Tanzania’s opposition leader returns home

One of the strongest indications that efforts by the East African nation's first female president to increase political freedoms and rights protections were being realized on Wednesday by Tundu Lissu, Tanzania's leading opposition figure, returned home after more than two years in exile.

According to his party, Chadema, Mr. Lissu arrived in the port city of Dar es Salaam. He left in 2020 amid a contested election, which he and independent election observers said was marred by fraud and irregularities. He said he was detained and had received death threats.

Mr. Lissu said he was enthused to return because President Samia Suluhu Hassan lifted a yearslong ban on political rallies that had been seen by some as an attempt to weaken the opposition. He said the move was a sign of the government's commitment to political reforms and gave hope of an end to the intimidation and prosecution of opposition figures. Lissu had also survived an assassination attempt in 2017 and left the country as well.

In a phone interview from Belgium, he stated that the lifting of the illegal and blanket ban on political assemblies and the release of prisoners informed my decision to go back to Tanzania.