A government commission in Tanzania says last year’s election violence killed 518 people, far below opposition estimates, while responsibility remains unclear.
The findings follow the October 29 vote that handed President Samia Suluhu Hassan a landslide victory amid restrictions on key opposition candidates.
Protests erupted nationwide after the polls, with demonstrators filling streets as security forces moved swiftly to suppress the unrest.
Opposition groups and religious leaders claim thousands died, while Western diplomats estimate the toll between 1,000 and 2,000 people.
Hassan described the unrest as a coordinated campaign, suggesting foreign actors orchestrated the violence to destabilise the resource-rich nation.
“The commission has told us that all the violence was planned, coordinated, financed and executed,” she said after receiving the report.
Opposition figures rejected the findings, calling them an attempt to conceal state responsibility and diminish the scale of bloodshed.
Chadema official John Kitoka said the report was a “cover-up,” accusing authorities of whitewashing crimes committed during the crackdown.
Commission head Mohamed Chande Othman said the toll of 518 deaths was not final, noting that 2,390 people were wounded.
He dismissed reports of mass graves and seized bodies as unsubstantiated, while acknowledging some circulated images were authentic and others manipulated.
Othman added that some missing persons had vanished for personal reasons, a claim that drew scepticism from critics and observers.
A media blackout during the election, including internet disruptions and restrictions on foreign journalists, obscured the true scale of events.
Despite official denials, independent investigators reported evidence of live ammunition use and possible mass graves through satellite imagery analysis.
African observers criticised the election process, with the African Union stating it failed to meet accepted democratic standards.
