Tanzania: President Promises Inquiry Into Election Violence

President Samia Suluhu Hassan used her first parliamentary address since reelection to announce an inquiry into electoral violence, call for the release of protesters and emphasize the role of peace and reconciliation.

Tanzania's President Samia Suluhu Hassan on Friday delivered her first address to parliament since winning reelection on October 29, in a vote the African Union (AU) said violated democratic values.

In her remarks, the president promised to convene a commission to investigate killings that occurred during election protests last month. She vowed to back peace and reconciliation efforts as well as calling for the release of some detained protesters.

UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Turk had previously called for a probe into the killings as well as accompanying allegations of evidence being concealed.

The UN said it believes hundreds were killed in the violence that followed an election in which key opposition candidates were barred.

The main opposition CHADEMA party said more than 1,000 people died at the hands of Tanzania's security forces.

Though the government has dismissed opposition statements on deaths and injuries as exaggerated, it has yet to provide its own estimates of the impact of what was the East African nation's biggest political crisis in decades.

Tanzania's president calls for release of protesters

Suluhu Hassan offered her condolences to bereaved relatives, telling lawmakers, "I extend my condolences to all families who lost their loved ones."

She also urged prosecutors to drop treason charges against some of the hundreds of protesters arrested, namely those whom she said "did not know what they were doing" and "merely followed the crowd."

"The government has taken the step of establishing an inquiry commission to investigate what happened, so that we may know the root cause of the problem," she added.

Critics have called for Suluhu Hassan to step down, blasting her as a hypocrite, while the government contends security forces did nothing wrong while policing the protests and that the election was fair.

In her remarks, the president acknowledged CHADEMA's demands that constitutional changes will be the key to meaningful dialogue and reconciliation, promising Friday that her administration will embark on a constitutional reform process within its first 100 days.

Jon Shelton with AP, Reuters

Edited by Sean Sinico