U.S. steps up pressure on Tanzania as election violence raises global concern

The United States has intensified scrutiny of its relationship with Tanzania, launching a comprehensive review over what it calls “grave concerns” about religious repression, shrinking civic freedoms and violence against civilians following the country’s disputed October 29 election.

The move signals a hardening international posture toward President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s government, which continues to face mounting criticism from Western governments, rights groups and the United Nations.

The U.S. State Department in a statement said recent government actions “required this reconsideration of our ties,” pointing directly to restrictions on religious freedom, free speech and what it described as “persistent obstacles to U.S. investment.”

It added that the “disturbing violence against civilians in the days leading up to and following Tanzania’s October 29 elections” had put Americans at risk, prompting a series of security alerts for U.S. citizens in the country.

While the Tanzanian government has dismissed these figures as exaggerated, the aftermath of the vote has been widely described as the country’s most severe political crisis in decades.

President Hassan, defending the poll, insisted the vote was fair and pledged to investigate the violence. But growing international scrutiny is reshaping the narrative.

They urged the government to “provide information on the fate and whereabouts of all disappeared persons and ensure the identification and dignified return of the remains to their families.”

The EU pointed to ballot tampering, intimidation, exclusion of opposition candidates and mass detentions, factors it said undermined the legitimacy of Hassan’s re-election bid.

For now, Tanzania has offered no official response to the U.S. or UN statements.

But as Washington reviews the future of its partnership and Brussels sharpens its tone, the political fallout from the disputed election appears increasingly global and far from over.