Tanzania opposition leader Lissu released after weekend arrest amid human rights concerns

ARUSHA, Tanzania

One of Tanzania’s main opposition leaders and former presidential candidate Tundu Lissu has been released on bail hours after he was arrested by police for allegedly holding an illegal gathering.

Lissu, vice chairman of Tanzania’s largest opposition party CHADEMA, was arrested from a hotel along with other party leaders in northern Tanzania’s Arusha region on Sunday and released later that evening, Lissu’s party wrote on social media platform X.

Lissu has been holding political rallies across the country since returning from exile in January, criticizing President Samia Hassan’s administration for its human rights record, forceful eviction of Masai community, need for new constitution and its handling of a controversial ports management deal.

He returned from exile after Hassan lifted a six-year ban on political rallies. He had been in Belgium since he fled in 2020 after losing the presidential election to John Magufuli.

The opposition in Tanzania has been holding rallies calling for a new constitution and more democratic rights.

In June 2016, Magufuli prohibited elected officials from holding rallies outside their constituencies. The former president argued that election season was over and rallies were a waste of time and a distraction from development.

This soon became a blanket ban for political gatherings as the police turned down opposition requests to organise rallies. In some cases, even internal party meetings were disrupted with leaders and their followers harassed and arrested.

But Magufuli himself kept holding rallies and crisscrossing the country by road with his entourage, making numerous impromptu stops to address locals and make off-script decisions.

Hassan, his successor, has made moves to reconcile with the opposition, including lifting the ban. But she was also seen as continuing some of the draconian policies of her predecessor – including a seven-month imprisonment of Chadema leader Freeman Mbowe on charges of “terrorism financing”.

Police said on Sunday that Lissu and three other people were detained for questioning about accusations they were holding an unlawful assembly and preventing police from doing their job.

Lissu was scheduled to hold several rallies in Loliondo and Ngorongoro districts where the government is carrying eviction process against indigenous Masai community from their ancestral land.

The Masai were subjected to forced evictions in 2009, 2013, 2017 and 2022 against their will by numerous state security forces, who were accompanied by representatives of a private company licensed to operate tourism activities, including trophy hunting, in Loliondo.

This comes a week after the Tanzanian government prevented three European Union politicians from visiting the country to investigate the evictions of Masai people.

The three MEPs from the Green Party, Michele Rivasi, Claude Gruffat and Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana, said that less than 24 hours before they were due to set off last Monday, they were informed that the visit had been postponed.

“Yesterday, I should have travel to Tanzania to set up an independent observation mission following reports of human rights violations against Maasai. The government denied us entry to the territory, 24 hours before our departure.” She said on her Twitter page adding that it is an unacceptable decision.

Tanzania have a history of being pushed off ancestral land to make way for so-called protected areas, including the famous Serengeti National Park.

Since at least 2009 the government has used a range of abusive tactics to displace about 150,000 people across Ngorongoro district, a tourist hotspot. And last year, the government has restricted their access to important grazing areas and water sources, potentially displacing up to 70,000 residents of Loliondo.