Question 16743 — foreign policy

Summary

Ms. Anna Pic draws the attention of the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs to the deterioration of the human rights situation in Tanzania. Since President Samia Suluhu Hassan came to power in 2021, numerous human rights organizations as well as several international institutions, such as the European Union, have warned of a worrying decline in the rule of law and freedoms. public. Indeed, the general elections of October 2025, the results of which were hotly contested for their lack of transparency, were followed by particularly violent repression against demonstrators. A few hundred people would have died according to official figures published in April 2026, while the opposition puts forward a much heavier toll, estimating that nearly 2,000 people would have been killed. Thousands of arrests have also been recorded. The main democratic opponent, Tundu Lissu, remains imprisoned to this day, pushing many European parliamentarians to denounce the political exploitation of justice. Furthermore, forced disappearances and kidnappings of opponents also continue to give rise to serious concerns, as evidenced by the recent case of relatives of the former ambassador Humphrey Polepole. At the same time, the situation of indigenous Maasai populations remains extremely worrying. Two presidential commissions recently recommended removing recognition of the right of the Maasai to live in the Ngorongoro conservation area, created in 1959 as a zone of coexistence between this indigenous community and wildlife. These recommendations would thus open the way to new expulsions in benefit from a conservation model favoring tourism development. Maasai representatives denounce forced displacements, arbitrary arrests, violence, confiscation of their livestock as well as the deliberate reduction of public health and education services in order to force them to leave their ancestral lands. Several non-governmental organizations also denounce the humanitarian consequences of these policies, particularly for pregnant women and people living with HIV. This situation also raises questions about the role played by UNESCO in the management of certain World Heritage sites, in particular the Ngorongoro conservation area. The organization Survival International believes that UNESCO supports a model of conservation leading to the expulsion of indigenous peoples from their ancestral lands in the name of environmental protection, even though these populations are historically the primary guarantors of the preservation of these ecosystems. Finally, while President Samia Suluhu Hassan made an official visit to Russia in June 2026 in order to strengthen economic and strategic relations between the two countries, this development questions the diplomatic orientations of Tanzania and their consequences for relations with European partners, in a context marked by growing concerns about respect for the rule of law. Under these conditions, the European Parliament expressed strong reservations about the payment of financial aid of 156 million euros to Tanzania due to the serious violations of fundamental rights observed in the country. She therefore wishes to know the assessment of Government on recent developments in the political and human rights situation in Tanzania. She also asks him what diplomatic initiatives France intends to take, both bilaterally and within the European Union and with UNESCO, in order to promote respect for fundamental rights, guarantee the protection of indigenous Maasai populations and ensure Tanzania's compliance with its commitments. international standards of human rights.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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