Tanzania

Tanzanian authorities say more than 400 porters and tour guides have joined groups battling a fire that broke out in Africa’s highest peak, Mount Kilimanjaro, which has been spreading due to strong winds.

It comes as the fire reignited in areas that were previously under control.

More than 500 officers from the defence and security forces alongside tourism stakeholders have been fighting the fire that started on Friday.

The permanent secretary in charge of tourism, Prof Eliamani Sedoyeka, said the fire had reignited in three areas by early Tuesday and they had only managed to contain one of the areas by evening.

Two years ago, a week-long inferno destroyed thousands of hectares of woodland on the slopes of the mountain.

Mount Kilimanjaro, which is 5,895m (19,341 ft) high, is a popular tourist destination and tens of thousands of people climb it every year.

AFPCopyright: AFP

Tanzania's President Samia Suluhu Hassan has expressed concern over the high birth rate in the East African country and urged citizens to take up birth control measures.

It is a major reversal from the position of her predecessor, the late John Magufuli, who openly encouraged women not to use contraception.

President Samia confronted the country's baby boom over the weekend while visiting the western region of Geita.

''Yesterday I was told in Buselesele ward in Geita region, one (health) centre produces 1,000 children a month

"Now how many classes will be needed after three years? What of health centres - how many will be needed to serve all these children? How many tonnes of food will be needed? Let's reduce the speed and have a control on this,” urged the president.

In 2018, while at a rally in the western of Tanzania, former President Magufuli described those who use contraception as lazy.

And in 2016, after the launch of free primary and secondary education in the country, he said: "Women can throw away their contraceptives. Education is now free."

A 2020 World Bank estimate said that Tanzania's fertility rate was at 4.8 births per woman. The high birth rate was attributed to early marriages and low contraceptive use.

While it has been falling over the last 30 years, it has not declined as fast as other countries in the region such as Kenya and Ethiopia, World Bank figures suggest.

Tanzania has a population of around 60 million people, with 49% of them living on less than $2 (£1.77) a day.

Zanzibar Ministry of Blue EconomyCopyright: Zanzibar Ministry of Blue Economy

The Zanzibar government is investigating the cause of the mass deaths of swimming crabs that have washed up on the beaches of the Tanzanian islands.

Since 28 September, there have been reports of the dead crabs washing ashore at Mtoni, Mizingani and Forodhani public beaches in Unguja island.

Initial reports indicate that climate change leading to an abrupt change in the temperature of the sea and ocean waves might be the main cause of the deaths of the crabs, Zanzibar’s director of development and fisheries told the BBC.

“We are now investigating the cause but some living things like the swimming crabs cannot resist sudden changes in the sea, and they die and wash ashore,” said Dr Salum Soud, who is also a marine scientist.

“Ocean waters have layers of temperatures and so the waves force water underneath to go up thus may cause low oxygen hence the crabs are likely to face death,” he added.

The government has urged locals, fishermen and tourists not to get worried about pollution and that the incident is being investigated to establish the cause.

BBCCopyright: BBC

Tanzania is seeking assistance from the international community and humanitarian agencies to repatriate more than 120,000 Burundian refugees.

They currently live in two camps in western Tanzania's Kigoma region near the Burundi border.

While humanitarians say conditions there may be better than at home, there have been allegations by rights groups and the UN that Burundian refugees have suffered abuses including arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances at the hands of Tanzanian officers in cooperation with Burundian authorities.

Neither country has commented on those allegations.

Speaking at a UN refugee agency meeting in Switzerland on Tuesday, Tanzania’s internal affairs minister Hamad Masauni said Burundi needed support to encourage and facilitate voluntary repatriation.

"In order for this plan to be successful, all has to be restored in Burundi. The most important thing is to support Burundi and make it a favourite for those who seek refuge in Tanzania,” he said.

In 2006 and 2007, Tanzania granted citizenship to 160,000 Burundian refugees.

Kenya intends to press on with the building of a natural gas pipeline from Tanzania's main city Dar es Salaam, to its coastal city of Mombasa and later to the capital Nairobi, in a bid to lower energy tariffs, Kenya’s President William Ruto has said.

Local reports put the costs of the 600km (372-mile) pipeline at about $1.1bn (£990m).

Mr Ruto spoke to Tanzanian media on Monday, shortly after holding bilateral talks with President Samia Suluhu, on his first visit to the neighbouring country since he took office in September.

Mr Ruto said the project would lower energy tariffs in the industrial sector, as well as for families in their homes.

In May last year, Mr Ruto’s predecessor, Uhuru Kenyatta and Ms Suluhu signed a preliminary agreement covering the transport of gas from Tanzania to Kenya for use in power generation and, potentially, for cooking and heating.

The deal was said to be part of a longer-term plan to expand infrastructure links between the two big economies of East Africa.

You can listen to full media briefing of the two presidents, in Swahili and English, here:

AFPCopyright: AFP

Tanzanians have been left wondering why President Samia Suluhu sacked the country’s Foreign Minister, Liberata Mulamula, at the weekend.

But perhaps hinting what was behind the move, at the swearing in of new ministers in Dar-es-Salaam today, the president issued a stern warning to people in her government.

"Once we agree on something, you are part of it. You can't go out and claim that the decision was just a directive, not your will," the AFP news agency quotes her as saying.

"You need to know the scope of your powers so that when you want to go beyond, you seek permission from higher authorities."

Ms Liberata was replaced by Dr Stergomena Tax.

AFPCopyright: AFP

A regional court has dismissed a case brought by Maasai pastoralists to stop the Tanzanian government from evicting them from their ancestral land.

The East African Court of Justice upheld the government's decision to cordon off 1,500 sq km (580 sq miles) of land in the Ngorongoro conservation area in order to protect wildlife.

The judges said no compensation was owed to the Maasai because nobody had been injured and no property lost during the evictions.

Tanzania has traditionally allowed indigenous communities to live in national parks but the authorities say population growth is disturbing wildlife habitats.

Tanzania's President Samia Suluhu Hassan has said Africa's liberation movements which are still in power need to strengthen ties in order to survive.

Ms Samia, who is visiting neighbouring Mozambique, said Tanzania's CCM and President Felipe Nyusi's Frelimo party needed to work "more closely".

CCM, a merger of its predecessor Tanu and ASP from the island of Zanzibar, has ruled Tanzania uninterrupted since in 1961. Frelimo has led Mozambique since 1975.

Ms Samia denounced calls to replace liberation parties, which are facing a determined challenge from opposition parties on the continent.

"We need to train members of our parties so that they could learn or they could be aware of what is going on in the world and what direction the new economic order is,” she said.

She also urged Mr Nyusi to consider introducing Swahili as a subject in the country's education system.

A clip of the two leaders toasting at a dinner event has been a talking point on social media.

This tweet reads: "Can anyone working in diplomatic protocol explain this?"

Presidency of MozambiqueCopyright: Presidency of Mozambique

Mozambique and Tanzania have just signed two cooperation agreements in Maputo with a focus on combating terrorism and fighting crime.

Mozambique is currently fighting Islamist militants in the gas-rich northern Cabo Delgado region of the country.

The agreements were signed as part of a four-day official visit that of Tanzania's President Samia Suluhu Hassan is making to Mozambique.

In addition to fighting jihadists, President Filipe Nyusi said the two countries were currently focused on the exploitation of hydrocarbons which form the building blocks of vital energy sources like coal and gas.

President Samia also highlighted the need for both countries to strengthen security because of the extensive common border they share.

A Tanzanian film has been shortlisted for an Oscars award - ending the country's two-decades wait for an entry in the awards.

Vuta N’kuvute film - Swahili for tug of war - has been shortlisted in the 95th Oscars' Best International Film category.

Released in Swahili and with a majority black cast, the film tells the story of a young Indian-Zanzibari girl whose romance thrives on the back of a political revolt in the dying days of British imperial rule.

"The future for Tanzanian cinema is finally in our hands. A wave of Swahili filmmakers grows with pride, intellect and audacity every day," Amil Shivji, a co-producer of the film, posted on Instagram.

In September 2021, Vuta N’kuvute made history as the first Tanzanian feature film to ever be screened at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

Tanzania's first entry to the Oscars awards was Maangazi: The Ancient One, in 2002.

The country's Swahili Bongo films are popular in East Africa.

More than 100 alleged members of a youth gang arrested in Tanzania are expected to appear in court to answer to criminal charges in the city of Dar es Salaam.

The authorities are working towards containing criminal activities carried out by the Panya (Swahili for rat) Road gang.

The gang, which has members aged 14-30, has been in operation since 2016 and is widely known for using machetes to raid homes and carry out robberies.

Jumanne Muliro, the Dar es Salaam regional police commander, said more than 300 police officers have been deployed across the city to arrest suspected gang members.

Last week, police confirmed killing six people in connection with criminal activities in the city.

This was just a few days after the gang reportedly invaded a neighbourhood at night and killed a second-year university student identified as Maria Basso.

An incident of violent robbery involving the gang was also reported last week in the city’s Temeke district.