Left: Getrude Dyabere, the Women and Children's Desk officer with the Legal Human Rights Center, speaks on the legal issues regarding “teleza,” armed men who allegedly rape and terrorize women in Kigoma, Tanzania. Right: Ramla Issa, a resident of Kigoma, calls on the government and police for intervention, May 8, 2019, screenshot via StarTV Youtube. On May 27, 2019, Tanzanian police announced the launch of an operation to investigate and prosecute “teleza” — armed men who have allegedly raped and terrorized women in the Mwanga Kusini Ward of Kigoma in western Tanzania since 2016. The men reportedly grease their faces and bodies with oil before breaking into female-majority households to rape and rob women throughout the Mwanga Kusini area. Teleza means “slippery” in Swahili and the term has been used to describe these types of attacks. The District Commissioner of Kigoma, Samson Anga, made the announcement to investigate the allegations following multiple media reports and a May 7 press release by a coalition of civil society organizations including the Legal and Human Rights Center, Tamasha, Twaweza, Jamii Forums, the Centre for Strategic Litigation and Change Tanzania, urging the police to investigate the women's testimonies of rape and torture. Kigoma District Commissioner, Samson Anga, has launched an operation against rapists known as “Teleza” in Kigoma. He has said that once the culprits are caught they will be whipped and rot in jail.#TokomezaTelezaKigoma #teleza pic.twitter.com/pNG1KgPjUS — WateteziTv_International (@WateteziTv_Int) May 28, 2019 I have spoken via WhatsApp with Annagrace Rwehumbiza, program coordinator with the youth-focused civil society organization (CSO) Tamasha, about teleza occurrences in Kigoma. In early March 2019, Tamasha staff members were in Kigoma to conduct fieldwork on participatory community engagement focused on women, youth and girls. During her interactions with Kigoma community members, Rwehumbiza says, several women mentioned their concerns about teleza. Rwehumbiza says she went to the Kigoma-Ujiji municipal office to inquire. She says one official acknowledged that they were aware of at least 20 women who had experienced violent break-ins, but no formal charges had been made. Rwehumbiza says the official asked her to bring the women forward to discuss the allegations, but only two were willing to show up, who said that teleza started to terrorize the community in 2016. That's when she decided to go house-to-house to inquire about teleza. I just wanted to hear from [the women], what kind of counseling were they receiving? The way the stories were being told, the way we were seeing the pictures, it's like those women were being tormented, and we wanted to know what kind of services did they get in terms of … security, counseling, and things like this. Over a three-day period in March, Rwehumbiza and her colleagues interviewed at least 43 girls and women who shared similar testimonies about teleza. Rwehumbiza recorded video testimonies and photographed survivors’ wounds allegedly suffered during teleza attacks. She shared the stories with her colleagues and strategized with other CSOs throughout April to call attention to the issue, eventually releasing the press statement as a coalition on May 7. It snowballed. The more you go to one house, they'll show you another one, another person, another house. … So we went from house to house to hear these women's stories and we got close to 45. These are their stories. … Each described what happened to them. … One says she was broken into more than five times. … Some were raped in front of their children… Rwehumbiza says it's unclear how many men are involved in these attacks and to what extent they operate as an organized crime network. On Twitter, she insisted an urgent investigation is necessary to find out more. #Teleza Tunachoomba kwa Serikali yeti, Uchunguzi wa kina ufanyike ili kubaini undani wa suala hili ili hatua za makusudi na haraka ziweze kuchukuliwa na kunusuru wanawake hawa pic.twitter.com/WzNytFDO4u — Annagrace Rwehumbiza (@annagracer23) May 9, 2019 #Teleza What we are asking from the government is a comprehensive investigation to identify the extent of this issue so that deliberate and quick action can be taken and to help these women. Jamii Forums, a popular online discussion forum in Tanzania, agreed to post and circulate the women's testimonies in the forum as well as a series of tweets to raise awareness. All of the witnesses and survivors shared their testimonies anonymously, fearing reprisal.