Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan has been declared the winner of the country’s presidential elections amid deadly unrest which the opposition say has left hundreds of protesters dead.
Published On 1 Nov 20251 Nov 2025
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Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan has been declared the winner of the country’s presidential election.
The electoral commission on Saturday said the incumbent had secured nearly 98 percent of the vote that saw key candidates jailed or barred and triggered days of violent protests.
More to follow…
United States President Donald Trump has announced that Nigeria will be placed on a watchlist for religious freedom, based on vague claims that Christians in the country are being “slaughtered” by Muslims.
In a social media post on Friday, Trump explained that the African nation would be added to a Department of State list of “Countries of Particular Concern”.
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“Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria,” Trump wrote. “Thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter. I am hereby making Nigeria a ‘COUNTRY OF PARTICULAR CONCERN’.”
The Nigerian government has denied such allegations in the past. But critics warn that designating Nigeria a “country of particular concern” could pave the way for future sanctions.
Trump also appears to have bypassed the normal procedure for such matters.
The 1998 International Religious Freedom Act created the category of “country of particular concern” in order to help monitor religious persecution and advocate for its end.
But that label is usually assigned at the recommendation of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom – a bipartisan group established by Congress – and specialists in the State Department.
In Friday’s post, Trump explained that he had asked the House Appropriations Committee and two congressmen, Representatives Riley Moore and Tom Cole, to “immediately look into this matter”. Both are Republican.
Trump’s claims appear to mirror language pushed by right-wing lawmakers, which frames fractious and sometimes violent disputes in Nigeria as a case of radical Islamists attacking Christians.
Experts, however, have called that framing largely inaccurate, explaining that strife in the country is not explained simply by religious differences.
Nigeria is divided between a majority-Muslim north and a largely Christian south. The country has struggled with violent attacks from the group Boko Haram, which has created turmoil and displacement for more than a decade.
Disputes over resources such as water have also exacerbated tensions and sometimes led to violent clashes between largely Christian farmers and largely Muslim shepherds. Nigeria has denied, however, that such clashes are primarily motivated by religious affiliation.
Still, Representative Moore echoed Trump’s assessment in a statement after Friday’s announcement.
“I have been calling for this designation since my first floor speech in April, where I highlighted the plight of Christians in Muslim majority countries,” Moore said.
He added that he planned to “ensure that Nigeria receives the international attention, pressure, and accountability it urgently needs”.
Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, another Republican, also applauded Trump’s decision. “I am deeply gratified to President Trump for making this determination,” he said in a news release. “I have fought for years to counter the slaughter and persecution of Christians in Nigeria.”
Since returning to office for a second term in January, Trump has sought to bolster his base among the Christian right in the US.
At a prayer breakfast in February, he announced his administration was establishing a task force to root out anti-Christian bias in the federal government.
Later, in July, his administration issued a memo allowing federal employees to evangelise in their workplaces.
While Trump denounced alleged anti-Christian violence in Friday’s post, his administration has also been recently criticised for its policy towards refugees: people fleeing persecution or violence in their homelands.
On Wednesday, Trump announced the lowest-ever cap on refugee admissions in the US, limiting entry to just 7,500 people for all of fiscal year 2026.
In a notice posted to the Federal Register’s website, he explained that most of those spots would “primarily be allocated among Afrikaners from South Africa” and “other victims of illegal or unjust discrimination”.
Critics were quick to point out that refugee status is awarded for fear of systematic persecution, not discrimination.
Still, Trump has continued to ratchet up diplomatic tensions with South Africa, falsely claiming that white Afrikaners are subjected to a “genocide”, an allegation frequently pushed by figures on the far right.
A MAJOR new museum is opening and it will be the largest archaeology museum in the world.
The Grand Egyptian Museum based in the winter sun spot of Cairo, will officially open to the public this weekend, after a decade of set backs.
The new museum traces the history of ancient Egyptian civilisation and cost around $1billion (£761million) to build.
One of the main attractions are the Tutankhamun Galleries, which are home to 5,000 objects that were discovered when the famous pharaoh’s tomb was back in 1922.
Visitors will even be able to see his golden coffin, discovered more than a century ago.
In another wing, visitors will find two of King Khufu’s (the pharaoh who commissioned the construction of the Pyramid of Giza) solar boats, which were found near the Pyramids.
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And if you want a glimpse of the pyramids, just look out the building’s sprawling windows.
The galleries are split by eras of Egyptian civilisation and include Predynastic, the Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom, the Late Kingdom, Ptolemaic Egypt and the Roman Period.
Throughout the museum, there are many interactive features such as pyramid building and papyrus making, and there is a children’s museum too.
According to Time Out, the museum features around 250,000 triangular stone pieces that make up its north facade.
There is then a pyramid-shaped entrance, with gold hieroglyphics.
As you enter, you will then see a huge atrium with an 11 metre tall statue of Ramses II – the pharaoh of Egypt between 1279 and 1213 BCE.
Also in the atrium, is a collection of restaurants and shops.
In total, the museum is the same size as 93 football pitches and once it is fully open, will house over 100,000 artefacts.
After exploring the museum, you can then head to the Pyramids of Giza which are just over a mile away.
Ahmed Youssel, CEO of the Egyptian Tourism Authority, told Time Out: “It’s not a museum, it’s a cultural hub.
“You don’t see history. You live history, you experience history.
“That’s the idea. When we build new museums, we have this concept of virtual reality, augmented reality – electronic things everywhere.”
The museum was originally meant to open back in 2013, but it has been delayed several times due to a variety of reasons including politics, regional conflict, budget and the Covid-19 pandemic.
And last year it then opened for its soft launch, ahead of the official opening this weekend.
Tickets to the museum cost £23.36 per adult and £11.76 per child, and they can either be bought in advance online or at the museum.
Cairo has highs of 21C during the winter months, and lows of around 11C.
In other museum news, the UK’s newest national museum is more like an Ikea store – and Kate Middleton is already a fan.
Plus, a major UK museum named one of the best in Europe to get huge £2.7million expansion.
US Embassy urges citizens to leave Mali immediately on commercial flights as blockade makes daily life more dangerous.
Parts of Mali’s capital have been brought to a near standstill as a group affiliated with al-Qaeda imposes an economic siege on the country by blocking routes used by fuel tankers, in a bid to turn the screw on the military government.
As the Sahel country plunges deeper into crisis, the United States Embassy in Mali on Tuesday urged US citizens to “depart immediately” as the fuel blockade renders daily life increasingly dangerous.
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Long queues have formed at petrol stations in the capital Bamako this week, with anger reaching the boiling point as the blockade bites harder. A lack of supplies has caused the price of fuel to shoot up 500 percent, from $25 to $130 per litre, according to Al Jazeera’s Nicolas Haque.
The Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) armed group, which imposed the blockade last month in retaliation for the military banning fuel sales in rural areas, appeared to be succeeding in turning public anger against the country’s rulers, Haque noted.
“It’s up to the government to play a full role and take action, to … uncover the real reason for this shortage,” Omar Sidibe, a driver in Bamako, told Al Jazeera.
Haque said the al-Qaeda fighters were burning fuel trucks as supplies ran out.
Schools and universities have also been shut for two weeks, and airlines are now cancelling flights from Bamako.
Meanwhile, the US Embassy has warned Americans to leave Mali immediately using commercial flights rather than travelling over land to neighbouring countries, owing to the risk of “terrorist attacks along national highways”.
It advised citizens who choose to remain in Mali to prepare contingency plans, including for sheltering in place for an extended period.
Yet, Haque said, the military rulers were insisting “everything is under control”.
The army first seized power in a 2020 coup, pledging to get a grip on a spiralling security crisis involving armed groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS), but years later, the crisis has only escalated.
Amid tense scenes from a fuel pit stop in Senegal, which neighbours Mali, truck drivers ready to travel across the border did not want to speak to Al Jazeera on camera. Haque said some transport companies had been accused of paying al-Qaeda fighters to move their trucks.
“They’ve been waiting here not days, but months, their tanks empty. Ahead for them is a dangerous road or journey into al-Qaeda territory,” Haque said from Dakar.
Meanwhile, in Bamako, citizens are growing increasingly desperate. “Before, we could buy gas everywhere in cans. But now there’s no more,” gas reseller Bakary Coulibaly told Al Jazeera.
“We’re forced to come to gas stations, and even if we go there, it’s not certain that there will be gasoline available. Only a few stations have it.”
JNIM is one of several armed groups operating in the Sahel, a vast strip of semi-arid desert stretching from North to West Africa, where fighting is spreading rapidly, with large-scale attacks.
Under the military’s control, the country severed ties with its former coloniser, France, and thousands of French soldiers involved in the battle against the armed groups exited the country.
The fighting has resulted in thousands of deaths, while up to 350,000 people are currently displaced, according to Human Rights Watch.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan is expected to win the election as the two main opposition parties have been barred from taking part.
Polls have opened in Tanzania for presidential and parliamentary elections being held without the leading opposition party, as the government has been violently cracking down on dissent ahead of the vote.
More than 37 million registered voters will cast their ballots from 7am local time (4:00 GMT) until 4pm (13:00 GMT). The election commission says it will announce the results within three days of election day.
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President Samia Suluhu Hassan, 65, is expected to win after candidates from the two leading opposition parties were barred from standing.
The leader of Tanzania’s main opposition party, Chadema’s Tundu Lissu, is on trial for treason, charges he denies. The electoral commission disqualified Chadema in April after it refused to sign an electoral code of conduct.
The commission also disqualified Luhaga Mpina, the candidate for the second largest opposition party, ACT-Wazalendo, after an objection from the attorney general, leaving only candidates from minor parties taking on Hassan.
In addition to the presidential election, voters will choose members of the country’s 400-seat parliament and a president and politicians in the semiautonomous Zanzibar archipelago.
Hassan’s governing party Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), whose predecessor party led the struggle for independence for mainland Tanzania in the 1950s, has dominated national politics since its founding in 1977.
Hassan, one of just two female heads of state in Africa, won plaudits after coming to power in 2021 for easing repression of political opponents and censorship that proliferated under her predecessor, John Magufuli, who died in office.
But in the last two years, rights campaigners and opposition candidates have accused the government of unexplained abductions of its critics.
She maintains her government is committed to respecting human rights and last year ordered an investigation into the reports of abductions. No official findings have been made public.
UN human rights experts have called on Hassan’s government to immediately stop the enforced disappearance of political opponents, human rights defenders and journalists “as a tool of repression in the electoral context”.
They said more than 200 cases of enforced disappearance had been recorded in Tanzania since 2019.
A recent Amnesty International report detailed a “wave of terror” including “enforced disappearance and torture … and extrajudicial killings of opposition figures and activists”.
Human Rights Watch said “the authorities have suppressed the political opposition and critics of the ruling party, stifled the media, and failed to ensure the electoral commission’s independence”.
US crisis-monitoring group Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED) said the ruling CCM was intent on maintaining its status as the “last hegemonic liberation party in southern Africa” and avoiding the recent electoral pressures faced by counterparts in South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
In September 2024, the body of Ali Mohamed Kibao, a member of the secretariat of the opposition Chadema party, was found after two armed men forced him off a bus heading from Dar-es-Salaam to the northeastern port city of Tanga.
There are fears that even members of CCM are being targeted. Humphrey Polepole, a former CCM spokesman and ambassador to Cuba, went missing from his home this month after resigning and criticising Hassan. His family found blood stains in his home.
The Tanganyika Law Society says it has confirmed 83 abductions since Hassan came to power, with another 20 reported in recent weeks.
Protests are rare in Tanzania, in part thanks to a relatively healthy economy, which grew by 5.5 percent last year, according to the World Bank, on the back of strong agriculture, tourism and mining sectors.
Hassan has promised big infrastructure projects and universal health insurance in a bid to win over voters.
Voters in Tanzania are heading to polling booths on Wednesday to vote for a new president, as well as members of parliament and councillors, in elections which are expected to continue the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) – or Party of Revolution’s – 64-year-long grip on power.
Despite a bevy of candidates in the lineup, incumbent President Samia Suluhu Hassan, analysts say, is virtually unchallenged and will almost certainly win, following what rights groups say has been a heavy crackdown on popular opposition members, activists and journalists.
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Key challengers Tundu Lissu of the largest opposition party, Chadema, and Luhaga Mpina of ACT-Wazalendo, have been barred from standing, thus eliminating any real threat to Hassan. Other presidential candidates on the ballot lack political backing and are unlikely to make much impact on voters, analysts say.
The East African nation is replete with rolling savannas and wildlife, making it a hotspot for safari tourism. It is also home to Africa’s tallest mountain, Mount Kilimanjaro, as well as a host of important landmarks, like the Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti. Precious minerals, such as the unique tanzanite – a blue gemstone – and gold, as well as agricultural exports, contribute significantly to foreign earnings.
Central Dodoma is the country’s capital, while the economic hub is coastal Dar-es-Salaam. Swahili is the lingua franca, while different local groups speak several other languages.
Here’s what to expect at the polls:
Voters are choosing a president, parliament members and local councillors for the 29 regions in mainland Tanzania. A president and parliament members will also be elected in the autonomous island of Zanzibar.
Winners are elected by plurality or simple majority vote – the candidate with the most votes wins.
Authorities declared that Wednesday would be a public holiday to allow people to vote, while early voting began in Zanzibar on Tuesday.
More than 37 million of the 60 million population are registered to vote. To vote, you must be a citizen aged 18 or over.
Voter turnout in the last general elections in 2020 was just 50.72 percent, however, according to the International Foundation for Electoral Systems.
Formerly the country’s vice president, Hassan, 65, automatically ascended to the position of president following the death of former President John Magufuli in March 2021, to serve out the remainder of his term.
Hassan is presently one of only two African female leaders, the other being Namibia’s Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah. She is the sixth president and the first female leader of her country. She was previously minister of trade for Zanzibar, where she is from.
This will be Hassan’s first attempt at the ballot, and the election was supposed to be a test of how Tanzanians view her leadership so far. However, analysts say the fact that her two strongest challengers have been barred from the polls means the president is running with virtually no competition.
After taking office in 2021, Hassan immediately began reversing controversial policies implemented by Magafuli, an isolationist leader who denied that COVID-19 existed and refused to issue policies regarding quarantines or vaccines.
Under Hassan, Tanzania joined the international COVAX facility, directed by institutions like the World Health Organization, to help distribute vaccines to developing countries, especially in Africa.
Hassan also struck a reconciliatory tone with opposition leaders by lifting a six-year ban on political rallies imposed by Magufuli.
She focused on completing large-scale Magafuli-era development projects and launched new ones, especially around railway infrastructure and rural electrification. The president’s supporters, therefore, praise her record in infrastructure development, improving access to education and improving overall stability of governance in the country.
However, while many hoped Tanzania would become more democratic under her leadership, Hassan’s style of governance has become increasingly authoritarian, analysts say, and now more closely resembles that of her predecessor.
In a report ahead of the elections, Amnesty International found that Hassan’s government has intensified “repressive practices” and has targeted opposition leaders, civil society activists and groups, journalists and other dissenting voices with forced disappearances, arrests, harassment and even torture.
Tanzania’s government has consistently denied all accusations of human rights violations.
Hassan’s campaign rallies have been highly visible across the country – but hers has been nearly the only major national campaign, with smaller parties sticking to their particular regions.
Some opposition parties are now calling for a boycott of the elections altogether. Speaking to Al Jazeera, Chadema party member John Kitoka, who is currently in hiding to avoid arrest, said the elections are “completely a sham”.
Last week, Hassan urged Tanzanians to ignore calls to boycott the vote and warned against protests.
“The only demonstrations that will exist are those of people going to the polling stations to vote. There will be no other demonstrations. There will be no security threat,” she said.
Tanzania’s police have also warned against creating or distributing “inciting” content on social media, threatening that those caught will face prosecution. The country routinely restricts access to social media on specific occasions, such as during protests. Only select traditional media have been approved to provide coverage of the elections.
In the autonomous Zanzibar, which will also elect a president and parliament members, there is more of an atmosphere of competitive elections, observers say. Incumbent leader Hussein Mwinyi of the ruling CCM is facing off against the ACT-Wazalendo candidate Othman Masoud, who has been serving as his vice president in a coalition government.
Tundu Lissu, 57, is the charismatic and widely popular opposition Chadema candidate who lived in exile in Belgium for several years during the Magufuli era. His party, which calls for free elections, reduction of presidential powers, and promotion of human rights, has been barred from the vote for failing to meet a submission deadline, and Lissu is currently in custody for alleged “treasonous” remarks he made ahead of the elections.
The move followed Lissu’s comments during a Chadema rally in the southern town of Mbinga on April 3, during which he urged his supporters to boycott the elections if Hassan’s government did not institute electoral reforms before the vote. Lissu was calling on the government to change the makeup of the Independent National Election Commission, arguing that the agency should not include people appointed directly by Hassan.
Government officials claimed his statements were “inciting” and arrested Lissu on April 9.
Three days later, the electoral commission disqualified Chadema from this election – and all others until 2030 – on the grounds that the party had failed to sign a mandatory Electoral Code of Conduct due on April 12.
Local media reported that two Chadema party members attending a rally in support of Lissu on April 24 were also arrested by the Tanzanian police.
Last week, Chadema deputy chairperson John Heche, deputy chairperson of Chadema, was detained while attempting to attend Lissu’s trial at the Dar-es-Salaam High Court. He has not been seen since.
Lissu has been detained often. He survived an assassination attempt in 2017 after he was shot 16 times.
In August, the elections commission also barred opposition candidate Luhaga Mpina, 50, of the ACT-Wazalendo, the second-largest opposition party. Mpina, a parliament member who broke away from the ruling CCM in August to join ACT-Wazalendo – also known as the Alliance for Change and Transparency – was barred for allegedly failing to follow the rules for nominations during the presidential primaries.
Hassan will compete with 16 other candidates – none of whom are from major national parties or have an established political presence.
Observers say Tanzania’s democracy, already fragile during the presidency of Magafuli, is at risk as a result of the Hassan government’s tightening of political freedoms and crackdowns on the media.
Amnesty International notes that electoral rights violations were apparent in 2020 under Magufuli, but have worsened ahead of this week’s polls.
Human Rights Watch and the United Nations human rights agency (UNHCR) have similarly documented reports of rights violations under Hassan’s government, noting in particular the disappearance of two regional activists, Boniface Mwangi from Kenya and Agather Atuhaire from Uganda, who travelled to witness Lissu’s trial but were detained in Dar-es-Salaam on May 19, 2025.
Mwangi was reportedly tortured and dumped in a coastal Kenyan town, while Atuhaire reported being sexually assaulted before also being abandoned at the border with Uganda.
“More than 200 cases of enforced disappearance have been recorded in Tanzania since 2019,” the UNHCR noted.
Tanzania’s economic growth has been stable with inflation staying below the Central Bank’s 5 percent target in recent years, according to the World Bank.
Unlike its neighbour, Kenya, the lower-middle-income country has avoided debt distress, with GDP boosted by high demand for its gold, tourism and agricultural commodities like cashew nuts, coffee and cotton. However, the World Bank noted that 49 percent of the population lives below the international poverty line.
While growth has attracted foreign investment, government policies have negatively impacted the business landscape: In July, Hassan’s government introduced new restrictions banning foreigners from owning and operating businesses in 15 sectors, including mobile money transfers, tour guiding, small-scale mining and on-farm crop buying.
Officials argued that too many foreigners were engaging in informal businesses that ought to benefit Tanzanians. The move played to recent protests against the rising influx of Chinese products and businesses in Tanzanian markets, analysts say. Foreigners are also banned from owning beauty salons, souvenir shops and radio and TV stations.
The move proved controversial in the regional East African Community bloc, particularly in neighbouring Kenya, whose citizens make up a significant population of business owners in the country, having taken advantage of the free-movement policy within the bloc.
While abundant wildlife and natural resources have boosted the economy via tourism, Tanzania faces major challenges in managing human-wildlife conflict.
Clashes between humans, particularly in rural areas, and wild animals are becoming more common due to population growth and climate change, which is pushing animals closer to human settlements in search of food and water.
Human-elephant flare-ups are most common. Between 2012 and 2019, more than 1,000 human-wildlife mortality cases were reported nationwide, according to data from Queen’s University, Canada.
While the government provides financial and material compensation to the families of those affected by human-wildlife conflict incidents, families often complain of receiving funds late.
Meanwhile, there is tension between the government and indigenous groups such as the Maasai, who are resisting being evicted to make more room for conservation space to be used for tourism.
Last year, crackdowns on Maasai protesters and resulting outrage from groups led to the World Bank suspending a $150m conservation grant, and the European Union cancelling Tanzania’s eligibility for a separate $20m grant.
The United States has revoked the visa of Nigerian author and playwright Wole Soyinka, who became the first African writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986.
Speaking at Kongi’s Harvest Gallery in Lagos on Tuesday, Soyinka read aloud from a notice sent on October 23 from the local US consulate, asking him to arrive with his passport so that his visa could be nullified.
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The author called it, with characteristic humour, a “rather curious love letter” to receive.
“We request you bring your visa to the US Consulate General Lagos for physical cancellation. To schedule an appointment, please email — et cetera, et cetera — in advance of the appointment,” Soyinka recited, skimming the letter.
Closing his laptop, the author joked with the audience that he did not have time to fulfil its request.
“I like people who have a sense of humour, and this is one of the most humorous sentences or requests I’ve had in all my life,” Soyinka said.
“Would any of you like to volunteer in my place? Take the passport for me? I’m a little bit busy and rushed.”
Soyinka’s visa was issued last year, under US President Joe Biden. But in the intervening time, a new president has taken office: Donald Trump.
Since beginning his second term in January, Trump has overseen a crackdown on immigration, and his administration has removed visas and green cards from individuals whom it sees as out of step with the Republican president’s policies.
At Tuesday’s event, Soyinka struck a bemused tone, though he indicated the visa revocation would prevent him from visiting the US for literary and cultural events.
“I want to assure the consulate, the Americans here, that I am very content with the revocation of my visa,” Soyinka said.
He also quipped about his past experiences writing about the Ugandan military leader Idi Amin. “Maybe it’s about time also to write a play about Donald Trump,” he said.
Soyinka is a towering figure in African literature, with a career that spans genres, from journalism to poetry to translation.
He is the author of several novels, including Season of Anomy and Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth, as well as numerous short stories.
The 91-year-old author has also championed the fight against censorship. “Books and all forms of writing are terror to those who wish to suppress the truth,” he wrote.
He has lectured on the subject in New York City for PEN America, a free speech nonprofit. As recently as 2021, he returned to the US to present scholar and former colleague Henry Louis Gates Jr with the nonprofit’s Literary Service Award.
But Soyinka is not the first Nobel winner to see his US visa stripped away in the wake of Trump’s return to office, despite the US president’s own ambitions of earning the international prize.
Oscar Arias, a former president of Costa Rica and the winner of the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize, also found his visa cancelled in April.
Arias was previously honoured by the Nobel Committee for his efforts to end armed conflicts in Central American countries like Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala.
While the letter Arias received from the US government gave no reason for his visa’s cancellation, the former president told NPR’s Morning Edition radio show that officials indicated it was because of his ties to China.
“During my second administration from 2006 to 2010, I established diplomatic relations with China, and that’s because it has the second-largest economy in the world,” Arias explained.
But, Arias added, he could not rule out the possibility that there were other reasons for his visa’s removal.
“I have to imagine that my criticism of President Trump might have played a role,” Arias told NPR. “The president has a personality that is not open to criticism or disagreements.”
Soyinka likewise has a reputation for being outspoken, both about domestic politics in his native Nigeria and international affairs.
He has, for example, denounced Trump on multiple occasions, including for the “brutal, cruel and often unbelievable treatment being meted out to strangers, immigrants”.
In 2017, he confirmed to the magazine The Atlantic that he had destroyed his US green card — his permanent residency permit — to protest Trump’s first election in 2016.
“As long as Trump is in charge, if I absolutely have to visit the United States, I prefer to go in the queue for a regular visa with others,” he told the magazine.
The point was, he explained, to show that he was “no longer part of the society, not even as a resident”.
In Tuesday’s remarks, Soyinka reaffirmed that he no longer had his green card. “Unfortunately, when I was looking at my green card, it fell between the fingers of a pair of scissors, and it got cut into a couple of pieces,” he said, flashing his tongue-in-cheek humour.
He also emphasised he continues to have close friends in the US, and that the local consulate staff has consistently treated him courteously.
His work had long caused him to face persecution in Nigeria — though, famously, during a stint in solitary confinement, he continued to write using toilet paper — and eventually, in the 1990s, he sought refuge in the US.
During his time in North America, he took up teaching posts at prestigious universities like Harvard, Yale and Emory.
The Trump administration, however, has pledged to revoke visas from individuals it deems to be a threat to its national security and foreign policy interests.
In June, Trump issued a proclamation calling on his government tighten immigration procedures, in an effort to ensure that visa-holders “do not bear hostile attitudes toward its citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles”.
What qualifies as a “hostile attitude” towards US culture is unclear. Human rights advocates have noted that such broad language could be used as a smokescreen to crack down on dissent.
Free speech, after all, is protected under the First Amendment of the US Constitution and is considered a foundational principle in the country, protecting individual expression from government shackles.
After Arias was stripped of his visa, the Economists for Peace and Security, a United Nations-accredited nonprofit, was among those to express outrage.
“This action, taken without explanation, raises serious concerns about the treatment of a globally respected elder statesman who has dedicated his life to peace, democracy, and diplomacy,” the nonprofit wrote in its statement.
“Disagreements on foreign policy or political perspective should not lead to punitive measures against individuals who have made significant contributions to international peace and stability.”
International students, commenters on social media, and acting government officials have also faced backlash for expressing their opinions and having unfavourable foreign ties.
Earlier this month, Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino voiced concern that members of his government had seen their visas cancelled over their diplomatic ties to China.
And in September, while visiting New York City, Colombian President Gustavo Petro saw his visa yanked within hours of giving a critical speech to the United Nations and participating in a protest against Israel’s war in Gaza.
The US Department of State subsequently called Petro’s actions “reckless and incendiary”.
Separately, the State Department announced on October 14 that six foreign nationals would see their visas annulled for criticising the assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk, a close associate of Trump.
Soyinka questioned Trump’s stated motives for cancelling so many visas at Tuesday’s literary event in Lagos, asking if they really made a difference for US national security.
“Governments have a way of papering things for their own survival,” he said.
“I want people to understand that the revocation of one visa, 10 visas, a thousand visas will not affect the national interests of any astute leader.”
Eight Hungarian and two German passengers were onboard, and the Kenyan pilot was also killed, Mombasa Air Safari said.
Published On 28 Oct 202528 Oct 2025
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A light plane crash has killed 11 people, mostly foreign tourists, in Kenya’s coastal region of Kwale while flying to Maasai Mara National Reserve.
The airline, Mombasa Air Safari, said in a statement Tuesday that eight Hungarian and two German passengers were on board, and that the Kenyan pilot was also killed.
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Sadly, there are no survivors,” Mombasa Air Safari added. There was heavy rain in coastal Kenya in the morning.
The Civil Aviation Authority said the accident happened at Kwale, near the Indian Ocean coast, at about 8:30am (05:30 GMT). A regional police commander, in comments aired by public broadcaster Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, said all the passengers were tourists.
Citizen TV station said the bodies of those on board had been burned beyond recognition. The plane crashed in a hilly and forested area about 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Diani airstrip, authorities said.
The aircraft burst into flames, leaving a charred wreckage at the scene, officials said. Witnesses told The Associated Press news agency. that they heard a loud bang, and upon arriving at the scene, they found human remains.
Investigating agencies were looking into the cause of the crash, Kwale County Commissioner Stephen Orinde told The AP.
The Maasai Mara National Reserve, located west of the coastline and is a two-hour direct flight from Diani, a popular coastal town known for its sandy beaches. The reserve attracts a large number of tourists as it features the annual wildebeest migration from the Serengeti in Tanzania.
According to the most recent safety oversight audit for Kenya posted on the International Civil Aviation Organization site, from 2018, the country fell below the global average in accident investigation.
Cameroon’s 92-year-old President Paul Biya has won a record eighth term with 53.66% of the vote. His rival Issa Tchiroma Bakary also claimed victory and reported gunfire near his home as protests over alleged election fraud left at least four people dead.
Published On 27 Oct 202527 Oct 2025
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A crackdown by armed forces in Cameroon has killed at least four opposition supporters amid protests over the declared re-election win by President Paul Biya.
Protesters calling for fair results from the African country’s contested presidential election held on October 12 have hit the streets in several cities as 92-year-old Biya prepares for an eighth term, which could keep him in power until 2032 as he nears 100.
Biya, whose election win was finally confirmed by Cameroon’s Constitutional Council on Monday, is Africa’s oldest and among the world’s longest ruling leaders. He has spent 43 years – nearly half his life – in office. He has ruled Cameroon, a country of 30 million people, as president since 1982 through elections that political opponents said have been “stolen”.
Supporters of opposition candidate Issa Tchiroma Bakary of the Front for the National Salvation of Cameroon party have defied a ban on protests, setting police cars on fire, barricading roads and burning tyres in the financial capital, Douala, before the announcement of the election result. Around 30 activists have been arrested.
Police fired tear gas and water cannon to break up the crowds that came out in support of Tchiroma, who had declared himself the real winner, and called for Biya to concede.
Samuel Dieudonne Ivaha Diboua, the governor of the region that includes Douala, told the AFP news agency that the protesters attacked police stations in the second and sixth districts of the city.
Several members of the security forces were wounded, and “four people unfortunately lost their lives,” he said. Tchiroma’s campaign team confirmed the deaths on Sunday were of protesters.
Opposition supporters claim the results of the election have been rigged by Biya and his supporters in power. In the lead-up to the announcement of the result, the current government rejected these accusations and urged people to wait for the result.
The Union for Change is a coalition of opposition parties that formed in September to counter Biya’s dominance of the political landscape.
The forum brought together more than two dozen political parties and civil society groups in opposition to Biya with an aim to field a consensus candidate.
In September, the group confirmed Tchiroma as its consensus candidate to run against Biya.
Tchiroma, 76, was formerly part of Biya’s government, holding several ministerial positions over 16 years. He also served as government spokesperson during the years of fighting the Boko Haram armed group, and he defended the army when it stood accused of killing civilians. He was once regarded as a member of Biya’s “old guard” but has campaigned on a promise of “change”.
After voting ended on October 12, Tchiroma claimed victory.
“Our victory is clear. It must be respected,” he said in a video statement posted on Facebook. He called on Biya to “accept the truth of the ballot box” or “plunge the country into turmoil”.
Tchiroma claimed that he had won the election with 55 percent of the vote. More than 8 million people were registered to vote in the election.
On Monday, however, the Constitutional Council announced Biya as the winner with 53.66 percent of the vote.
It said Tchiroma was the runner-up with 35.19 percent.
Announcing the results on Monday, the council’s leader, Clement Atangana, said the electoral process was “peaceful” and criticised the opposition for “anticipating the result”.
Under Biya’s rule, Cameroon has struggled with myriad challenges, including chronic corruption that critics say has dampened economic growth despite the country being rich in resources such as oil and cocoa.
The president, who has clinched wins in eight heavily contested elections held every seven years, is renowned for his absenteeism as he reportedly spends extended periods away from the country.
The 92-year-old appeared at just one campaign rally in the lead-up to this month’s election when he promised voters that “the best is still to come.”
He and his entourage are often away on private or medical treatment trips to Switzerland. An investigation in 2018 by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project found Biya had spent at least 1,645 days (nearly four and a half years) in the European country, excluding official visits, since being in power.
Under Biya, opposition politicians have frequently accused electoral authorities of colluding with the president to rig elections. In 2008, parliament voted to remove the limit on the number of terms a president may serve.
Before the election, the Constitutional Council barred another popular opposition candidate, Maurice Kamto of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement, from running.
Some opposition leaders and their supporters have been detained by police on a slew of charges, including plotting violence.
On Friday, two prominent leaders, Anicet Ekane and Djeukam Tchameni of the Union for Change, were arrested.
The African Movement for New Independence and Democracy party also said its treasurer and other members had been “kidnapped” by local security forces, a move it claimed was designed “to intimidate Cameroonians”.
Analysts also said Biya’s hold on power could lead to instability when he eventually goes.
Since 2015, attacks by the armed group, Boko Haram, have become more and more frequent in the Far North Region of the country.
Furthermore, since gaining independence in 1960 from French rule, Cameroon has struggled with conflict rooted in the country’s deep linguistic and political divisions, which developed when French- and English-speaking regions were merged into a single state.
French is the official language, and Anglophone Cameroonians in the northwest and southwest have felt increasingly marginalised by the Francophone-dominated government in Yaounde.
Their grievances – over language, education, courts and distribution of resources – turned into mass protests in 2016 when teachers and lawyers demanded equal recognition of English-language institutions.
The government responded with arrests and internet blackouts, and the situation eventually built up to an armed separatist struggle for an independent state called Ambazonia.
The recent presidential election was the first to take place since the conflict intensified. Armed separatists have barred the Anglophone population from participating in government-organised activities, such as National Day celebrations and elections.
As a result, the Southwest and Northwest regions saw widespread abstention in voting on October 12 with a 53 percent turnout. The highest share of votes, according to the official results, went to Biya: 68.7 percent and 86.31 percent in the two regions, respectively.
Protests are likely to spread, observers said.
After the deaths of four protesters before the results were announced, Tchiroma paid tribute “to those who fell to the bullets of a regime that has become criminal during a peaceful march”.
He called on Biya’s government to “stop these acts of barbarity, these killings and arbitrary arrests”.
“Tell the truth of the ballots, or we will all mobilise and march peacefully,” he said.
Deadly clashes have broken out in Cameroon after opposition candidate Issa Tchiroma declared victory in an election yet to publish results. Tchiroma urged his supporters onto the streets to demand President Paul Biya, the world’s oldest serving ruler, step aside after over 43 years in power.
Published On 27 Oct 202527 Oct 2025
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Military government orders two-week closure for schools and universities as blockade on fuel imports declared by JNIM causes further disruptions.
Published On 27 Oct 202527 Oct 2025
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Mali’s military government has announced schools and universities nationwide will be closed for two weeks, as the landlocked country continues to suffer from the effects of a crippling blockade on fuel imports imposed by an armed group in September.
Education Minister Amadou Sy Savane said on Sunday the suspension until November 9 was “due to disruptions in fuel supplies that are affecting the movement of school staff”.
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He added authorities were “doing everything possible” to restore normal fuel supplies before schools resume classes on November 10.
In a separate statement, the Interministerial Committee for Crisis and Disaster Management said restrictions will be placed on fuel supplies until “further notice”, with priority given at dedicated stations to “emergency, assistance, and public transport vehicles”.
It comes nearly two months after the Jama’at Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) armed group, one of the several operating in the Sahel, declared a blockade on fuel imported from neighbouring countries.
Since then, the al-Qaeda affiliate has been targeting fuel tankers coming mainly from Senegal and the Ivory Coast, through which most imported goods transit.
JNIM initially said the blockade was a retaliatory measure against the Malian authorities’ ban on selling fuel outside stations in rural areas, where fuel is transported in jerry cans to be sold later. Malian authorities said the measure was intended to cut off JNIM’s supply lines.
The blockade has squeezed Mali’s fragile economy, affecting the price of commodities and transport in a country that relies on fuel imports for domestic needs.
Its effects have also spread to the capital, Bamako, where endless queues have stretched in front of gas stations.
Mali, along with neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger, has for more than a decade battled armed groups, including some linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS), as well as local rebels.
Following military coups in all three countries in recent years, the new ruling authorities have expelled French forces and turned to Russia’s mercenary units for security assistance, which is seen as having made little difference.
Analysts say the blockade is a significant setback for Mali’s military government, which defended its forceful takeover of power in 2020 as a necessary step to end long-running security crises.
Country awaits final presidential election result that could see 83-year-old Alassane Ouattara sworn in for fourth term.
Former Ivory Coast commerce minister Jean-Louis Billon has conceded defeat to incumbent Alassane Ouattara in the country’s presidential election, as early partial results show the latter with a strong lead nationwide.
“The initial results place the incumbent President, Mr Alassane Ouattara, in the lead, designating him the winner of this presidential election,” Billon said in a statement, congratulating the president on Sunday.
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Billon was among four opposition candidates running against Ouattara, the 83-year-old former International Monetary Fund executive who is seeking a fourth term in office.
Billon failed to secure the endorsement of the opposition PDCI party, led by Tidjane Thiam – the ex-Credit Suisse chief who was barred from the ballot.
Earlier in the day, the country’s Independent Electoral Commission began announcing partial results from Saturday’s polls on national television.
“The results of 20 departments or divisions are being read out,” and 10 or 11 departments remain, Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris said, reporting from the economic capital, Abidjan on Sunday. This included diaspora votes from six countries.
“This is the most critical stage of this election, where results from various polling booths and centres are being collated and announced,” Idris said.
“From the initial results, it’s clear the incumbent is leading by a wide margin in many of the areas so far.”
Nearly nine million Ivorians were eligible to vote in an election marked by a divided opposition further hobbled by the barring of two leading candidates.
“Ivorians are watching closely what happens here,” said Idris. “And the result of this election will determine whether or not the streets will remain calm.”
So far, the streets of Abidjan have remained quiet and calm, Idris reported, “apart from reports of scattered violence in other parts of the country that has led to two deaths”.
“Security patrols are all over the place; at least 44,000 security personnel have been deployed for this election before, during, and after, in case trouble breaks out,” he added.
Ouattara’s leading rivals – former President Laurent Gbagbo and Thiam – were barred from standing, Gbagbo for a criminal conviction and Thiam for acquiring French citizenship.
This led to pre-election protests and calls from some quarters for a boycott of the polls.
While an official voter turnout is not yet known, the president of the election commission, Ibrahime Coulibaly-Kuibiert, earlier put the figure at about 50 percent.
Polling stations in Abidjan and historically pro-opposition areas in the south and west were nearly empty, the AFP news agency reported. Meanwhile, it said voters turned out in large numbers in the north, where Ouattara had most of his support.
With key contenders out of the race, Ouattara was the overwhelming favourite.
Saturday’s vote was reminiscent of the last election in 2020, in which he obtained 94 percent of the ballots with a turnout slightly above 50 percent in an election then boycotted by the main opposition.
None of the four candidates who faced Ouattara represented a major party or had the reach of the ruling Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace.
CONAKRY, Guinea — It was the middle of the day when Omar Diaw, known by his artist name “Chimere” — French for chimera — approached a blank wall off the main thoroughfare in Guinea’s capital and started spray-painting.
“They know who I am,” he said confidently. Though it wasn’t clear who ”they” were, civilians and police didn’t bat an eye as Diaw’s fellow artists unloaded dozens of paint cans onto the roadside in Conakry.
Graffiti has thrived for years in Diaw’s native Senegal, where the modern urban street art first took off in West Africa. But when he moved to Guinea in 2018 to explore a new place, he said such art was nearly nonexistent.
“It was thought that graffiti was vandalism,” he said.
To win over the public, Diaw took a gentle approach, using graffiti for public awareness campaigns. One of his first was to raise awareness about COVID-19 preventive measures.
“We had to seduce the population,” he said.
The port city of Conakry faces rapid urbanization. Diaw’s graffiti has become an undeniable part of its crowded, concrete-heavy landscape.
His larger-than-life images of famous Guinean musicians and African independence leaders now dwarf the overloaded trucks that drive by. Drying laundry hung over the portrait of the West African resistance fighter Samory Toure.
The tag of Diaw’s graffiti collective, Guinea Ghetto Graff, is on murals all over the city.
Graffiti as it’s known today began in the 1960s and ’70s in the United States. It arrived in West Africa via Dakar, Senegal, in 1988, when the region’s first graffiti artist, Amadou Lamine Ngom, started painting on the city’s walls.
Known by his artist name, “Docta,” Ngom and a group of fellow artists were commissioned the following year to paint murals for an awareness campaign aimed at cleaning up Dakar’s streets.
Ngom, 51, said that at the beginning, aside from such campaigns, he did graffiti mostly at night. He later changed his approach.
“I decided to do it in broad daylight,” he said. “So as not to copy what’s happening in the United States, Europe or elsewhere. To create graffiti that resembles the African reality, taking into account our reality, our values.”
Ngom, who later mentored the teenage Diaw, said communities grew to respect the public artwork since it reflected their lives and experiences.
With the public’s backing, “the authorities didn’t have a choice,” Ngom said.
These days, graffiti has grown more assertive in Senegal, becoming part of the political messaging around antigovernment protests. In Guinea, Diaw’s graffiti has addressed issues such as migration.
Diaw said Conakry’s governor supports much of his work and has given him carte blanche to do it wherever he wants.
As his latest work beside the thoroughfare took shape, passersby began to stop and admire the portrait of Guinea’s military leader, Gen. Mamadi Doumbouya, who took power in a 2021 coup.
A 22-year-old driver, Ousmane Sylla, said he was familiar with Diaw’s gigantic paintings near Conakry’s airport.
“It reminds us of old Guinean musicians. It reminds us of history,” he said. “Graffiti is good for Africa, it’s good for this country, it’s good for everyone. I like it, and it changed the face of our city.”
The next step might be bringing in a wider range of artists.
“I would really like to see more women become a part of this, because they say that [graffiti] is for men,” said Mama Aissata Camara, a rare female artist on Guinea’s graffiti scene.
Risemberg writes for the Associated Press.
Ismail Omar Guelleh could seek re-election in 2026 after parliament votes to remove age restriction for presidential candidates.
Published On 26 Oct 202526 Oct 2025
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Djibouti’s parliament has removed the constitutional age ceiling for presidential candidates, opening the door for Ismail Omar Guelleh to seek a sixth term despite being 77 years old.
All 65 lawmakers present voted on Sunday to eliminate the age restriction of 75 years, a move that would allow the veteran leader to contest elections scheduled for April 2026. The decision requires either presidential approval followed by a second parliamentary vote on November 2, or a national referendum.
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Guelleh, known widely as IOG, has governed the Horn of Africa nation since 1999, when he succeeded Hassan Gouled Aptidon, the country’s founding president.
The constitutional barrier was introduced by Guelleh himself in 2010 alongside reforms that scrapped presidential term limits, but reduced each term from six to five years.
National Assembly Speaker Dileita Mohamed Dileita defended the change as essential for maintaining stability in a turbulent region. He said public support exceeded 80 percent for the measure, though Al Jazeera is not able to verify this claim.
Earlier this year, in an interview with the Jeune Afrique magazine, Guelleh gave an important indication that he had no plans to relinquish power. “All I can tell you is that I love my country too much to embark on an irresponsible adventure and be the cause of divisions,” he said.
Rights advocates condemned the move as a step toward permanent rule. “This revision prepares a presidency for life,” said Omar Ali Ewado, who heads the Djiboutian League for Human Rights, calling instead for a peaceful democratic transition.
Daher Ahmed Farah, a leader in the Movement for Democratic Renewal and Development, told Al Jazeera that international partners should reconsider their priorities. “The country is in a strategic position and hosts many bases, but these interests lie with the Djiboutian people, not with a single man,” he said.
Guelleh won his fifth term in 2021 with more than 98 percent of votes after opposition groups boycotted the election. At the time, the United States welcomed the result but encouraged the government “to further strengthen its democratic institutions and processes in line with recommendations from the observer missions”.
Guelleh is East Africa’s third-longest-serving leader behind Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni, in power for nearly four decades, and Eritrea’s Isaias Afwerki, with a tenure reaching 27 years.
Despite its small population of one million, Djibouti wields outsized geopolitical influence. The country hosts the only permanent US military base in Africa, alongside installations operated by France, China, Japan and Italy. Its position overlooking the Bab al-Mandab Strait makes it vital for global shipping between Asia and Europe.
That strategic value has kept Djibouti stable while neighbouring states face mounting crises, including Sudan’s civil war and Somalia’s fragmentation.
Hundreds of supporters of opposition presidential candidate Issa Tchiroma accuse President Paul Biya’s government of seeking to rig the vote.
Published On 26 Oct 202526 Oct 2025
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At least two people have been killed by gunfire in Cameroon, as protesters rallied a day before the announcement of presidential election results, the opposition campaign has said.
Hundreds of supporters of opposition candidate Issa Tchiroma barricaded roads and burned tyres in Cameroon’s commercial capital Douala on Sunday. Police fired tear gas and water cannon to break up the crowds. A police car was also burned.
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The protesters say Tchiroma beat veteran leader Paul Biya, 92, in the October 12 polls and have accused authorities of preparing to rig the election.
Protests have flared in several cities, including the capital Yaounde, Tchiroma’s hometown Garoua, as well as Maroua, Meiganga, Bafang, Bertoua, Kousseri, Yagoua, Kaele, and Bafoussam.
The demonstrations came after partial results reported by local media showed that Biya was on course to win an eighth term in office.
During the counting process, according to the figures, Tchiroma was declared the winner. But during the national count, the electoral commission announced that Biya would be the winner, which Tchiroma disputes.
He claims that he has won the elections and that he has evidence to prove it, which led to a call for national demonstrations to demand the truth about the ballot boxes.
“We want Tchiroma, we want Tchiroma!” the protesters chanted in Douala’s New Bell neighbourhood. They blocked roads with debris and threw rocks and other projectiles at security forces.
Reuters news agency reporters saw police detain at least four protesters on Sunday.
Cameroon’s government has rejected opposition accusations of irregularities and urged people to wait for the election result, due on Monday.
Earlier on Sunday, Tchiroma’s campaign manager said authorities had detained about 30 politicians and activists who had supported his candidacy, heightening tensions.
Among those he said were detained were Anicet Ekane, leader of the MANIDEM party, and Djeukam Tchameni, a prominent figure in the Union for Change movement.
Cameroon’s Interior Minister Paul Atanga Nji said on Saturday that arrests had been made in connection with what he described as an “insurrectional movement,” though he did not say who – or how many – had been detained.
Biya is the world’s oldest serving ruler and has been in power in Cameroon since 1982. Another seven-year term could keep him in power until he is nearly 100.
Tchiroma, a former minister and one-time Biya ally, has said that he won and that he will not accept any other result.
A global roundup of some of last week’s events.
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Alana King takes a stunning 7-18 – a record at a Women’s World Cup – as Australia bowl South Africa out for 97, before chasing down their target with seven wickets in hand in Indore.
MATCH REPORT: King takes 7-18 as Australia thrash South Africa
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Polls open in the West African nation in a heated election set to deliver a fourth term to 83-year-old Alassane Ouattara.
Voters in the Ivory Coast are casting ballots for president with incumbent Alassane Ouattara the overwhelming favourite as he runs for a fourth term.
Nearly nine million Ivorians will vote on Saturday from 8am to 6pm (08:00 to 18:00 GMT), choosing from a field of five contenders.
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Opposition heavyweights, however, aren’t running for the post. Former President Laurent Gbagbo and former Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam have been barred from standing, the former for a criminal conviction and the latter for acquiring French citizenship.
Critics said the exclusion of key candidates has given Ouattara, 83, an unfair advantage and essentially cleared the way for his fourth term.
None of his four rivals represents an established party nor do they have the reach of the ruling Rally of Houphouetistes for Democracy and Peace (RHDP).
Agribusinessman and former Trade Minister Jean-Louis Billon, 60, hopes to rally backers from his former party, the Democratic Party, while former first lady Simone Ehivet Gbagbo, 76, is looking to garner votes from supporters of her ex-husband.
The left-wing vote hangs in the balance between Gbagbo and Ahoua Don Mello, a civil engineer and independent Pan-African with Russian sympathies. Henriette Lagou Adjoua, one of the first two women to run for the presidency during the 2015 election, is representing a centrist coalition, the Group of Political Partners for Peace.
At the Riviera Golf 1 Primary School in the Ivory Coast’s economic capital, Abidjan, where Gbagbo is expected to cast her vote, the atmosphere appeared calm as the first voters began to queue in the early hours of Saturday.
“This vote means a lot to us,” Konate Adama told Al Jazeera. “We need a candidate to emerge from these elections. It will lead us towards peace, wisdom and tranquillity.”
Turnout will be key as the opposition continues to call for a boycott. About 8.7 million people aged above 18 are eligible to vote in a country of 33 million with a median age of 18.3.
To win, a candidate must take an absolute majority of the votes. A second round will take place if no one clears that hurdle.
Results are expected early next week, and observers forecast Ouattara to win the more than 50 percent needed to secure victory in the first round.
The octogenarian has wielded power in the world’s top cocoa producer since 2011 when the country began reasserting itself as a West African economic powerhouse.
Under the constitution, presidents may serve a maximum of two terms. Ouattara argues a major constitutional change implemented in 2016 “reset” his limit.
The decision has angered his detractors. Opposition and civil society groups also complain of restrictions on Ouattara’s critics and a climate of fear.
About 44,000 security forces were deployed across the country to keep protests in check, especially in opposition strongholds in the south and west. A night-time curfew was in place on Friday and Saturday in the region where the political capital, Yamoussoukro, is located.
Authorities said they want to avoid “chaos” and a repeat of unrest surrounding the 2020 presidential election. According to official figures, 85 people died then while the opposition said there were more than 200 deaths.
Opposition parties have encouraged Ivorians to protest against Ouattara’s predicted fourth term. On Monday, an Independent Electoral Commission building was torched.
The government has responded by banning demonstrations, and the judiciary has sentenced several dozen people to three years in prison for disturbing the peace.
In 2010, the country was plunged into a conflict that killed at least 3,000 people after the presidential election between Gbagbo and Ouattara.
