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NAIROBI: Tanzania’s Samia Suluhu Hassan was inaugurated as president on Monday, with an Internet blackout still in place after election protests in which the opposition says hundreds were killed by security forces.
The electoral commission said Hassan won 98 percent of the vote.
She was sworn into office despite the main opposition party, Chadema, which was barred from running, rejecting the results. It has called for fresh elections, saying last Wednesday’s vote was a “sham.”
Ahead of her arrival, state television showed officials and foreign dignitaries in stands overlooking parade grounds in State House in the capital Dodoma, rather than at a stadium as usual. Earlier, the broadcaster said the public would not attend.
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.
Chadema told AFP it had recorded “no less than 800” deaths by Saturday, but none of the figures could be independently verified.
The government has not commented on any deaths, except to reject accusations that “excessive force” was used.
Schools and colleges remained closed on Monday, with public transport halted and reports of some church services not taking place on Sunday.
The diplomatic source said there were “concerning reports” that police were using the Internet blackout to buy time as they “hunt down opposition members and protesters who might have videos” of atrocities committed last week.
Dar es Salaam and other cities were much calmer over the weekend as a near-total lockdown was in place.
An AFP reporter said police were stopping almost everyone that moved around the city, checking IDs and bags, and allowing shops to open only in the afternoon.
AFP journalists on the island of Zanzibar, which has greater political freedom and had few protests, saw masked armed men patrolling without visible insignia or identification in the days after the election.
A rights group in neighboring Kenya presented footage on Sunday that it said was gathered from inside Tanzania, including images of dead bodies piled up in the street.
The images could not be independently verified.
Pope Leo XIV on Sunday called for prayers for Tanzania where he said post-election violence had erupted “with numerous victims.”
“I urge everyone to avoid all forms of violence and to pursue the path of dialogue,” the pope said.
’Wave of terror’
Hassan was elevated from vice president on the sudden death of her predecessor, John Magufuli, in 2021.
She wanted an emphatic election victory to cement her place and silence critics within the ruling party, analysts say.
Rights groups say she oversaw a “wave of terror” ahead of the vote, including a string of high-profile abductions that escalated in the final days.
Despite a heavy security presence, election day descended into chaos as crowds took to the streets across the country, tearing down her posters and attacking police and polling stations, leading to an Internet shutdown and curfew.
Polling stations had been largely empty before the violence broke out, AFP journalists and observers saw, though the electoral commission later said turnout was 87 percent.
UN chief Antonio Guterres was “deeply concerned” about the situation in Tanzania, “including reports of deaths and injuries during the demonstrations,” his spokesman said last week.
The international reaction has been muted. However, Kenyan President William Ruto congratulated her and called for people to “uphold peace and the rule of law.” The Democratic Republic of Congo leader, Felix Tshisekedi, also congratuled Hassan on her “brilliant re-election.”

HYDERABAD, India: A truck loaded with concrete stone chips rammed into a passenger bus in southern India early Monday, killing at least 20 people and injuring about two dozens, local authorities said.
The state-run transport bus was carrying around 70 passengers en route to Hyderabad city in southern Telangana state when a truck coming from opposite direction collided with it near the town of Chevalla, local district official K. Chandrakala told The Associated Press.
The front of the bus was badly mangled, trapping several passengers inside.
Rajendra Prasad, superintendent at Chevalla hospital said 20 bodies have been moved to the mortuary and will be handed over to their families after verification.
The accident came a day after a minibus carrying passengers in western state of Rajasthan rammed into a parked truck late Sunday, killing at least 15 people and injuring two others.
The passengers were returning to the desert city of Jodhpur after offering prayers to a Hindu deity in the pilgrimage town of Kolayat, officials said.
Among the dead were 10 women, four children, and the driver, senior government official Shweta Chauhan told The Associated Press. The injured have been admitted to a local hospital for treatment.
The victims were trapped in the mangled mass of metal that the tempo traveler minibus was reduced to after the accident, Chauhan said.
Senior police officer Kundan Kanwaria said the driver was trying to overtake another vehicle but crashed into the truck parked on the highway.
“It seems the driver couldn’t even apply the brakes before hitting the truck,” Kanwaria said.
It is not uncommon in India for vehicles, especially trucks and trailers, to be parked haphazardly along highways, often without warning lights or reflectors. Such poorly marked stops frequently pose serious risks for nighttime drivers and have led to several deadly crashes in recent years.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Telangana’s highest-elected official Revanth Reddy and Rajasthan’s BHajjan Lal Sharma, offered their condolences to the bereaved families.
The crash in Rajasthan came less than three weeks after a suspected short circuit sparked a fire on a passenger bus in the state, rapidly engulfing the vehicle in flames and burning at least 20 people to death.