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Last month, Tundu Lissu was campaigning for the presidency of Tanzania.
Today, he is back in a simple ground-floor flat in the small Belgian town where he recovered from multiple gunshot wounds the last time he was forced to flee his homeland.
It is dangerous to be the standard-bearer for the opposition in Tanzania, where President John Magufuli returned to power on October 28 with an unlikely 84 percent of the vote.
But Lissu, 52, a veteran of the East African state’s brutal politics, knew the risks and has the physical and mental scars to prove it.
In September 2017, gunmen opened fire on him in front of his home in a protected government compound, apparently after following the then-opposition MP from Parliament.
Lissu was left with 16 gunshot wounds, but survived and was flown, first to Nairobi and then to Belgium, where his life was saved with several rounds of surgery.
He returned to Tanzania in July after being elected to lead the opposition’s challenge to Magufuli’s reelection.
The campaign went well despite the government’s oppressive tactics, he said, but the president’s landslide victory was not a surprise.
Lissu, who met AFP at his apartment in exile in the nondescript city of Tener in Flemish Brabant, had been warned that the elections would be rigged.
Before the vote, he said, a person who identified himself as a senior military official contacted him.
“This army general told me: ‘Magufuli is going to get 12 million votes, you will get three million. That’s what they have decided,'” Lissu said.
“And you know what? That’s exactly what Magufuli got: 12.5 million something. I didn’t get three million. I got 1.9,” he said.
– Ballot rigged –
The US State Department has expressed concern about reports of “widespread and significant electoral irregularities, internet disruption, arrests and violence by security forces.”
The UK Foreign Office also complained about allegations of “prefilled ballot boxes and party agents denied entry to polling stations”.
What happened next wasn’t unexpected either, but it was terrifying nonetheless, especially for the survivor of a previous assassination attempt.
“Immediately after the election was called, or what passes for an election, the security detail that they gave me during the campaign was removed,” he said.
“And the next day, I started receiving death threats,” said Lissu, who is still limping.
The caller did not identify himself by name, but it seemed clear that he represented the security or intelligence services.
Lissu fled her home.
“I was shocked. I was scared. Being shot is the most terrible thing you can imagine. I remember the pure noise of the explosions when they attacked me,” he said.
“And the pain and basically the destruction of your body is horrible,” he said. “Remembering those hours was a very bad thing. I was shaking. I ran.”
– Willingness to resist –
At first he stayed with some friends but fearing putting them in danger, he decided to leave for the German embassy in Dar es Salaam.
He was arrested while trying to seek refuge, but German diplomats followed him to the detention center and were finally able to release him.
On Tuesday he was able to return to Belgium, meet his wife Alicia, and plan his next move.
Magufuli has sidelined international criticism of the vote and crushed the opposition’s attempts to mount post-election protests.
“The purpose of freedom and democracy is to generate development, not chaos,” said the returning president on Friday to a parliament that is now packed with members of the ruling party.
“Freedom, rights and democracy go with responsibility, and each one has limits. I hope they understand me well,” warned Magufuli.
In 2017, Lissu was shot 16 outside her home in a protected government compound.
Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD, AFP
However, Lissu has not given up on his hopes for democracy, encouraged by what he said was the widespread support he found in the election campaign.
“I will return. I don’t know when, but I cannot stay in Europe forever. The most important thing, right now, is to continue the fight,” he told AFP.
“The international community needs to know about Tanzania, they need to know that an autocratic regime has taken over,” he said.
“I have a message for my people, the people of Tanzania,” he continued.
“What the campaign of the last three months has shown is that our people have not been broken, that the will of our people to resist to fight for democracy has not been broken.”
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