The office of Tanzania’s opposition party, CHADEMA, has been firebombed. Party leader, Tundu Lissu announced the news via his Twitter account.
“Our Northern Zone party HQ in Arusha has been firebombed and destroyed on the eve of my arrival in Arusha. Today’s timetable remains unchanged,” Lissu writes. “No amount of terror and intimidation will stop this Tsunami for change in Tanzania. Arusha here we come ✌???? “
In the tweet, he shared several photos of the aftermath of the bombing.
Lissu recently returned home to Tanzania after three years of exile. Lissu fled the country in 2017, after an assassination attempt. Shooters sprayed 30 rounds into his car, hitting him five times, in the stomach, arm and leg.
He has been openly critical of President John Magufuli’s Chama Cha Mapinduzi party, Africa’s longest-reigning party.
“President Magufuli does not believe in the rule of law or democracy,” Lissu told the ‘Talking Africa’ podcast in July. “[Magufuli] has said on a number of occasions publicly that he would like to see Tanzania reverting back to the dark days of one-party rule,” said Lissu, “and he has done a lot to see that vision come to fruition.”
Lissu was well aware of the risks when he returned to Tanzania, but he still vowed to continue his efforts, seeking liberty and justice on behalf of his beloved country.
“The biggest thing has been the untold suffering. Killings of political leaders, attacks on political leaders, abductions, disappearances, torture, illegal prosecution of opposition leaders and activists in courts of law, with trumped-up charges,” he told AFP News in June. “Whether we are going to have free and fair elections, that is not the question, we don’t expect that. The issue is … are we going to have our lives by the end of the electoral process?”
