Nigeria, Nov. 14 -- Counting the bodies in the aftermath of Tanzania's bloodiest election is no easy task. The protests were not confined to one city or one region; they broke out across the country - from the port streets of Dar es Salaam to the lake shores of Mwanza; from Mbeya in the highlands to Arusha at the foot of Mount Meru. The violence was swift, coordinated, and, according to witnesses, unmistakably deliberate.

Hardly any foreign journalists were present. International election observers had either been restricted or never invited in the first place. Doctors and nurses say the security forces removed corpses from public streets before dawn, loaded them onto military trucks, and drove them to unknown sites. Lawyers and clergy r...