RACIAL JUSTICE NETWORK STATEMENT OF SOLIDARITY WITH TANZANIA AND CAMEROON’S DEMOCRATIC UPRISINGS

Africa’s Youth Are Rising—Dictators Are Falling

The Racial Justice Network (RJN) stands in unwavering solidarity with the people of Tanzania and Cameroon who took to the streets to reject the recent fraudulent elections designed to perpetuate authoritarian rule. These simultaneous uprisings—separated by 3,000 kilometres but united in their demands for democracy, dignity, and an end to gerontocratic dictatorship—represent a continental awakening that no amount of state violence can suppress.

In Tanzania, President Samia Suluhu Hassan declared a 98% electoral victory whilst security forces massacred hundreds, possibly over 2,000, protesters—with streets “covered with dead bodies,” hospitals overwhelmed, and police conducting mass burials. The UN confirms at least 10 deaths; opposition sources document systematic mass killings hidden behind internet shutdowns and media blackouts.

In Cameroon, 92-year-old President Paul Biya—Africa’s oldest and among the world’s longest-ruling leaders—claimed his eighth term with 53.66% of the vote after eliminating his main challenger. Security forces killed at least 48 civilians according to UN sources, with many more injured and over 100 arrested as protesters across Douala, Yaoundé, Garoua, and Maroua rejected yet another stolen election.

Together, these crises expose the bankruptcy of post-colonial governance systems that prioritise elite enrichment over popular sovereignty, perpetuate authoritarian violence over democratic accountability, and silence dissent with bullets rather than ballots.

Two elections, one pattern: Manufactured democracy, mass murder

Tanzania: 98% and mass graves

Tanzania’s 29 October 2025 election was designed to be unwinnable from the start. In April 2025, Hassan’s regime banned Chadema, Tanzania’s largest opposition party, after arresting leader Tundu Lissu on fabricated treason charges at a rally demanding electoral reforms. The regime also barred Luhaga Mpina, candidate of the second-largest opposition party ACT-Wazalendo, leaving only minor figures to “compete” against Hassan.

A 98% victory margin is not democracy—it is dictatorship wrapped in the façade of elections. As one 70-year-old Tanzanian stated: “There has never been a credible election since 1995.” The regime’s claim that Hassan won 68.7% and 86.31% in regions where turnout was only 53% exposes the absurdity of these manufactured results.

The regime’s response to protests has been genocidal. Whilst the government refuses to provide casualty figures, opposition sources report mass burials, hospitals filled with bullet-riddled bodies, and systematic disappearances. The complete information blackout—internet shutdowns, media restrictions, curfews, barring of foreign journalists—was designed to hide the scale of state violence from the world.

Most disturbingly, Hassan’s son, Abdul Halim Hafidh Ameir, is believed to have overseen the crackdown—creating a new dynastic power structure within the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party’s 64-year stranglehold on power.

Cameroon: 43 years, 92 years old, still clinging to power

Cameroon’s 12 October 2025 election was equally rigged before voting began. The Constitutional Council disqualified Maurice Kamto, a key opposition leader who posed a genuine challenge to Biya’s rule—ironically rejecting him on grounds that apply far more to the 92-year-old incumbent: advanced age, health absences, and dependency on others.

With his main challenger eliminated, Biya made only one public appearance during the entire campaign yet “won” 53.66%. Opposition candidate Issa Tchiroma Bakary, who claims to have won 54-60% based on his party’s tallies, saw his supporters met with live ammunition, tear gas, and water cannons. Security forces positioned snipers around Tchiroma’s home, killing at least two people who gathered to support him.

The violence across Douala, Yaoundé, Garoua, and Maroua reflects a regime so brittle that even peaceful protests demanding credible results must be crushed with lethal force. Even a Catholic bishop endorsing Tchiroma described him as “a better devil”—capturing voters’ desperation for any alternative to Biya’s moribund 43-year rule.

Reports suggest some military units sympathised with protesters, yet Army Chief Jacob Mkunda dismissed demonstrators as “criminals”—the classic authoritarian criminalisation of legitimate democratic demands.

Colonial legacies: How post – independence states became instruments of oppression

Both Tanzania and Cameroon demonstrate how post-independence states inherited colonial structures of domination and turned them against their own people. Hassan’s Tanzania and Biya’s Cameroon employ the same toolkit perfected under colonialism: arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, torture, extrajudicial killings, information control, and the systematic elimination of political opposition.

Tanzania under Suluhu Hassan has weaponised every tool of state repression. The UN documented over 200 disappearances since 2019. Human Rights Watch recorded at least 10 instances of politically motivated assault, harassment, abduction, and torture in the months preceding the election. Hassan, initially celebrated as Tanzania’s first female president, has proven more ruthless than her predecessor John Magufuli in suppressing dissent.

Cameroon under Biya exemplifies post-independence authoritarianism: abolishing term limits in 2008, eliminating challengers through detention and disqualification, maintaining power through patronage networks whilst the majority suffers. A country rich in oil and cocoa has been devastated by corruption that enriches elites whilst ordinary citizens struggle with poverty, unemployment, and crumbling infrastructure. Biya’s long absences—he reportedly spends extended periods outside the country—whilst his government tightens its grip, reflects pure contempt for those he purports to govern.

Both regimes face multiple crises beyond their legitimacy deficits: Tanzania battles youth unemployment and economic mismanagement; Cameroon confronts jihadist violence in the north, separatist insurgency in the west, and entrenched corruption. Yet rather than address these challenges, both regimes deploy violence against citizens demanding change.

Africa’s Youth Rising Against Gerontocracy and Inherited Dictatorship

Tanzania and Cameroon’s protests represent the same generational uprising sweeping across Africa. In Kenya, Mozambique, Togo, Nigeria, Madagascar, and many other countries, young Africans are rejecting the post-colonial settlement that enriches corrupt leaders and their cronies whilst condemning the majority to poverty, unemployment, and political marginalisation.

In Tanzania, protesters shouted before internet shutdowns silenced them: “We have been silent for so long. What have we been doing?” The regime’s response—shooting protesters, imposing curfews, shutting down universities—demonstrates their fear of a generation refusing to accept inherited dictatorship. Protests spilling across Kenya’s border at Namanga illustrate how these struggles transcend artificial colonial boundaries.

In Cameroon, with nearly 30 million people, the majority youth, citizens are demanding an end to governance by a 92-year-old who could rule until he’s 100. One protester in Douala expressed the crushing despair felt across the nation: “I was crushed when I heard the news about the results, it just crushed me.” This heartbreak reflects a generation watching their futures stolen by aging leaders who abolished term limits to perpetuate their rule.

The Episcopal Conference of Cameroon documented electoral irregularities including relocated polling stations and electoral registers containing deceased persons—a fitting metaphor for regimes that refuse to die whilst killing the living who demand their rights.

International complicity and selective outrage

The muted international response to these simultaneous electoral frauds and massacres exposes familiar patterns of selective concern for African democracy.

The African Union’s tepid responses—merely expressing “extreme concern” in Tanzania whilst calling the election “peaceful,” remaining virtually silent on Cameroon—demonstrate how regional bodies function as “clubhouses for dictators” rather than defenders of democracy. The AU’s failure to forcefully condemn electoral fraud and mass violence exposes its complicity in sustaining authoritarian rule across the continent.

Western governments’ selective democracy promotion is equally damning. The UK Foreign Office’s advice against “all but essential travel” to Tanzania focuses on British safety rather than Tanzanian lives, prioritising tourist convenience over democratic rights. Where is Britain’s condemnation of Cameroon’s electoral fraud? US Senator Jim Risch noted that “Cameroon is not a U.S. partner, and poses economic and security risks”—inadvertently revealing how strategic interests shape responses to African authoritarianism.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) declared Tanzania’s election “peaceful” whilst protesters were being massacred. The International Press Association of East Africa reported that virtually no journalists working for international media received accreditation to cover Tanzania’s election—a deliberate strategy to hide state violence from global scrutiny.

Pope Leo’s call for dialogue in Tanzania, whilst well-intentioned, inadequately addresses regimes conducting mass burials. There can be no dialogue with governments disappearing and killing citizens. Justice must precede reconciliation.

Our solidarity is concrete and continental

As an organisation rooted in anti-colonial struggle and committed to international solidarity, RJN recognises that Tanzanian and Cameroonian citizens’ fights against electoral dictatorship are inseparable from our own work challenging systems of oppression. The same patterns of authoritarian violence, elite impunity, and international complicity that devastate Tanzania and Cameroon also structure racial injustice in Britain and globally.

These simultaneous crises are not coincidental—they reflect a continental crisis of post-colonial governance where aging leaders eliminate opposition, manufacture election results, and deploy colonial-style violence against citizens demanding their rights. Across the continent, Africa’s youth are rising against systems designed to exploit and oppress them.

The Liberation of Tanzania and Cameroon cannot wait

The courage of Tanzanians and Cameroonians facing live ammunition, mass arrests, disappearances, and state terror to demand their democratic rights inspires liberation movements globally. Their struggles—though separated by geography—are united in their rejection of manufactured democracy, their demand for genuine popular sovereignty, and their willingness to risk everything for freedom.

No more silence. No more complicity. No more manufactured elections masquerading as democracy. No more aging dictators stealing futures from the young.

The people of Tanzania have spoken through their protests, even as Hassan’s regime attempts to silence them with bullets and blackouts. The people of Cameroon have spoken through their resistance, even as Biya’s security forces kill them in the streets. The international community must hear their cry for justice and respond with concrete solidarity, not empty statements.

Africa’s youth are writing a new chapter in the liberation struggle. From Dar es Salaam to Douala, from Nairobi to Lomé to Maputo, young Africans are rising against inherited dictatorship. RJN stands with them. Their victory will be our victory. Their freedom is inseparable from our own.

We Demand:

For the Tanzanian Government:

Release of all political prisoners, including Tundu Lissu and all detained protesters
Independent international investigation into mass killings
Genuine democratic reforms including independent electoral institutions
Respect for the people’s rejection of fraudulent election results

For the Cameroonian Government:

Release of all detained protesters and opposition supporters
Independent international investigation into killings
Genuine dialogue toward democratic transition led by neutral mediators
Respect for the popular rejection of fraudulent results
Reforms to establish genuine electoral independence

For Regional Bodies (African Union, SADC, ECCAS, EAC):

Condemn both elections as fraudulent and suspend membership until democracy is restored
Reject election results as illegitimate
Launch immediate fact-finding missions
Demand accountability for mass killings
End complicity in sustaining authoritarian rule

For the International Community:

United Nations must move beyond statements to concrete action, including targeted sanctions
Western governments must end selective democracy promotion and consistently support African peoples’ democratic aspirations
International Criminal Court must investigate potential crimes against humanity in both countries
Global media must break through information blackouts to expose state violence
Humanitarian organisations must gain access to document casualties and support survivors

For the UK Government:

Public condemnation of electoral fraud and state violence in both Tanzania and Cameroon
Targeted sanctions against regime officials responsible for killings
Support for international investigation and accountability mechanisms
No business-as-usual with Hassan’s and Biya’s regimes until democracy is restored

For the Racial Justice Network (RJN) – UK, we commit to:

Amplifying Tanzanian and Cameroonian voices and breaking through information blockades
Pressuring UK institutions to hold both regimes accountable
Building sustained solidarity with civil society and opposition movements in both countries
Supporting Tanzanian and Cameroonian diaspora communities in Britain organising for justice
Connecting these struggles to the broader continental uprising against authoritarian rule

The Racial Justice Network stands with Tanzania. We stand with Cameroon. We stand with all who resist electoral dictatorship. We stand with Africa’s youth demanding their future.

Aluta Continua—The Struggle Continues!