Tanzania's image for stability has been "stained" by the unrest that hit the East African nation during last month's heavily disputed elections, President Samia Suluhu Hassan has acknowledged.

Speaking as she swore in her new cabinet, Samia warned that the violence could "set the country back".

"We mostly depend on loans from international creditors, but what happened eroded our global credibility," the 65-year-old president said.

She was declared the winner of October's presidential poll with 98% of the vote, but the opposition - which was barred from contesting - denounced the election as a "mockery of democracy".

Lazarus Chakwera, Malawi's former president and the Commonwealth envoy, is due to arrive in Tanzania to lead reconciliation efforts between the two sides.

Hundreds may have died as security forces crushed the protests under cover of a five-day internet blackout after the 29 October elections, according to the opposition. The authorities are yet to release an official death toll.

Gruesome images and videos of dead Tanzanians have circulated online following the disputed elections, in which key opposition leaders were jailed or disqualified.

The violence was shocking for a nation that had cultivated an image of calm and order for nearly six decades.

At least 240 people were charged with treason after the protests.