Burundi's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) presented on Friday the results of its activities in Bururi, in the south of the east African state where Investigations, hearings and exhumations of victims of the 1972 ethnic crisis have been going on.

President of the TRC, Pierre Claver Ndayicariye said "the TRC has verified 68 mass graves. And it is only in 11 of these mass graves that we exhumed 1,455 victims of the 1972 crisis. The images of the mass graves show the unheard-of barbarity with which the victims were tortured and murdered."

Meanwhile, there are mixed reactions in the Burundi over the work of the commision. Some persons have accused the commission of leaning towards one ethnic group.

Tatien Sibomana, a politician in the country shares this view.

''The Ndayicariye Commission wants to make the national and international opinion believe that it is the Hutus who were killed. This is not true at all. He can sing it, claim it all day long, it will never be the truth of what happened.

Burundi's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was born out of the Arusha Agreement of 2000 for peace and reconciliation in Burundi.

More than 4,000 mass graves have been found in Burundi following an investigation by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission into conflicts since independence in 1962.

The commission, set up in 2018 to shed light on ethnic tensions, says it has identified 142,505 victims. - Africanews

A man holds a newspapers following the death of Tanzania's President John Magufuli. Photo Emmanuel Herman/Reuters

Zanzibar, Tanzania – Condolences streamed in from across the world on Thursday after the death of Tanzanian President John Magufuli, as many wonder how the East African country could change in the absence of a leader who was loved, loathed and feared.

In a televised address, the country’s Vice President Samia Suluhu said the 61-year-old president had died of a “heart condition” at a hospital in Dar-Es-Salaam, an illness she said he had been battling for the last 10 years.

“We have lost our formidable leader” she said. The country will begin a two-week mourning period, as funeral preparations are under way.

As with much of his five-year presidency, Magufuli’s health decline and subsequent death was marred by controversy. The president disappeared from public view in late February, leading to widespread speculation that he had contracted COVID-19.

As recently as last week, government officials said the president was in good health and working hard. Several individuals have been arrested for spreading rumours that the president was sick. The groundswell of speculation about his health came after Magufuli, who had previously played down the threat of the coronavirus, admitted that COVID-19 still posed a threat in Tanzania.

From infrastructure development to the suppression of political and civil rights, Magufuli’s leadership has left a significant legacy that many are yet to fully comprehend.

“You fought the good fight, finished the race, kept the faith” tweeted Humphrey Pole Pole, publicity and ideology secretary for the president’s Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party, and prominent Magufuli loyalist.

The leader of opposition ACT Wazalendo party, Zitto Kabwe, described the situation as unprecedented and “one that will move us all in very personal ways”.

In a tweet on Thursday, lawyer and rights activist Fatma Karume described the Magufuli administration as a “horrendous” five years.

“But I am grateful and proud that I kept my humanity even when evil was the order of the day. Thank you to all who made these 5 years bearable” she said on Twitter.

Uncertain future

The Constitution provides that in circumstances of death, the vice president should assume leadership and finish the present term, until the next election.

As such, the soft-spoken Hassan, who hails from the semi-autonomous Zanzibar region, would become the first female leader in Tanzania and the East African region at large.

However, as of late Thursday, there was no confirmation about plans for an inauguration ceremony. The vice president will address the nation on Friday regarding burial arrangements for Magufuli, government spokesman Hassan Abbasi said on state TV on Thursday evening.

“During this difficult time, we look on the incoming president to provide the leadership and unity that we need. We wish her blessings, courage and patience” said Kabwe.

Her ascendancy to the presidency would raise questions about whether there may be a change in the direction of politics and policy in the country, particularly regarding the handling of the coronavirus pandemic and in the areas of civic and political rights; two sets of issues on which Magufuli had attracted sharp criticism.

Columnist and political analyst Elsie Eyakuze said she hoped that the opposition would find new platforms that would enrich and diversify public life.

“I envision that many restrictions pertaining to civic freedoms might relax, and I am anticipating a change in political flavour as happens with every incumbent. I cannot possibly speculate on what his death means for the ruling party. My hope is that we might return to the multiparty democracy we were working on developing between 1995 and 2015,” said Eyakuze.

Dan Paget, a lecturer at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, agreed it was too early to know how Magufuli’s death would affect the ruling party.

“It is not clear how the regime’s actions will change, but a new leader is an opportunity to wash away the sins of the past, in words even if not in deeds. I expect at least a feigning of reform, perhaps a change of course on COVID-19, and token liberalisations. Whether or not Tanzania changes its course on authoritarianism or anything else depends on to what extent there is a changing of the guard,” he said. - Sammy Awami, Al Jazeera

Photo The Observer

Eight people have been shot dead by suspected South Sudanese gunmen at Odujoa village in Nimule. The deceased include five South Sudan nationals and three Ugandans.  

The eight were attacked on Thursday night while fishing on the Ugandan side of River Nile, where they were surrounded by the armed men who were allegedly looking for their cattle. They said that their cattle had been stolen from South Sudan and taken into Uganda.

According to security personnel who preferred anonymity, seven armed men in plain-clothes attacked the fishermen and asked them whether they had seen their cattle. The source says that when the fishermen feigned ignorance, they were taken to the riverbank on the South Sudan side and shot dead.  

“The armed men opened fire on them killing the eight on the spot while one South Sudanese identified as Bosco Kenyi from Arapi village managed to escape,” the source said. Kenyi is currently admitted at Bilbao health centre III in Moyo sub-county.

A team of security officials led by Moyo resident district commissioner David Modo is making preparations to reach the scene of the shooting as arrangements have been made with the counterparts in South Sudan.  

In the past, residents of Gbari village have been attacked by gunmen from South Sudan. Last week, officials from Uganda and South Sudan met in Kajokeji town in South Sudan to discuss how to resolve the continued cattle raids, abductions and the general insecurity situation in the border areas. - URN/The Observer

Magufuli's vice president said on Monday citizens should ignore rumours from outside the country. Photo Sadi Said/Reuters

A main opposition party in Tanzania has urged the government to “fully explain the mystery surrounding” President John Magufuli’s nearly three-week absence, saying the public has the right to know about his whereabouts and who is running the country.

A vocal COVID-19 sceptic, Magufuli last appeared in public on February 27 and in recent days, speculation has been rife that the 61-year-old is ill with the coronavirus – though the prime minister said last week the president was healthy and hard at work.

In a statement on Tuesday, the ACT-Wazalendo party said Magufuli’s absence amid the clatter of rumours “has raised palpable public anxiety and tension which threatens the welfare of the country”.

“We demand that the relevant authorities immediately tell Tanzanians the real situation of Dr Magufuli’s condition and assure the republic about continuity of the roles of his office as stipulated in the Constitution,” the statement signed by ACT-Wazalendo leader Zitto Kabwe said.

Kabwe said Tanzania’s constitution allows for the cabinet to submit a resolution to the chief justice to put together a medical inquiry to certify the president is “unable to discharge the functions of his office by reason of physical or mental infirmity”.

He also called for the “unconditional” release of several people arrested in the country since last week for allegedly spreading false information about the sickness of political leaders, according to the police, who did not mention the president’s name when referring to the arrests.

Legal and Constitutional Affairs Minister Mwigulu Nchemba said on Monday anyone “blathering, spreading misinformation” were breaking the law and could be arrested.

Nicknamed the “Bulldozer”, Magufuli was elected in 2015 on promises to tackle corruption and boost infrastructure development. He won a second term in a disputed poll last year.

However, his government has been accused by rights groups of stifling democracy and cracking down on the media. As a result, the country’s journalists are too afraid to dig into the story.

“It’s all about survival and telling the truth … you need to play it safe to continue operating or rush to this delicate story and risk your licence and most importantly your life,” an editor of a privately-owned Swahili newspaper told the AFP news agency on condition of anonymity.

Magufuli’s absence comes amid a string of high-profile deaths and illnesses attributed to “respiratory problems” or “pneumonia”.

The president has long downplayed the severity of COVID-19, urging Tanzanians to pray, use steam inhalation and embrace local remedies to protect themselves from the respiratory disease. Tanzania stopped releasing infection numbers in April 2020, weeks before Magufuli declared the country coronavirus-free in June through divine intervention.

He refused to wear a face-mask or take lockdown measures. But a week before he was last seen, Magufuli conceded the virus was still circulating, after the vice president of semi-autonomous Zanzibar was revealed to have died of COVID-19.

Addressing a congregation at a church service in Dar-es-Salaam, he said the government had not forbidden the wearing of masks and encouraged those who wanted to do so.

Last Tuesday, main opposition leader Tundu Lissu, exiled in Belgium, and others began questioning Magufuli’s absence, citing sources that he was gravely ill from COVID-19, exacerbated by underlying health conditions.

On Monday, Lissu said on Twitter his intelligence sources “say he’s on life support with COVID and paralysed on one side and from the waist down after a stroke. Tell the people the truth!”

Among the theories in circulation is that Magufuli is severely ill in a hospital in Kenya or India, while another suggests he never left Tanzania at all. Kenyan media have reported the presence of “an African leader” in a Nairobi hospital in clear reference to Magufuli, although government officials deny he is present.

India’s immigration service records do not show anybody by the name of John Magufuli entering the country, and air ambulance flight records do not show a flight from East Africa since February 1, an Indian government source told the Reuters news agency on Tuesday.

The Tanzanian government has said very little, other than to threaten those spreading rumours with jail time.

On Friday, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said Magufuli was “strong and working as usual”. On Monday, Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan dropped a possible hint the president is ill, without naming him.

“Our country is now full of rumours from outside but that should be ignored … It’s quite normal for a person to contract flu, fever or any other disease,” she said. “If there’s need for us to remain united, the time is now.”

In his statement, Kabwe said the government was merely giving room for panic.

“We know for sure that the president is ill but we are surprised by the deepening silence about the matter,” he said. “We need to know who is currently heading the government through which constitutional powers.” - Al Jazeera