{"id":3648,"date":"2025-12-10T02:46:24","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T02:46:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jubaglobal.com\/?p=3648"},"modified":"2025-12-10T02:46:26","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T02:46:26","slug":"u-s-formally-reassesses-ties-with-tanzania-over-deepening-rights-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/directtopic.com\/jubaglobal.com\/u-s-formally-reassesses-ties-with-tanzania-over-deepening-rights-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Formally Reassesses Ties with Tanzania Over Deepening Rights Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"784\" height=\"1168\" src=\"https:\/\/directtopic.com\/jubaglobal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1977\/2025\/12\/1000394589.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3649\" srcset=\"https:\/\/directtopic.com\/jubaglobal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1977\/2025\/12\/1000394589.jpg 784w, https:\/\/directtopic.com\/jubaglobal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1977\/2025\/12\/1000394589-768x1144.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 784px) 100vw, 784px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>By: Juba Global News Network<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Dar es Salaam, Tanzania \u2013 December 9, 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a move that&#8217;s really ratcheted up diplomatic tensions, the United States announced on December 6 that it&#8217;s launching a &#8220;comprehensive review&#8221; of its relationship with Tanzania. Washington, for its part, says this comes in response to what it calls &#8220;systematic and worsening human rights abuses&#8221; that have happened before, during, and after the country\u2019s hotly disputed October 2025 general elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The statement\u2014delivered in tandem by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Michael Waltz\u2014amounts to the sharpest, most public condemnation yet of President Samia Suluhu Hassan\u2019s government. It\u2019s a striking reversal for an administration that, not too long ago, was seen as a welcome change after the late John Magufuli\u2019s heavy-handed rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What\u2019s driving this review? Well, a string of incidents:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Security forces killed at least 27 opposition supporters and bystanders during post-election protests, both in Zanzibar and on the mainland.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Over 1,200 Chadema party members\u2014including high-ranking leaders\u2014have been arrested since August.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Chadema chairman Freeman Mbowe and his deputy Tundu Lissu are still being held incommunicado.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Live election-night broadcasts were banned, and international observers were booted from several polling stations.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>There are documented cases of torture while in detention, including the death of Chadema youth wing leader Ali Kibao on November 18.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>At a State Department press briefing, Secretary Rubio didn\u2019t mince words: \u201cThe United States cannot in good conscience continue business as usual with a government that uses lethal force against its own citizens for exercising universally recognized rights. We are reviewing all aspects of our partnership, including development assistance, security cooperation, and preferential trade access under AGOA.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The stakes here are huge. Tanzania pulls in roughly $650 million every year in U.S. development and health aid, plays a key role in America\u2019s East Africa counter-terrorism efforts, and enjoys duty-free access to U.S. markets for thousands of products through the African Growth and Opportunity Act. If any of that gets suspended or scaled back, the hit to Tanzania\u2019s economy\u2014already battered by post-election capital flight and a 40% slump in tourism bookings\u2014could be devastating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">From Hope to Hardline: The Samia Paradox<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>When Samia Suluhu Hassan stepped in as Tanzania\u2019s first female president in March 2021 after Magufuli\u2019s sudden death, the world took notice\u2014and applauded. She scrapped bans on pregnant girls in schools, freed political prisoners, opened the door for opposition rallies, and allowed shuttered media outlets to reopen. The Biden administration, for instance, praised her as a \u201cchampion of democratic renewal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But now, human rights groups say there\u2019s been a steady, almost methodical rollback\u2014one that sped up in 2024 and hit a breaking point ahead of the October 2025 elections. Several things seem to be in play here:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Hardline factions within the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) apparently saw her early reforms as a sign of weakness.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>There\u2019s anxiety about losing their grip on Zanzibar, especially since the opposition Civic United Front (CUF) and ACT-Wazalendo have been making gains.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>They\u2019ve also wanted to stop Chadema\u2019s Tundu Lissu\u2014who survived an assassination attempt in 2017 and made a triumphant return from exile in 2023\u2014from gaining more traction.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The election itself? Pretty much a mess, with widespread claims of fraud. Independent vote tallies by Chadema and civil society outfits reportedly showed Lissu ahead of President Samia by 58% to 42% on the mainland. Yet, just hours after the government cut the internet nationwide, the National Electoral Commission declared Samia the winner, claiming a landslide victory with 71% on October 29.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What came next was the deadliest post-election period Tanzania\u2019s ever seen. In Zanzibar, security forces opened fire on crowds in Stone Town, killing 19 people in a single day. On the mainland, police used live ammunition in Dar es Salaam, Mwanza, and Arusha. Amnesty International has verified videos showing officers executing unarmed youths at close range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">International Fallout Accelerates<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>America\u2019s move comes after similar steps from other Western partners:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The European Union suspended \u20ac60 million in budget support on November 20.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The UK froze new bilateral aid and called its High Commissioner home for consultations.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Norway and Denmark\u2014usually big donors\u2014have stopped all non-humanitarian funding.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The World Bank is withholding a $750 million resilience loan until \u201ccredible investigations\u201d into the election violence are carried out.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Inside Tanzania, the mood swings between fear and defiance. In Dar es Salaam\u2019s busy Kariakoo market, traders murmur that \u201cMama Samia has become worse than Magufuli.\u201d On campuses, students are quietly organizing underground protests, even with plainclothes intelligence officers lurking nearby. Online, the hashtag #SamiaMustGo has kept trending for weeks, even as authorities throttle the internet until it\u2019s crawling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chadema has now announced plans for a nationwide civil disobedience campaign starting December 15, unless all political detainees are freed and an independent international probe is allowed into the killings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A Continent Watches<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This crisis isn\u2019t just about Tanzania. The country was, not so long ago, considered one of East Africa\u2019s most stable democracies. Its rapid decline now stands as a stark warning for the rest of the region. In neighboring Kenya, where elections are coming up in 2027, some ruling party hardliners are already citing the \u201cTanzania model\u201d of cracking down early.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So far, the U.S. hasn\u2019t slapped targeted Magnitsky sanctions on senior Tanzanian officials, but from what multiple sources say, those lists are basically ready to go. It\u2019s anyone\u2019s guess whether Washington\u2019s review will mean a measured downgrade or a total break\u2014and whether President Samia will choose dialogue or just double down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>About the only thing that seems certain: the hope so many people felt when Tanzania welcomed its first female president in 2021 has, for millions, morphed into a nightmare they probably never thought possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By: Juba Global News Network Dar es Salaam, Tanzania \u2013 December 9, 2025 In a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1199,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[836,830,643,1,848],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-african-union","category-breaking-news","category-more-articles","category-news","category-tanzania"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/directtopic.com\/jubaglobal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/directtopic.com\/jubaglobal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/directtopic.com\/jubaglobal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/directtopic.com\/jubaglobal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1199"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/directtopic.com\/jubaglobal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3648"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/directtopic.com\/jubaglobal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3650,"href":"https:\/\/directtopic.com\/jubaglobal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3648\/revisions\/3650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/directtopic.com\/jubaglobal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/directtopic.com\/jubaglobal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/directtopic.com\/jubaglobal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}