrahim Al-Hashmi confirmed there had been progress in the negotiations.

“The mediator is making a persistent and earnest effort to bridge the gaps between the parties’ positions,” he told a regular briefing, adding: “We remain hopeful.”

Iranian political analyst Ali Bigdeli said the outcome of the US elections appeared to have “somewhat reduced Iran’s flexibility, whereas the Americans have become more flexible.”

He noted that the Iranian terms were “demanding and heavy for the United States to accept” but added that “engaging in direct talks” could bear results.

Iran’s security chief Mohsen Rezaei urged Washington to “surrender” to the Iranian demands.

“The war on Iran has already wrecked the US government. But Washington flails like a desperate gambler. FOLD YOUR HAND,” he posted on X.