Leaders of main Tanzanian opposition party released: party

DAR ES SALAAM - The leaders of Tanzania's main opposition party Chadema have been released on bail, a party spokesperson said on Tuesday, after they were detained ahead of a youth day rally.

In a post on X, John Mrema said Chadema chairman Freeman Mbowe and his deputy Tundu Lissu - both former presidential candidates - "have been returned to Dar es Salaam by police and have bailed themselves out".

However, the spokesperson said that "there are reports of some leaders of Bavicha continuing to be held by the Mbeya Police Force", without giving further details.

Overnight Awadh Haji, police chief of operations and training, said "all the top Chadema leaders who were arrested, after interrogation and other procedures, have been returned to where they came from".

A police statement said that 520 people connected to the party, including leaders and youth members - had been arrested ahead of the banned youth day rally on Monday.

READ: Tanzania opposition denounces arrests of its leaders in mass round-up

Mbowe, 62, was detained on Monday at the airport in the southwestern city of Mbeya, the day after several other leaders including Lissu were detained.

Chadema earlier said that hundreds of youth supporters had been rounded up by police as they made their way into the city.

Rights groups and opponents of the government had voiced fears the police action could signal a return to the oppressive policies of late president John Magufuli as the country gears up for elections due late next year.

The arrests came despite his successor Samia Suluhu Hassan vowing a return to "competitive politics" and easing some restrictions on the opposition and the media, including the January 2023 lifting of a six-year ban on opposition gatherings.