Departing French envoy speaks about August 25 Dar shooting
The French Ambassador to Tanzania, Frédéric CLAVIER, being interviewed by the Managing Editor of The Citizen newspaper, Mpoki Thomson in his office. PHOTO | LOVENESS BERNARD
Dar es Salaam. A week after the shooting in Dar es Salaam French ambassador to Tanzania, Frédéric Clavier has commented on the incident that happened close to the mission's premises, saying it had no linkage with the French embassy at all.
On Wednesday last week a gunman Hamza Mohamed killed four people, including three policemen, before being shot dead by police near the French embassy in the country’s commercial capital Dar es Salaam.
In his last interview before ending his tour of duty in Tanzania, Clavier said It’s important to note that any country, including his own - France, can be attacked by people who don’t have good intentions.
“My condolences go out to the casualties, the families of the police officers who were attacked, it is unacceptable. However, it is also important to say that the attack had nothing to do with France, it had no linkage with the French embassy,’ he said.
Clavier added: We have to know that we live in a world with irrational movements, any country can be a target of such attacks. That is why it is important to maintain high level security but also democracy.
Mr Clavier who commenced his time as ambassador in Tanzania in 2018, noted that it’s important for people to work together so that they can be in solidarity with the government and the citizens to take care of each other. He also noted that the authorities were still investigating the incident.
Speaking in Mwanza on September 2, 2021, Director of Criminal Investigation (DCI), Camillius Wambura said that their investigation focused on knowing the identity of Hamza Mohammed, what inspired him to kill and who his accomplices were.
DCI Wambura said in the investigations, the police discovered that Hamza lived a very private life with all signs of terrorism.
Speaking about the police investigation, Hamza’s family spokesman, Abdulrahman Hassan said they have always seen the deceased as a normal person who did not have any character of a terrorist.
“We are waiting for the Police Force to reveal the outcomes of their investigations to us because from how we lived with him for years, at no point did we see him engaged in any terrorist movements,” said Mr Hassan.
According to Abdulrahman Hassan, five people were still being held by the Police Force for questioning. “Police say they are interrogating them,” he said.
