Tanzania’s Election-Related Violence “happened with the ferocity of a volcanic eruption,” Catholic Bishop Recalls

Dar es Salaam, 27 November, 2025 / 11:30 PM

Bishop Bernadine Francis Mfumbusa of Tanzania’s Catholic Diocese of Kondoa has recalled the cruelty that surrounded the country’s election-related violence, said to have left thousands dead, saying that chaos happened “with the ferocity of a volcanic eruption.”

In an interview with ACI Africa on the sidelines of the ongoing meeting for communication coordinators and directors of Catholic-owned television and radio stations across the African continent, Bishop Mfumbusa agreed that Tanzania’s October 29 general elections had “a lot of issues” and called for renewed prayer across the nation.

“The violence happened with the ferocity of a volcanic eruption. How and why did we come here? So we keep praying for this healing as a nation,” the President of the Pan African Episcopal Committee for Social Communications (CEPACS) said during the Wednesday, November 26 interview on the sidelines of the event being held at the Mariapolis Piero Centre in Kenya’s Catholic Archdiocese of Nairobi (ADN).

He added in reference to the widely condemned violence, “We don't know who did this. Is it the police, as they are saying? We've been living with police in Tanzania for years, and something like this has never happened.”

“We pray for the healing of those people who are wounded, for those people who are traumatized in one way or another, said the official of CEPACS, an entity of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM).

Demonstrations reportedly spread across Tanzania for several days following the October 29 vote, as citizens took to the streets to protest an election that, according to foreign observers, fell short of democratic standards after key opposition figures were barred from participating.

At least 240 people have reportedly been charged with treason in connection with the deadly protests, while human rights groups allege that thousands were killed in the post-election violence, and warn that some victims may have been buried in secret mass graves.

In a CNN documentary released on November 20, police and armed men are shown fatally shooting largely at the unarmed protesters across multiple locations.

The documentary also use geolocated video, forensic audio, and satellite imagery, witness testimony and hospital/morgue footage to show the serious of the situation in the East African nation.

The report shows crowded morgues, bodies with gunshot wounds, and suggests that many victims may have been buried in mass graves. Specifically, disturbed soil was seen at a cemetery near Dar es Salaam, which human-rights groups and witnesses say may correspond to mass burials.

According to statements included in the documentary, some sources estimate that as many as 2,000 people may have died in the crackdown.

The documentary also documents conditions such as a nationwide internet blackout, curfews, and restrictions on media, which critics say prevented independent verification, reporting, and evidence-gathering in the immediate aftermath of the protests.

In the November 26 interview, Bishop Mfumbusa said that what Tanzanians need currently is peace. “Because Jesus himself said, if you ask, you'll be given. And what we are asking now is peace. What we ask now is security,” he said.

“What we ask now is for people to go about their lives as usual without fear. And so, our main message for this year during Advent, as we prepare for Christmas, actually has been formulated in terms of a prayer. We are asking people in Tanzania to pray,” he said.

The Tanzanian Bishop said that prayer for peace in the country is necessary as the elections that as many international observers witnessed was not fair due to the exclusion of many people.

 “We cannot say there was a clear victory, or we cannot say we have the government which we wanted, " he said, and added that prayer is simply to ask for healing, to heal as a nation, to come.

After the interview, Bishop Mfumbusa shared with ACI Africa the Bishops’ prayer for peace in the country.

PRAYER FOR TANZANIA

Almighty God the Father, we worship You, we glorify You, and we thank You for granting us the beautiful country of Tanzania. In the year 2025, in our nation, we held the general elections for councilors, members of parliament, and the President. As a result of that election, with great sadness, we have witnessed parts of our country falling into unrest, which has led to the killing, disappearance, torture, injury, and loss of property for some people, and even psychological harm for others.

God the Father, we pray for healing for all who have been affected physically, spiritually, and psychologically. Give comfort and inner healing to all who lost their loved ones, their property, those who were disabled, and those who did not get the opportunity to bury their loved ones. We also pray for eternal rest for all who were killed in that unrest.

Almighty God, we ask You to grant our country good and upright leaders who will guide our Nation to live by the values of justice, equality, unity, love, truth, and peace, and who care for the well-being of all people both physically and spiritually.

To You, O God, be Praise and Glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Virgin Mary, Conceived Without Original Sin, Protector of our Nation of Tanzania: Pray for us.

 

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