Tanzania: Police 'foil' strike by truck, bus drivers

By Kizito Makoye

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (AA) - Security forces in Tanzania claimed to have foiled on Tuesday a nationwide strike by truck and bus drivers protesting police brutality.

Lazaro Mambosasa, Dar es Salaam's special zone police commander, told Anadolu Agency that the strike did not take place, although there were reports of business activities being halted in the southern Mbeya region.

"The police force had received information about the planned action. We will not hesitate to arrest whoever is behind it," he said.

Truck and bus drivers in the East African country are protesting police brutality, which allegedly led to the death of a colleague last month. Video footage circulating on social media showed a traffic police officer forcibly pulling the driver out of an oil tanker truck.

The grisly incident caught the attention of Albert Chalamila, Mbeya's regional commissioner, who launched a probe into the death of the driver identified as Abdulrahma Issa, said to be punched and kicked unconscious.

Initial findings, meanwhile, suggest the deceased succumbed to an unspecified respiratory disease, and that there were no injuries on his body as claimed by fellow drivers.

"The probe committee, which involved security forces and specialist doctors, collected samples from the deceased's head and abdomen to confirm the cause of his death. It was found he succumbed to an underlying condition, and respiratory fever," Chalamila told Anadolu Agency.