Tanzanian opposition leader found dead after reported abduction, Party claims

A member of the Tanzanian opposition party Chadema has been found dead after being "abducted" by armed men suspected to be security agents, the party said on Sunday.

Ali Mohamed Kibao, a member of the party's national secretariat, was forced off a bus at gunpoint on Friday as he was travelling from Dar Es Salaam to the northern port city of Tanga, Chadema secretary general John Mnyika had told reporters Saturday.

Kibao's body was found in the Ununio area of Dar Es Salaam late on Saturday, party member Boniface Jacob said on social media platform X.

Party leaders and family members were gathered Sunday at Dar es Salaam's Mwananyamala hospital where Kibao's body was undergoing a postmortem, Chadema's director of communication and foreign affairs John Mrema told AFP.

He said party chairman Freeman Mbowe will speak to the media later about Kibao's death.

The incident comes about four weeks after Mbowe, his deputy Tundu Lissu and other Chadema leaders were briefly arrested in a mass roundup ahead of a planned party youth event.

Rights groups and government opponents had raised fears the crackdown could signal a return to the oppressive policies of Tanzania's late president John Magufuli.

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

Police are yet to state Kibao's death although police spokesman David Misime had said on Saturday that investigations had been launched into the reported abduction.