Path to Tanzania's poll paved with blood

There have been abductions, assaults, arrests and murders, the victims all being opponents or critics of President Samia Suluhu Hassan's government

- A correspondent in Dar es Salaam

Last month, on the day Pope Francis died, the most senior Catholic priest in Tanzania was fighting for his own life.

Father Charles Kitima, the secretary general of the Tanzania Episcopal Conference, was in the Aga Khan Hospital in Dar es Salaam. He had been assaulted the night before. The attack occurred inside the headquarters of the Catholic Church, where Father Kitima resides.

The attackers did not identify themselves but clearly intended to cause grievous harm; sources said the priest was struck forcefully on the head with a blunt object.

According to a local publication, The Chanzo, the attack happened hours after a recording of him went viral on social media, in which he criticised “lawlessness” ahead of the presidential election.

Father Kitima remains in hospital. Police have arrested one suspect and confirmed that investigations are ongoing.

The attack conforms to a troubling pattern. In recent months, there has been a spate of abductions, assaults, arrests and murders in Tanzania.

The victims seem to have one thing in common: they are all opponents or critics of the government of President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who is running for election in October.

This campaign of intimidation is so crude that, on Thursday, the European parliament passed a resolution urging “Tanzanian authorities to end the escalating crackdown ... against opposition members, human rights defenders, indigenous peoples, LGBTQIA+ activists, journalists and civil society organisations, and to independently investigate police abuses and enforced disappearances”.