Madame President, this is not acceptable

We are watching developments in Tanzania, with alarm and misgivings. The violence against the demonstrators is unacceptable.

After the authoritarian regime of your predecessor President Magufuli, we all welcomed you as a reformer president who believed and stood for democracy, rule of law and civil society, as you released political prisoners and offered space to the political opposition.

We are therefore dismayed by the new turn taken, banning opposition parties from elections, shutting the internet, shooting at demonstrators, most of them your young people.

An election which excludes the opposition parties is neither fair nor legitimate, the anger in the street is understandable, and expected.

In our conference in Marrakech last June, we made the point that there could be no leveraging of Africa’s huge domestic resources, no calling for more private capital to invest in our continent, without peace, security and rule of law. We specifically raised the alarm over the growing political violence against opposition in the period leading to elections in Tanzania and Uganda, both resource-rich countries.

The sub-region is already a home for unspeakable violence and human tragedy in Sudan.

One failed state is enough.