Opposition leader Tundu Lissu leaves Tanzania for safety

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania

Tanzania’s opposition Presidential candidate and national vice chairman for CHADEMA, Tundu Lissu, has today November 10 left the country from German Embassy to seek refuge in Belgium.

His departure comes after the firebrand politician sought refuge at the German ambassador’s residence where he remained for eight days citing threats to his life.

Speaking before his departure Lissu said he was not running away from the country but instead he is shifting to a safe field for the struggle to fight for democracy and justice in Tanzania.

"For a week now, diplomats from Germany, Belgium, the United States and other countries have negotiated with the Tanzanian government to allow me to leave the country safely. And it is their efforts that have allowed me to leave today."

The opposition leader spent nearly three years in Belgium recuperating from gunshot injuries sustained in a 2017 assassination attempt, before he came back to Tanzania to run for presidency.

In a video that was posted on his twitter handle, the politician is seen leaving the ambassador’s home in a convoy of diplomatic cars accompanied by officials of the embassy.

The officials then went on to oversee his checking in before accompanying him to waiting lounge at the Julius Nyerere International Airport Terminal 3.

Asked if he sees himself as an asylum seeker, Lissu told our reporter: "I am leaving my country as a free citizen. I am not a refugee. I have not asked any country for asylum. I am going to Belgium because after living there for three years during my therapy, I attained legal resident status. I am not going to Belgium as a refugee, but rather returning as a resident."

Speaking of his future as the leader of Tanzania's opposition, Lissu says: "I am also going to Europe with a political mission. I want to speak with the international community about what happened during the recent election, and what it means for Tanzania and the rest of the world."

Observers say that on top of intimidation and internet blackouts, Tanzania's election exhibited voting patterns suggesting large scale corruption. Lissu won 12.8% of the electoral vote against John Magufuli's 84%. He has asked the international community to refuse recognition of the election results.

Opposition parties including CHADEMA, ACT-Wazalendo and CUF rejected the results and called for fresh elections. Since then, the opposition politicians and their supporters have faced arbitrary arrests and violence.

On Sunday the immediate former Member of Parliament for Arusha Urban Constituency, Godbless Lema, who had served for two terms, was arrested at Ilbissil in Kajiado County in Kenya after he and his family crossed over through the Namanga border.

He was granted asylum by Kenyan authority the next day while another opposition leader and former minister for tourism, Lazaro Nyalandu, was denied permission to cross Tanzania/Kenya border by Tanzania authorities. 

The Longido District Commissioner, Frank Mwaisumbe, alleged on Monday that there was a list of opposition leaders who wanted to flee the country to taint the government’s image.

He did not reveal the names, but said authorities had a long list of names.

Mwaisumbe confirmed that Nyalandu, who is a top Chadema official and who contested the Singida North parliamentary seat in the October 28 polls, was barred from entering Kenya at Namanga. - Africa