Tanzanian police have lifted the night-time curfew in Dar es Salaam, ending nearly a week of restrictions after deadly protests that followed last Wednesday’s election. The city stirred back to life on Tuesday: some shops reopened, traffic returned to the main arteries, and commuters tried to piece together normal routines. Queues still snaked at several petrol stations, a visible reminder that supply chains are not yet steady and that the internet blackout and shuttered businesses of recent days left gaps that will take time to close.
“Curfew lifted, truth pending.”
Anonymous
What we know
he curfew is over, but families are still searching for relatives or burying the dead from clashes between security forces and opposition supporters who rejected the vote as a sham. President Samia Suluhu Hassan was sworn in on Monday after being declared the winner with 98 percent of the vote. A preliminary assessment from the Southern African Development Community said the election fell short of democratic standards. Two leading opposition figures were not on the ballot: Tundu Lissu is in custody on treason charges, which he denies, while Luhaga Mpina’s candidacy was rejected on technical grounds.
The human toll remains contested and painful. Chadema officials told AFP they had recorded no fewer than 800 deaths by Saturday. A diplomatic source in Tanzania told the BBC there is credible evidence that at least 500 people were killed. The UN human rights office earlier cited credible reports of at least 10 deaths in three cities. The government has not released an official casualty figure. A doctor at Muhimbili Hospital in Dar es Salaam told the BBC that vehicles marked Municipal Burial Services have been collecting bodies from the mortuary at night and taking them to undisclosed locations. According to the same account, some survivors were removed from the emergency department by police before they recovered, and relatives were not allowed to claim remains
Individual stories amplify the statistics. A mother, identified as Mama Kassim, said she has not seen her two sons since polling day and cannot reach one of them. A Kenyan family is seeking help to repatriate the body of 33-year-old teacher John Okoth Ogutu, who taught at Sky School in Dar es Salaam and was allegedly shot by police while going to buy food at Gaba Centre. His sister, Celestine Ogutu, described him as gentle and hard-working, the kind of person who walked away from confrontation.
Rights groups say the state response crossed clear lines. Human Rights Watch accused authorities of using lethal force and other abuses to quell protests. Amnesty International said it is alarmed by excessive force that left people dead and injured, and urged investigations that lead to accountability. The government has downplayed the scale of the violence and suggested foreign nationals were involved in stoking unrest. During her inauguration, President Samia acknowledged loss of life and damage to property and said it was not surprising that some of those arrested were foreign. The messaging points in different directions, but the core demand from rights groups is the same: publish the facts, investigate the deaths, and prosecute those responsible.
Facts
For residents of Dar es Salaam, the lifting of the curfew is a welcome change, but it is not closure. The internet outage cut people off from information and from loved ones, and the shutdown of schools and public transport left households scrambling. Tuesday’s partial reopening signals intent to restore daily life, yet the pressure points remain: fuel supply, food prices, and a public record that still lacks an agreed count of the dead and injured.
The political question sits underneath the day-to-day fixes. Tanzania’s president came to office in 2021 promising a wider civic space after the Magufuli era. Early steps won praise, yet critics say the space has narrowed again. If the authorities want confidence to return with the traffic, they will need to show that curfews are not a substitute for due process, that detentions and use of force are logged and reviewed, and that contested elections are met with transparency rather than blackouts. The curfew is gone. Trust will take longer.
