Tanzania

  1. Video content

    Video caption: Tanzania's Freeman Mbowe on Samia Suluhu's first year as president

    Tanzanian opposition leader Freeman Mbowe says the treason charges against him were politically motivated.

  2. Ukraine war: Tanzania explains its neutral position

    Alfred Lasteck

    BBC News, Dar es Salaam

    Half-destroyed house is seen as a result of shelling by the Russian troops, Kyiv, capital of Ukraine
    Image caption: Tanzania says it is not taking sides in the Russia-Ukraine conflict

    Tanzania has explained why it is not taking sides in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and is calling for peace talks to bring the war to an end.

    It comes a day after a delegation of European Union ambassadors in Tanzania called on the country and other African countries to raise their voices against Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

    Tanzania's stance is echoed by its decision not to vote on a UN General Assembly resolution adopted earlier this month, calling on Russia to immediately suspend its attacks on Ukraine and withdraw its troops from the country.

    Liberata Mulamula, Tanzania’s foreign minister, says Tanzania does not support war and believes that best way forward is to promote peace talks through diplomatic means.

    “We are against wars, but we decided to be neutral. We stand by our policies and specifically our foreign policy which is clear that we can’t align with any party, especially in a situation like this,” she further said.

  3. Tanzania opens auction for hunting of old wildlife

    Alfred Lasteck

    BBC News, Dar es Salaam

    A lion at Serengeti national park
    Image caption: Tanzania has half of the world’s wild lions population

    Tanzania is allocating wildlife hunting blocks through auction in a bid to raise more revenue.

    Tourism Minister Damas Ndumbaro said successful hunters would be allowed to kill aged elephants, lions and other big game considered unproductive.

    The East African country is aiming to raise $30m (£23m) from the auction.

    About 25% of the proceeds will be spent in helping communities living near the hunting blocks.

    The rest will be used on anti-poaching programmes, game patrols, transportation, surveillance and the prosecution of offenders.

    Revenue from wildlife dropped from $48m in 2019 to $19m last year because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

    Tanzania is Africa’s leading country for big game hunting in unfenced areas.

    It has approximately half of the world’s wild lions population and the third largest elephant population in Africa.

    According to a 2019 International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) report, 72% of big hunting zones in Tanzania are now classified as depleted because big game has been hunted out of these areas.

  4. Rhino said to be among Tanzania's most prolific dies

    Alfred Lasteck

    BBC News, Dar es Salaam

    Eastern black rhinoceros
    Image caption: Rhinos typically live to between 37 and 43 years in the wild

    A rhino thought to have had the largest family in East Africa has died at the age of 43 in Tanzania.

    Rajabu, an eastern black rhino, was first sighted in the Ngorongoro conservation area in 1979.

    It roamed the Ngorongoro area freely for more than 14 years before moving to the Serengeti National Park.

    The rhino is said to have died of old age.

    It had a large family and was said to have been one of the most productive male rhinos in Tanzania.

    "Rajabu is no more…He has gone but behind he left a very huge and stable family. He had been aggressive and would fight any animal trying to attack him," Pascal Shelutete, from the Ngorongoro Conservation Authority, told the BBC.

    Rajabu’s father, John, died seven years ago from an undisclosed sickness.

    In the wild, rhinos typically live up to between 37 and 43 years, or up to 50 years in captivity.

    The eastern black rhino is listed as critically endangered. Its numbers are dangerously low because the animals are often illegally killed for their horn.

  5. Tanzania leader agrees to law review after polls

    Salim Kikeke

    BBC Swahili presenter

    Tanzania"s president, Samia Suluhu Hassan
    Image caption: Samia Suluhu Hassan's relations with the opposition have thawed

    Tanzania will begin the process of drafting a new constitution after the 2025 general elections.

    A statement issued by State House says a new constitution will be among other long-term issues that will be addressed then.

    This comes after the release of the country’s main opposition leader Freeman Mbowe, of the Chadema party.

    He alleged his court case was politically motivated because he had started a movement demanding a new constitution.

    The Tanzania government denies that allegation.

    Last week, in an exclusive interview with the BBC, President Samia Suluhu Hassan refused to discuss the constitution, saying it was a “matter between herself and Tanzanians”.

    But there has been mounting pressure from activists and opposition parties demanding a new constitution.

    Mr Mbowe was charged with terrorism and stayed behind bars for eight months before the charges were dropped in early March.

    Speaking to the BBC for the first time since his release, the Chadema leader said he would continue demanding a new constitution although with a more cautious approach.

    “In African democracies sometimes telling the truth can be your hanging rope, it’s very unfortunate that our leaders, most of the time, would not like to hear what they don’t want to hear. When you tell the truth and stand by the truth you become the victim of circumstances,” he said.

    Immediately after his release Mr Mbowe met President Samia to discuss their working relations.

    “In essence what we agreed was that we are ready to work together if both of us are targeting justice as the pillar of running political affairs,” he said.

  6. Tanzania opposition boycotts reconciliation talks

    Alfred Lasteck

    BBC News, Dar es Salaam

    Tanzania's main opposition Chadema party chairman Freeman Mbowe speaks during a press conference in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania - 18 March 2022
    Image caption: Freeman Mbowe announced the boycott at a press conference in Dar es Salaam

    Tanzania's main opposition party Chadema is boycotting a planned national dialogue because the agenda does not include talks about a new constitution.

    Freeman Mbowe, Chadema's chairman, was recently held on terror charges for eights months and announced the boycott on Friday at his first press briefing since his release.

    The meetings are being organised by Tanzania’s Centre for Democracy - a non-religious, non-partisan organisation that includes all the major political parties in Tanzania.

    But Mr Mbowe says that the planned cross-party talks are merely an attempt to scuttle Chadema's push for a new Tanzanian constitution, and wants the president to include a truth and justice process in the talks.

    President Samia Suluhu Hassan has struck a reconciliatory note with the opposition since taking over last year after the sudden death of her predecessor John Magufuli.

    After Mr Mbowe's release earlier this march, he met President Samia but details of the meeting have not been made public.

  7. Tanzania's Samia one year in office: How is she doing?

    Salim Kikeke

    BBC Swahili presenter

    President of Tanzania Samia Suluhu Hassan
    Image caption: Unlike her predecessor, President Samia has stressed the importance of wearing face masks to prevent the spread of Covid

    This weekend marks one year since Tanzania's former Vice-President Samia Suluhu Hassan took office as the country’s first female president.

    Despite being Africa's only female political head of state, she doesn’t want to be referred to in an official capacity but simply by her first name, Samia or she says, “Mama Samia”.

    She was sworn in, mid-pandemic, last March after her predecessor, John Magufuli, died suddenly in office.

    Since then, she has aimed to boost Tanzania as a whole. This includes “The Royal Tour” film which will be broadcast in April this year.

    Mama Samia has travelled across the country, along with US documentary makers, to show what the country has to offer.

    This includes, she jokes, ensuring the world knows that Mount Kilimanjaro and The Serengeti are within her borders.

    So, how have Tanzanians adjusted to having Mama Samia as president?

    "Go and ask them today. I feel I’m doing my job. I feel like I’ve delivered,” she says.

    Having inherited the nation from Covid-sceptic Magufuli, she says: “Instead of investing the money on masks and hand sanitiser and vaccines, we invested in bringing better healthcare to villages - building healthcare centres and making class sizes in schools smaller. Water supply improved."

    And the resounding achievement of her presidency so far?

    “The one most important thing I [achieved is], peace, security and stability of my country. That’s the most important item which I can say I managed to maintain.”

    Saying that, her short presidency had been somewhat tainted by the arrest of opposition leader Freeman Mbowe in July last year.

    But his release earlier this month is a major U-turn and has been seen as a sign that the government could be about to allow the opposition to operate more freely.

    More on this topic:

  8. Hundreds of Maasai ready to leave conservation area

    Alfred Lasteck

    BBC News, Dar es Salaam

    Masai men in market
    Image caption: Tanzania's government has been trying to relocate Maasai communities as pressure on wildlife grows

    Hundreds of Maasai people have volunteered to leave their homes in Tanzania's Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA), after the government asked the pastoralists to relocate because the rising human population was putting pressure on wildlife.

    More than 450 people from 86 households have expressed their intention to move.

    Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa addressed more than 350 Maasai elders, also known as Laigwanans, on Friday. He said President Samia Suluhu had expressed her deep concern for the fate of the area, which received Unesco’s Global Geopark status in 2018.

    President Samia is believed to be worried about the impact the growing number of livestock and human beings is having on the wildlife.

    Mr Majaliwa noted that 110,000 people were now living in the area, up from just 8,000 in 1959.

  9. The female mechanics breaking barriers in Tanzania

    Mwasiti Salum
    Image caption: Mwasiti Salum was convinced by her father

    Two Tanzanian women are challenging traditional gender roles in the auto mechanics industry.

    Mwasiti Salum and Catherine Kimaro work in the coastal city of Dar es Salaam where majority of the mechanics are men.

    The society is yet to accept female mechanics but the two are slowly changing their views.

    "I once met a woman whose car had broken down on the road. I offered to help telling her I was a mechanic but she insulted me instead of accepting my help," Ms Kimaro told BBC Swahili.

    She says there is a lot of money to be made in the automotive repairs industry.

    "My father convinced me to join this field after seeing the opportunities that were there," Ms Salum said.

    The two women have faced sexual harassment at work which they said was common in most male-dominated fields in the country.

  10. Tanzania launches yellow fever vaccination amid outbreak

    Flavivirus
    Image caption: The virus responsible for yellow fever is transmitted to humans by mosquitoes or ticks

    Tanzania's health ministry has launched a yellow fever vaccination drive after an outbreak was recorded in neighbouring Kenya.

    Minister Ummy Mwalimu has directed provincial referral hospital officials to start administering the vaccine to all those travelling out of the country.

    Kenya's health ministry announced the yellow fever outbreak last week.

    Fifteen people were reported to have contracted the disease and three people confirmed dead.

    Ms Mwalimu has directed experts who are supervising health issues at borders to look at possibilities of issuing electronic vaccination certificates to deal with the challenge of fakes.

    She has also called on Tanzanians to take precautions so that the disease does not get into the country and to ensure that the environment is clean to stop mosquitoes from breeding.

  11. The Tanzanian who has been emptying latrines for 30 years

    Julius Chisengo

    A Tanzanian man who has been emptying pit latrines for 30 years is now advocating for safety at work.

    Julius Chisengo was referred to as a "frogman", a derogatory name for sanitation workers who use their bare hands to empty latrines.

    He has been working in informal settlements in Dar es Salaam.

    In the past, he would use a ladder to go down the latrine and use buckets to scoop out the waste.

    "In one instance the walls of the latrine collapsed and I injured my right leg," he told the BBC.

    Mr Chisengo is now an advocate of safety at work and has adopted new methods of emptying latrines using pipes and pumps.

    Gloria Kafuria of the international charity Water Aid says Dar es Salaam is affected by a high-rising water table, which has led to latrines filling up faster.

    The organisation is giving the sanitation workers more skills to do their job effectively.

    The critical work by these workers was in the past illegal and now Water Aid is campaigning to make it legal for them to work.

    "Sometimes we used to work late at night in fear of being arrested," Mr Chisengo says.

    For now, he looks forward to the day he will be able to work using modern technology.

  12. Tanzanians reach Moscow after fleeing Ukraine war

    Some eleven Tanzanian students who were stranded in the Ukrainian city of Sumy have arrived in Russia's capital, Moscow.

    They were received by the Tanzanian ambassador to Russia Frederick Kibuta, according to Tanzania's foreign ministry.

    View more on twitter

    Last week Tanzania announced its agreement with Russia to allow for the safe passage of its students stranded in Sumy, a city in north-eastern Ukraine.

    The students were urged to head to Sudja where Russian troops would allow them to leave the country safely, according to a statement from Tanzania’s embassy in Moscow.

    The total number of students stranded in Sumy was not stated, but they were asked to carry the Tanzanian flag for identification in case they encountered troops.

  13. Tanzanian opposition leader praises president

    Alfred Lasteck

    BBC News, Dar es Salaam

    Tanzanian opposition leader Freeman Mbowe has welcomed President Samia Suluhu's overtures to him days after state prosecutors dropped terrorism charges against him and several other people.

    "When the court freed us, I received an invitation from President Samia. I accepted her invitation and it was a great honour to meet her," Mr Mbowe told a crowd of his supporters in the central town of Iringa.

    State prosecutors began their investigation into Mr Mbowe before the death of President John Magufuli last March, but he was arrested and charged in July after Mrs Samia had taken over.

    However, the 60-year-old Chadema leader said President Samia had promised him that all Tanzanians would now be treated equally, no matter what their political affiliation.

    It was a chance for Tanzania to embrace a new approach to politics, he added.

    The government spokesperson tweeted photos last Friday of President Samia meeting Mr Mbowe, saying they had discussed “matters of national interest”.

    View more on twitter
  14. Tanzania shares footage of rare albino zebra

    Alfred Lasteck

    BBC News, Dar es Salaam

    Tanzania's Serengeti National Park has shared a post on Instagram showing footage of a rare albino zebra.

    View more on instagram

    Named Ndasiata after an area of the Serengeti where the foal was first seen, the eight-month-old is doing well, the park authorities say.

    The young animal is thought to be one of the most fully albino zebras ever seen - much paler that others spotted in East Africa.

    In contrast, a rare polka-dot zebra was born in neighbouring Kenya nearly three years ago.

    A polka-dot zebra foal is seen in the Masai Mara game reserve in Kenya on 19 September 2019
    Image caption: This polka-dot zebra was born in Kenya's Maasai Mara National Reserve in 2019

    It is thought that zebra had spots instead of stripes because of a melanin disorder - meaning she had an excess of melanin, the dark pigment found in skin.

  15. Tanzania negotiates safe passage for citizens with Russia

    BBC Monitoring

    The world through its media

    Tanzania has said it has negotiated a safe passage with Russia for its students studying in a Ukrainian university near Kharkiv, local media outlets have reported.

    The Tanzanian embassy in Moscow had now asked its nationals studying at the Sumy State University in eastern Ukraine to head to the Russian border, the private Mwananchi newspaper.

    "A statement from the Tanzanian embassy... called on the students to head to Sudja where they will be received by the Russian army," the report said.

    "From Sudja, they will be transported by the army to Belgorod [in Russia] where they will be welcomed by officials from the Tanzanian embassy based in Moscow for processing before heading back home to Tanzania," the report said, citing the statement.

    "The embassy has also advised the students to leave the university in groups and carry the Tanzanian flag for identification while passing through the safe corridor," the report said.

    The announcement of the safe corridor came after diplomatic talks with Russia, the report said. The private ITV Television published the statement from the Tanzanian embassy in Moscow.

    It was not immediately clear how many Tanzanian students are in Sumy.

    Mwananchi newspaper has reported that more than 400 Tanzanian students in Odesa and 200 in Kyik had already left Ukraine.

  16. Tanzania opposition figure Freeman Mbowe freed

    Aboubakar Famau

    BBC News, Dodoma

    The leader of Tanzania's main opposition party, Freeman Mbowe
    Image caption: He was detained for seven months on terror charges

    A Tanzanian court has freed the chairman of the main opposition party after the prosecution indicated it had no interest in pursuing charges against him.

    Mr Mbowe was arrested in July 2021 in the north-western port city of Mwanza alongside other Chadema party members and has been in detention since then.

    They were about to address a public rally to call for constitutional review.

    He was facing charges of terrorism and economic sabotage which are not bailable under Tanzanian law.

    Last month, Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan met Chadema’s leader Tundu Lissu who is in exile in Belgium.

    There was speculation that Mr Mbowe’s release was among the issues discussed, although this was never officially confirmed.

  17. Video content

    Video caption: Tanzania: Ukrainian tourists stranded in Zanzibar want to return home

    Around 1,000 Ukrainian tourists are stranded in Tanzania's semi-autonomous islands of Zanzibar.

  18. Regulator to help Tanzanians track mobile data use

    Alfred Lasteck

    BBC News, Dar es Salaam

    A Tanzanian porters uses a phone half way up Mt Kilimanjaro
    Image caption: Some Tanzanians have been complaining about data consumption

    Tanzania's communications regulator is developing a software application to help mobile internet users monitor and keep track of their data usage.

    The move follows grievances from Tanzanians who have been complaining that their data bundles keep running out within a short period of time.

    The app by Tanzania’s Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) will be ready by end of March, said Emmanuel Manase, TCRA’s director of industrial affairs.

    He also directed all mobile operators to develop their own software tools to help customers monitor data bundle usage - as a way of reducing public complaints.