EU, Tanzania working on 'unfreezing' frozen funds after vote

At the heart of the mending strategy is the visit by Minister Kombo himself to Brussels at the end of January, marked by a rendez-vous with High Representative for Foreign Policy Kaja Kallas. According to Sole 24 Ore and EUrologus, Brussels reiterated its concern about the latest developments in Tanzania and confirmed the current freezing of funds. The meetings, again according to Sole 24 Ore and EUrologus, offered the opportunity to hear Tanzanai's intentions on investigations and reconciliation compared to EU expectations. Brussels expects developments especially on the front of the release of activists, preserving the 'strong relationship' that welds the EU to Dodoma.

The electoral chaos has sealed the descending parable of Samia Hassan, who has slipped from the openness of the first phase of her mandate to a repressive twist that has tarnished her reputation as an 'enlightened' leader on a global scale. After initial resistance, with accusations thrown back at the protesters, Hassan announced an investigation to shed light on the violence perpetrated during the election. The government is 'genuinely concerned about the international fallout' says Fergus Kell of Chatham House, a British think tank. At the same time, the 'effort has not translated into a real push for domestic accountability,' says Kell. 'At present, the efforts lack real depth and independence. Criticisms of the government 'enquiry' include the presence of government officials on the commission and the insistence on an external, 'criminal' hand in the protests, delegitimising political impulses.

Today, the Tanzanian economy has been growing at an estimated average rate of +6% over the past two decades by the Insitute of security studies, a research centre, with GDP tripling to USD 69.5 billion between 2004 and 2023 and a population hovering around a 'median' age of 18.4 years. The economic and demographic momentum has not translated into widespread growth, with GDP per capita confined to 31st place out of the 50-plus continental economies and more than 7 out of 10 Tanzanians below the US$ 3.65 mark in 2023. Today the EU remains a key partner when it comes to trade, hard currency inflows and remittances, but "the decline of development aid and concessional finance has reduced its (EU's) influence while other actors have increased their engagement," says Kell of Chathman House.

The map includes old ties with China and India and increasingly close relations with the Gulf countries, the most up-and-coming bloc in terms of investment volumes on an African scale. The United States and Russia maintain their focus on mineral resources and Moscow would like to intensify its footprint, although at the moment its reach seems 'limited' to the $1.2 billion uranium project launched by the national giant Rosatom at the Tanzanian Mkuju River site. Nothing excludes that relations could be refined. A few days after his tour in Brussels, Kombo himself was visiting Russia with his counterpart Sergei Lavrov. The expectation is that Hassan's turn will come soon. "We look forward to the visit," Lavrov said.

*This article is part of the European collaborative journalism project Pulse and was realised with the contribution of Eurologus-Hvg.