a crisis that has shaken its long-standing reputation as a beacon of peace and stability in Africa. It has also earned the country rare rebukes from regional and continental organisations. In a defiant inauguration speech on Monday, President Samia Suluhu Hassan said the election was fair and transparent but acknowledged people had died during the protests. She blamed foreign actors for the deadly protests. The death toll is not clear but families continue to search for or bury relatives killed following the recent disputed poll, that Samia won with 98% of the vote. Samia, the soft-spoken leader whose calm and gentle demeanour, initially inspired optimism when she assumed power in 2021 after the sudden death in office of her authoritarian predecessor, John Magufuli.

"Samia has pushed Tanzania to its thick winter of protests, instability and uncertainty," Prof Peter Kagwanja, a Kenyan policy analyst, told the BBC. The protests, organised by young people, drew clear parallels with global Gen Z-led mobilisations against entrenched leadership and unresponsive governments. Analysts say while the unrest was unprecedented for Tanzania, it was preceded by a tense political climate - marked by stalled reforms, years of simmering youth anger, power tussles within the ruling party and the sustained persecution of opposition leaders. "The protests were just a culmination of years of anger and grievances that have been bottled in by Tanzanians," Godfrey Mwampembwa, a Tanzanian-born political cartoonist, popularly known as Gado, said. Gado's satirical cartoons depicting President Samia as authoritarian and intolerant of political competition, have been circulated widely on social media. (BBC)