President condemns the murder of a senior opposition party official who was kidnapped and burned with acid

September 9 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan has strongly condemned the killing of a senior opposition party official who was abducted, tortured and burned with acid after being forced off a bus to his hometown.

“I have received with great sadness the news of the assassination of Mohamed Ali Kibao, a senior Chadema official,” he said on his account on the social network X, where he conveyed his condolences to the family, friends and party members of the victim.

He stressed that he had ordered an investigation into this “terrible incident.” “Our country is democratic and every citizen has the right to live. The government that I lead does not tolerate this type of brutal action,” he concluded.

Kibao, 69, was forcibly removed from the bus, which was travelling between Dar es Salaam and Tanga, by suspected police, after which his body was found in a Dar es Salaam neighbourhood with signs of having been tortured and burned with acid.

The politician was a former member of the intelligence services who joined Chadema in 2008, whose leader Freeman Mbowe and his deputy Tundu Lissu were arrested in August after trying to take part in a protest that was banned by the authorities. Both were later released on bail.

Suluhu Hassan, who took office in March 2021 following the death of John Magufuli, whose vice president she was, has adopted a series of policies to distance herself from her predecessor, including returning broadcast licenses to several newspapers and lifting the ban on protests, although in recent months the opposition has denounced an increase in repression.

In this regard, although the president has publicly advocated for a rapprochement with the opposition to try to resolve the crisis, various parties have denounced that the authorities continue to repress their activities and have called for more far-reaching measures to be able to talk about an improvement in the democratic situation in the African country.