DAR ES SALAAM, Nov. 19 -- THE weeks following Tanzanias October 29 election have produced a wave of foreign reporting that paints the country in stark, even foreboding colours.

Major international outlets, including The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, published lengthy accounts alleging widespread killings, abductions and political repression.

The stories rely heavily on anonymous testimonies, whispered accounts of “missing bodies,” and numerical estimates that vary wildly depending on who is speaking.

It all gives the impression of a nation suddenly unravelling, the sort of imagery the world has become accustomed to seeing from Rwanda in 1994, Burundi in 2015, or Mozambiques Cabo Delgado in 2020.

And yet, whe...