Solidarity with the People of Sudan, Tanzania and Cameroon

6 November 2025
Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement

Solidarity with the People of Sudan, Tanzania and Cameroon

There is a deepening crisis across Africa. In Sudan, Tanzania, Kenya, the Congo, Swaziland, Cameroon and elsewhere, governments and armed forces backed by corrupt elites and imperialist powers have turned their weapons against the people. Thousands have been massacred for demanding democracy, a way forward for young people, and a fairer economy.

In Sudan, horrific massacres are taking place in the cities of El-Fasher and Bara, and across Darfur and Kordofan. Reports from within Sudan, confirmed by the United Nations, journalists and human-rights organisations, describe atrocities committed by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF): mass killings, executions, the burning of homes, abductions of civilians and the deliberate starvation of whole communities.

Thousands have been killed. Following the fall of El-Fasher, where more than a quarter of a million people were trapped, civilians — including the sick and wounded — have been executed. Hospitals and mosques have become sites of slaughter. The city has been under siege for more than a year, its people forced to eat animal fodder to survive.
The RSF was formed from the Janjaweed militias that terrorised Darfur in the 2000s and now acts as a weapon for elites fighting over wealth and power. The United Arab Emirates has armed and financed the RSF through the gold trade, while European governments have worked with the Sudanese military to block migration from Africa into Europe. Egypt and Saudi Arabia also back the army.

The uprising that began in December 2018 was a democratic revolt of workers, women, students and the urban poor. It was sparked by austerity measures imposed under IMF direction — when bread prices rose beyond the reach of the hungry. That uprising gave rise to new grass-roots forms of democracy through the resistance committees, which continue to provide food, medicine and mutual aid amid war. But the transition that followed betrayed the revolution’s goals. The elites compromised with the military, deepened inequality and allowed the counter-revolution to regroup. Today’s massacres are the result.

The Sudanese Communist Party has called for urgent international action: to end impunity, stop the flow of weapons, open humanitarian corridors and hold perpetrators accountable. These demands must be supported everywhere that people stand for justice.

The general election held in Tanzania on 29 October 2025 was stolen. In the period before the vote, the state systematically cracked down on journalists, activists, and opposition parties. Two major opposition parties were excluded from participation, and Samia Suluhu Hassan was declared the winner with nearly 98 percent of the vote.
In the lead-up to and on election day, the state imposed curfews, shut down internet access, deployed security forces, and expelled election observers. Ballot stuffing and the absence of party agents were widely reported.

During and after the election, there was a brutal crackdown on protest and dissent. Estimates of the death toll exceed a thousand, with many of the dead being young people and women killed while protesting against this fraud. Unconfirmed reports suggest that the real number may be even higher, with young men especially targeted in Dar es Salaam, Arusha, Mwanza, Mbeya, and Songwe.

Police and soldiers used live ammunition and tear gas. Entire neighbourhoods were placed under curfew. Hospitals filled with the wounded and the dead. A message from a close comrade in Tanzania earlier this week described how “all the big cities and some villages are under curfew and the majority of people have no supplies of the basic needs because all the roads have been militarised and people aren’t allowed to get out for anything.”

Abductions and disappearances have been widespread. The UN has confirmed credible reports of killings in Dar es Salaam, Shinyanga and Morogoro. Activists and journalists have been arrested or forced into hiding. For nearly a week, the internet was shut down to hide the scale of the repression. Various organisations, including the SADC Observer Mission, have concluded that the elections were neither free nor fair. There have also been calls on the ICC and the UN to investigate the mass killings. Today our comrade told us that there are “Lots of funerals across the streets and the police are still searching and arresting people”. Many people are still missing.

The current uprising has been led largely by young people from poor and working-class neighbourhoods who are refusing to accept a future of corruption and inequality. Their anger has been fuelled by years of privatisation, corruption and authoritarianism. The government’s decision to hand control of the Dar es Salaam port and bus system to the UAE company DP World was seen as selling out the country’s sovereignty. The ruling party has also lost the limited legitimacy it once had after eliminating real opposition and relying on military power to govern. The people of Tanzania are fighting for their right to live free of fear, hunger and lies.

We are mindful of the recent massacres of protesters in Kenya, where more than thirty young people were killed by police between June and July 2025 while demonstrating against corruption and economic suffering.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, there were mass killings after Rwandan-backed forces invaded the country. In Swaziland, the brutal monarchy continues to rule through fear, banning opposition parties and responding to protests with lethal force.
In Cameroon, at least 48 civilians were killed this week when security forces opened fire on protesters challenging the re-election of Paul Biya, who has ruled since 1982. According to the United Nations, most of those killed were shot with live ammunition in the city of Douala.

Across Africa, imperialism, austerity and corrupt local elites are crushing popular movements. The only solution is to democratise the continent — not only through elections but by putting its land, wealth and power in the hands of its people.
There have been youth-driven uprisings in Kenya, in Swaziland and now in Tanzania. Here at home, with mass unemployment and growing desperation among young people, we are also standing on the edge of an explosion. We do not know what direction it will take, because the anger of the poor can move in many directions. But the possibility of an explosion is high.

There is one humanity in one world. Abahlali baseMjondolo stands in full solidarity with the people of Sudan and Tanzania, as well as Kenya, the Congo, Swaziland, Cameroon, and everywhere people are resisting oppression. We call on progressive forces across the continent to unite in a common struggle for a democratic, liberated Africa.

Contact:

Thapelo Mohapi 084 576 5117
Mqapheli Bonono 073 067 3274
Snenhlanhla Mncanyana 073 832 3331