By Aaron Ross
NAIROBI, April 23 (Reuters) – At least 518 people were killed in violence that broke out during Tanzania’s elections last October, a government-appointed commission of inquiry said on Thursday, in the first official acknowledgment of the scale of the deadly unrest.
The commission, however, placed the blame for the violence with the protesters, infuriating the government’s opponents, who accused it of bias.
The U.N. human rights office estimated last year that hundreds were killed in violence driven by the exclusion of leading opposition candidates from presidential and parliamentary elections. The main opposition party has said thousands died.
Tanzanian authorities have previously declined to comment on casualty figures, saying they were awaiting the report of the commission, which President Samia Suluhu Hassan appointed in November. They have denied allegations by human rights groups that the security services used excessive force.
Speaking at a ceremony to hand over the report to Hassan, commission chair Mohamed Chande Othman said the death toll could be an undercount because of difficulties identifying victims. He did not pass judgment on the actions of law enforcement, instead recommending that a commission of criminal investigation be formed to probe specific incidents.
Chande said the commission had “indisputable evidence” the violence was planned and funded by “trained people” but did not name them.
“Organisers used various techniques, including using people without deep understanding and desperate youth, while encouraging simultaneous acts of violence across different locations,” he said.
Hassan, who was declared the winner of the presidential election with nearly 98% of the vote, has said the protests were an attempt to overthrow her government and received foreign funding, without providing evidence.
The commission’s report was not immediately made public and it was not clear whether it would be. In comments at the ceremony, Hassan said the report was “the property of the president”.
The main opposition party, CHADEMA, rejected the commission’s work, saying in a statement on Thursday that a government accused of carrying out violent abuses cannot investigate itself.
Chande acknowledged receiving allegations that people were shot in homes and shops, including near a cafe in the northern city of Mwanza.
Reuters reporting found that police officers massacred more than a dozen unarmed young men at the cafe far from any known protest. Witnesses to other incidents in Mwanza and two other cities also told Reuters they saw officers shoot at people who were not protesting.
The government said at the time that it took concerns about the use of force seriously but that many allegations were based on unverified and out-of-context information.
(Reporting by Aaron Ross in Nairobi; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
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