Passengers stranded at Tanzanian airports as contested election disrupts air travel

By Rédaction Africanews with AP

Hundreds of passengers were stranded at Tanzanian airports this weekend after President Samia Suluhu Hassan won the country’s disputed election with more than 97% of the vote, according to official results.

Domestic flights were all cancelled and some international travellers were unable to retrieve flight details due to unavailability of internet.

“We are traveling from Zanzibar to Paris, but we cannot because the flight from Zanzibar to Nairobi is cancelled so, we are stuck here,” said French tourists Irvine René at Zanzibar Airport. “We do not know where to stay, where to sleep tonight. We do not know. We will see.”

Several countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada, have advised their citizens against travelling to Tanzania after the country’s general election last week was marred by violence.

 

Demonstrators took to the streets of major cities to protest the poll and stop the counting of votes.

The military was deployed to help police quell riots. Internet connectivity has been on and off in the, disrupting travel and other activities.

The result is likely to amplify the concerns of critics, opposition groups and others who said the election in Tanzania was not a contest but a coronation.

Samia Suluhu Hassan’s two main opponents — Chadema’s Tundu Lissu and ACT-Wazalendo leader Luhaga Mpina — had both been prevented from running, leaving her virtually unopposed.

Tanzanian authorities have not said how many people were killed or injured in the violence.

A spokesman for the United Nations human rights office, Seif Magango, on Friday said credible reports of 10 deaths were reported in Dar es Salaam, alongside Shinyanga and Morogoro towns.

 

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Friday he was concerned by the situation in Tanzania and urged all parties to “prevent further escalation.”

The foreign ministers of the UK, Canada and Norway in a joint statement cited “credible reports of a large number of fatalities and significant injuries, as a result of the security response to protests.”

The European Union in a statement urged “authorities to exercise maximum restraint to preserve human lives.”