Tanzania president to be inaugurated

TANZANIAN President Samia Suluhu Hassan was to be inaugurated yesterday with the internet still blocked after election protests in which the opposition says hundreds were killed by security forces.

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The electoral commission says Hassan won 98% of the vote.

But the main opposition party, Chadema, which was barred from competing, has rejected the results and called for fresh elections, calling last Wednesday's vote a "sham".

State television said the public would not attend the inauguration, which would be held in State House in the capital Dodoma, rather than at a stadium as usual.

A total internet blackout has been in place since protests broke out on election day, so only a trickle of verifiable information has been getting out of the east African country.

A diplomatic source said there were credible reports of hundreds - perhaps even thousands - of deaths registered at hospitals and health clinics around Tanzania.