On Monday, 19/09/2022 Tanzania joined other African countries to implement the Protocol to the AU Convention on the Prevention and Combating of Terrorism. After endorsing the resolution for ratification of the protocol, the Minister for Home Affairs, Engineer Hamad Yusuph Masauni said that Tanzania stands a greater chance to gain several benefits, including intensifying defence and security of the people and their properties and simplifying the exchange of intelligence information on terrorism through close collaboration from member states.
Comment:
It is plain truth that ‘war on terror’ propaganda in Tanzania, African nations and developing countries is generally a colonial and a Western tool of fighting against Islam, exploitation and interference in Muslims’ affairs. The Western colonialists are forcing weak nations to kill, torture and imprison their own people under the pretext of fighting terrorism with the exchange of Western bribe termed as funds for fighting terrorism.
In Tanzania, there have never been an open case of any really captured “terrorist” in spite of long term propaganda. In June, 2019 the former Minister of Home Affairs Mr. Kangi Lugola confirmed that there is no terror threat in Tanzania, prior to that in February 2017 the former Minister of Constitution and Legal Affairs, Dr. Harrison Mwakyembe told the parliament that there is no reported terror threat in the country in recent years.
All these official statements affirm one reality which is the absence of really terrorism in the country instead there is the use of the global war on terror propaganda which targets Islam and Muslims worldwide as well as to disrupt peace and harmony and to smooth the way for Western exploitation of third world resources.
The law of enforcement apparatus in Tanzania in most cases have long been using the issue of terrorism to fabricate cases against Muslims, their activists and leaders. These fabricated cases have always ended in shame upon which the republic that has always failed to tender any evidence in proving their allegations.
Furthermore, via the pretext of fighting terror and others, many has suffered in the hands of law of enforcement apparatus which have been killing, looting them, abducting them, detained without trial for long time etc. For instance in 2006, senior police officers including Senior Superintendent (SSP) Christopher Bageni killed three mineral dealers and a taxi driver. Also more than 380 victims are missing till today following the government crackdown in Mkuranga, Kibiti and Rufiji in 2017 which was “not conducted within the law and characterised by human-rights violations, including torture and extrajudicial killings” (The East African, May, 2018)
Not to mention that hundreds if not thousands of Muslims and others were detained without trial for many years, such as leaders of “Uamsho (Awakening) group from Zanzibar which was detained for nearly eight years and charged with fabricated terror-related charges, then in shame the republic dropped the charges in 2021. The Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Sylvester Mwakitalu, confirmed to reporters the dropping of all charges. Similar scenario was to three members of Hizb ut Tahrir Tanzania who were detained without trial for more than four years after being charged with fabricated terrorism case, whereby at last were released on 22nd February 2022, following the DPP confirmation that they have no cogent evidence to proceed with the alleged charges.
Also, the Chairman of the main opposition political party (Chadema) in Tanzania, Mr. Freeman Mbowe was arrested on July 2021 in a night raid in Mwanza, ahead of a public rally to demand constitutional reforms and charged with terrorism-related crimes, then released after spending seven months in custody.
Above are just few examples among hundreds and thousands of detained people with fabricated terror related cases of which 99.9% are Muslims whom the government have failed to prove their allegations before the court of law even after many years of their so called investigation. This means that none of them committed any terror acts that is why the republic failed to tender any solid evidences against them. We further stress that the anti-terror campaign is a foreign Western agenda and must be abolished, since its acts and conventions are oppressive and brutal tool to fight mainly and in most cases Muslims and Islam.
Said Bitomwa
Member of the Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Tanzania