Tanzania lifts some restrictions after poll violence

Some Tanzanians were venturing out on Tuesday as restrictions, including a curfew and an internet blackout, were partially lifted after elections erupted into violence that the opposition says has left hundreds dead.

The country’s electoral commission said President Samia Suluhu Hassan won the 29 October poll with 98 percent of the vote. The opposition has declared the election a “sham.”

A total internet blackout in place since protests broke out on election day has been partially eased, but verifiable information out of the east African country remains tricky.

An AFP journalist observed a slow return to normalcy in the economic capital Dar es Salaam on Tuesday, although people remained scared.

“I hope violence will not come again,” food vendor Rehema Shehoza, 32, told AFP.

“Some of us would die from hunger because I need to get out for work to get my daily bread,” she said.

Police announced on Monday the lifting of a curfew imposed on election day, and after a near-total transport shutdown, some public buses were working.

Long lines were seen outside reopening gas stations as prices soared with private tuk-tuks and motorbikes filling the gaps.