Tanzania's president blames foreigners for deadly protests after disputed election

DODOMA, Tanzania (AP) — Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan on Monday blamed foreigners for last week's deadly protests following a disputed election in which two main opposition candidates were barred from challenging her bid for another term.

A regional African bloc, meanwhile, said the Oct. 29 election had fallen short of its standards for democratic elections.

In her first comments after she was sworn in, Hassan acknowledged the “loss of lives” and asserted that “it was not a surprise that those arrested were from other countries,” without giving details. She vowed to unite the country and urged security agencies to ensure that normalcy returns.

Her swearing-in was held on government-owned grounds in the administrative capital of Dodoma, a departure from her previous inauguration at a packed football stadium, as tensions remained high.

It was not clear how many people were killed in the violence around the Oct. 29 election as demonstrators took to the streets of major cities to demand that vote-counting be stopped. The military was deployed to help police quell riots. Internet connectivity has been on and off in the East African nation, disrupting travel and other activities.

Gas stations and grocery shops were still closed Monday in the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, with streets nearly empty. In Dodoma, most people stayed home. The government has postponed the reopening of universities, which had been set for Nov. 3.

A spokesman for the U.N. human rights office, Seif Magango, on Friday said there were credible reports of 10 deaths in Dar es Salaam and Shinyanga and Morogoro towns.

The secretary general of the Tanzania Episcopal Conference, Charles Kitima, asserted to The Associated Press that “hundreds” of people died, citing reports from communities.

“The president has been sworn in and we hope justice will be served to those who lost their loved ones and that protesters are not targeted,” the Catholic leader said, noting that Tanzania's young people are the most aggrieved.

Observers from a regional bloc Southern African Development Community said in a statement Monday that the Oct. 29 election had fallen short of the bloc’s principles and guidelines for democratic elections, citing the barring of opposition candidates.

The bloc also cited delays in accrediting election observers.

The country's main opposition party, Chadema, has rejected the election results, saying in a statement that they "have no basis in reality.”

Chadema party leader Tundu Lissu has been imprisoned for several months after being charged with treason for calling for electoral reforms that he said were necessary for a free and fair vote. Another opposition figure, Luhaga Mpina of the ACT-Wazalendo Party, was barred from running.

Internet connections that were shut down in Tanzania on election day resumed Monday, but internet advocacy group Netblocks said there still “widespread restrictions” to many social media and messaging platforms.

Tanzania's government urged public servants to return to work and everyone else to resume their economic activities on Tuesday.

The presidents of Mozambique, Zambia, Burundi and Somalia attended Monday's swearing-in. Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema urged Tanzanians to shun violence.

Kenyan President William Ruto in a statement on Monday called for dialogue in Tanzania to maintain stability. The election violence led to a closure of the main border crossing with Kenya at Namanga, where agricultural goods in trucks have been rotting for days.

Tanzanian Army fires a 21 gun salute during the inauguration of Zanzibar President elect Hussein Ali Mwinyi of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (Revolutionary Party) at Amaan Stadium in Zanzibar, Tanzania, Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Tanzania security personnel salute as the national anthem is sung during the inauguration of Zanzibar President elect Hussein Ali Mwinyi of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (Revolutionary Party) at Amman Stadium in Zanzibar, Tanzania, Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Tanzania Navy soldiers march in formation during the inauguration of Zanzibar President elect Hussein Ali Mwinyi of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (Revolutionary Party) at Amman Stadium in Zanzibar, Tanzania, Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Supporters of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (Revolutionary Party) sing during the inauguration of Zanzibar President elect Hussein Ali Mwinyi at Amaan Stadium in Zanzibar, Tanzania, Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Stranded passengers wait for their delayed flights at the Zanzibar International Airport, Tanzania, Friday, Oct. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Tanzanian soldiers patrol the street during vote counting in Zanzibar, Tanzania, Friday, Oct. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan casts her vote during the general elections at Chamwino polling station in Dodoma, Tanzania, Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025. (AP Photo)

JERUSALEM (AP) — Over two dozen families from one of the few remaining Palestinian Bedouin villages in the central West Bank have packed up and fled their homes in recent days, saying harassment by Jewish settlers living in unauthorized outposts nearby has grown unbearable.

The village, Ras Ein el-Auja, was originally home to some 700 people from more than 100 families that have lived there for decades.

Twenty-six families already left on Thursday, scattering across the territory in search of safer ground, say rights groups. Several other families were packing up and leaving on Sunday.

“We have been suffering greatly from the settlers. Every day, they come on foot, or on tractors, or on horseback with their sheep into our homes. They enter people’s homes daily,” said Nayef Zayed, a resident, as neighbors took down sheep pens and tin structures.

Israel's military and the local settler governing body in the area did not respond to requests for comment.

Other residents pledged to stay put for the time being. That makes them some of the last Palestinians left in the area, said Sarit Michaeli, international director at B’Tselem, an Israeli rights group helping the residents.

She said that mounting settler violence has already emptied neighboring Palestinian hamlets in the dusty corridor of land stretching from Ramallah in the West to Jericho, along the Jordanian border, in the east.

The area is part of the 60% of the West Bank that has remained under full Israeli control under interim peace accords signed in the 1990s. Since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted in October 2023, over 2,000 Palestinians — at least 44 entire communities — have been expelled by settler violence in the area, B'Tselem says.

The turning point for the village came in December, when settlers put up an outpost about 50 meters (yards) from Palestinian homes on the northwestern flank of the village, said Michaeli and Sam Stein, an activist who has been living in the village for a month.

Settlers strolled easily through the village at night. Sheep and laundry went missing. International activists had to begin escorting children to school to keep them safe.

“The settlers attack us day and night, they have displaced us, they harass us in every way” said Eyad Isaac, another resident. “They intimidate the children and women.”

Michaeli said she’s witnessed settlers walk around the village at night, going into homes to film women and children and tampering with the village’s electricity.

The residents said they call the police frequently to ask for help — but it seldom arrives. Settlement expansion has been promoted by successive Israeli governments over nearly six decades. But Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government, which has placed settler leaders in senior positions, has made it a top priority.

That growth has been accompanied by a spike in settler violence, much of it carried out by residents of unauthorized outposts. These outposts often begin with small farms or shepherding that are used to seize land, say Palestinians and anti-settlement activists. United Nations officials warn the trend is changing the map of the West Bank, entrenching Israeli presence in the area.

Some 500,000 Israelis have settled in the West Bank since Israel captured the territory, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war. Their presence is viewed by most of the international community as illegal and a major obstacle to peace. The Palestinians seek all three areas for a future state.

For now, displaced families of the village have dispersed between other villages near the city of Jericho and near Hebron further south, said residents. Some sold their sheep and are trying to move into the cities.

Others are just dismantling their structures without knowing where to go.

"Where will we go? There’s nowhere. We’re scattered,” said Zayed, the resident, “People’s situation is bad. Very bad.”

An Israeli settler herds his flock near his outpost beside the Palestinian village of Ras Ein al-Auja in the West Bank, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

A Palestinian resident of Ras Ein al-Auja village, West Bank burns trash, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Palestinian children play in the West Bank village of Ras Ein al-Auja, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Palestinian residents of Ras Ein al-Auja village, West Bank pack up their belongings and prepare to leave their homes after deciding to flee mounting settler violence, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Palestinian residents of Ras Ein al-Auja village, West Bank pack up their belongings and prepare to leave their homes after deciding to flee mounting settler violence, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)