Tanzania president forms inquiry commission to probe election protests killings

DODOMA, Tanzania (AP) – Tanzania’s president announced on Friday that her administration has formed an inquiry commission to probe killings that occurred during election protests last month, and said she had ordered the release of some of the arrested youths.

During her first parliamentary address since the election, President Samia Suluhu Hassan said Friday that the commission would look into issues that led to the unrest and help inform the reconciliation and peace efforts the government was planning to undertake. The U.N. human rights chief, Volker Türk, had called for a probe into the killings and the alleged concealing of evidence.

Young people in Tanzania began demonstrating on election day on Oct. 29 to protest the exclusion of presidential candidates from the two main opposition parties. President Hassan was declared the winner with more than 97% of the total votes.

Hundreds of people were arrested during three days of protests, and some face treason charges. President Hassan said that “as a mother,” she had forgiven those who may have joined the protests out of peer pressure.

“For those who were just following the wave, let them be counselled and released,” she said.

President Hassan acknowledged the opposition party Chadema’s demands that, for any meaningful dialogue and reconciliation to happen, constitutional reforms were key, and she said that her administration would embark on a constitutional reform process within its first 100 days.

The Chadema party had been calling for constitutional reforms and was barred from taking part in the recent election after demanding basic electoral reforms before the polls.

The Chadema party leader, Tundu Lissu, remains in prison and is facing treason charges, and his trial is yet to resume following the election protests. His deputy, John Heche, was arrested on election day and released three weeks later.