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India gets set to strengthen Tanzania  

India, an all-weather friend of Africa, has been giving resonance to the voice of the Global South during its ongoing G20 Presidency…reports Asian Lite News

From leveraging ocean resources to drawing a five-year roadmap for defence cooperation, India this week bolstered its partnership with Tanzania – one of its reliable partners on the east coast of Africa at the western edge of the Indian Ocean.

On Monday, Ambassador Samwel Shelukindo, Permanent Secretary at the Tanzanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, urged India to support his country’s efforts in promoting blue economy which he said is one of the priority sectors of the government led by Samia Solution Hassan, Tanzania’s first woman president.

Later in the week, both countries also agreed on a five-year roadmap for defence cooperation that covers initiatives ranging from customised training and capacity building to maritime cooperation, infrastructure building and collaboration in defence equipment and technology.

India, an all-weather friend of Africa, has been giving resonance to the voice of the Global South during its ongoing G20 Presidency and has always maintained that developing longstanding people-to-people links with the African countries will be its top priority.

Tanzania is a natural and effective transportation gateway into Eastern, Southern and Central Africa with its three deepwater ports in Dar es Salaam, Tanga and Mtwara that service six landlocked neighbouring countries of Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia and Malawi.

It is bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north; Rwanda, Burundi and Congo to the west; and, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique in the south. To the east, it borders the Indian Ocean.

“I recommend that the Government of India establish cooperation with Tanzania in developing the blue economy sector, particularly, fishing on the high seas, development of fish processing industries, search and rescue, boat manufacturing and boat-making equipment,” Shelukindo said during the 10th meeting of the Joint Commission for Cooperation in economic, technical and scientific matters between Tanzania and India held on June 26.

Revealing that the trade between the two countries for the year 2021-2022 was worth 6 billion USD, the diplomat mentioned India as a “big and important” partner of Tanzania in various sectors such as business, investment, infrastructure development, defence, education and technical education.

Thanking India for the various aid it provides to Tanzania in various areas, including the water sector, he said the Hassan government appreciates New Delhi’s contribution of providing soft loans of one billion US Dollars for the development of water projects which will eventually benefit more than six million people of the country.

Even as they wait to sign a major agreement on agriculture, Tanzania will be selling 200,000 tonnes of peas to India per year with both countries also working on new areas of cooperation in the sectors of IT, water, sports and culture, trade and investment.

The second edition of the Joint Defence Cooperation Committee (JDCC) meeting between the two countries held in Arusha on June 28 and 29, focused on a wide range of opportunities for collaboration with a view to enhancing security in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).

Major General Fadhil Omary Nondo, Land Force Commander of Tanzania Peoples Defence Forces (TPDF) led the Tanzanian side while the Indian delegation headed by Joint Secretary Amitabh Prasad included not only senior officials from the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces but also representatives from defence Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs).

As they agreed on a five-year roadmap for defence cooperation, the Indian delegation highlighted the growing prowess of its defence manufacturing to export to friendly countries.

The accompanying PSUs, meanwhile, held extensive meetings with the stakeholders from the Tanzanian Forces on the sidelines of the JDCC meeting.

In August 2022, Tanzania’s Defence Minister Stergomena Lawrence Tax, who later became the country’s Foreign Minister, visited India and held talks with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. She also visited various Indian defence PSUs, including Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), to get a first-hand view of indigenous weapons and equipment.

Delegations from TPDF have also been participating regularly in Defexpo and Aero India shows.

In February this year, on the sidelines of the Aero India show in Bengaluru, Singh held a meeting with Tanzania’s new Defence Minister Innocent Lugha Basungwa.

The visiting minister also went to Mumbai and toured the facility of Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited which is one of the leading shipbuilding yards in India.

After returning home, Basungwa held talks with Binaya Srikanta Pradhan, the Indian Ambassador in the country, to find ways to strengthen the existing Tanzanian military industries, as well as establish new ones, with New Delhi’s help.

“The Government of India has shown its sincere interest and readiness in assisting Tanzania to take steps in various fields of development, especially in the Defence sector,” Basungwa said after meeting the Indian Ambassador in Dar es Salaam in March.

Interestingly, Deputy National Security Advisor Vikram Misri visited Tanzania last year and held discussions on wide-ranging political and security issues with the country’s top political and military leadership.

The first-ever India-Mozambique-Tanzania Trilateral (IMT TRILAT) maritime exercise followed soon, beginning a new chapter in India’s efforts to enhance the security of the east coast of southern Africa and the Indian Ocean Region as a whole under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of SAGAR – Safety and Growth for All in the Region.

ALSO READ-Tanzania, South Africa launch joint cultural festival

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Africa News

Tanzania sets aside $3.4 mn for training 139 medical specialists

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan appointed Stergomena Lawrence Tax as country's first female Defence Minister.(pic credit: https://twitter.com/DrTaxs)

She added that 136 of the selected 139 medical specialists will be trained abroad and three will be trained within the east African nation…reports Asian Lite News

Tanzanian Health authorities have said the government has set aside 8 billion Tanzanian shillings (about $3.4 million) for training 139 medical specialists.

Ummy Mwalimu, the Health Minister, on Friday said the training of the medical specialists under the government scholarships was aimed at filling the shortage of the highly required medical personnel.

“The 139 medical personnel that will benefit from the scholarships is the brainchild of President Samia Suluhu Hassan,” Mwalimu told a news conference in the capital Dodoma.

She added that 136 of the selected 139 medical specialists will be trained abroad and three will be trained within the east African nation.

Upon completion of their studies the medical specialists will be assigned to work in public hospitals for three consecutive years, said the Minister.

She added that the medical specialists have been selected from the country’s leading medical facilities.

ALSO READ-Mozambique, Tanzania reach deal to fight terror

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Africa News

Mozambique, Tanzania reach deal to fight terror

A deadly insurgency broke out in northern Mozambique near the Tanzanian border five years ago, killing thousands and displacing hundreds of thousands…reports Asian Lite News

The leaders of Mozambique and Tanzania have signed defense and security agreements aimed at fighting terrorism and crime along their shared border.

No details were released on the content of the agreements signed during a visit to Maputo by Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan.

A deadly insurgency broke out in northern Mozambique near the Tanzanian border five years ago, killing thousands and displacing hundreds of thousands.

However, life is “gradually returning to normal” after thousands of foreign troops from several African countries were deployed more than a year ago to quell the unrest, Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi said.

“The enemy is now operating in small groups trying to come down to the southern districts,” Nyusi said in their talks.

President Hassan said that because the two neighbors share a “very long” border, “we need a good security system that allows us to protect our border.”

“We have seen … cross-border crimes (and) terrorism,” he said.

Nyusi visited the recovered port of Mocimboa da Praia, a former de facto jihadist headquarters.

In October 2017, about 30 gunmen launched a dawn raid on three police stations in Mocimboa da Praia, marking the beginning of the insurgency.

Since then, more than 4,258 people have been killed, according to ACLED, and 820,000 have fled their homes.

Mozambican forces, backed by Rwandan troops, claimed in August 2021 to have driven out the militants occupying the port.

The insurgents terrorising Mozambique’s gas-rich Cabo Delgado province have in recent months intensified a violent campaign to establish an Islamic caliphate, which has now spilled north into Tanzania.

“We will have joint operations (and) exchange information in our endeavour to end terrorism in our border areas,” said Mozambique’s police chief Bernardino Rafael.

“I believe with this partnership… we (will be) able to finish the terrorists,” he added.

As part of the deal, more than 500 suspected militants arrested in Tanzania will be extradited to Mozambique, according to national broadcaster TVM.

A shadowy Islamist group has wreaked havoc in northern Mozambique since 2017, killing hundreds of people and displacing thousands.

Locally they are known as Al-Shabab, although they have no known links to the ruthless jihadist group of that name operating in Somalia.

Their attacks have increasingly been claimed by the Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP), affiliated with Daesh.

International conflict data provider ACLED has recorded more than 2,000 fatalities from the conflict, while Mozambique’s Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho last week said at least 500,000 had fled their homes because of the violence.

Shared ties

Tanzania and Mozambique share not only a border but strong family, economic, cultural, and historical ties, which cement the bond between the two countries. Tanzania played a key role in Mozambique’s struggle for independence. In fact, the country was a base for liberation movement activists. The Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO) was among those movements that benefited extensively from Tanzania’s support for the independence of the southern African states.

Moreover, the Macondé in Cabo Delgado have traditional links with Makondé in Tanzania. Mwani is a similar language to Swahili and Mwani speakers have traditional links to Zanzibar and coastal cities further north. The Makua and Yao are two large Bantu tribes of Southern Tanzania and northern Mozambique. Tanzania’s Mtwara Region and Cabo Delgado are inextricably linked through ties of family, language, faith, and economy11. An effectively open border is straddled by families rooted on either side. A common language, Swahili, binds communities, while shared faith too ignores borders13. Those elements made it easier for the insurgents on the Mozambican side to interact with their counterparts in Tanzania and vice versa, and to conduct small-scale attacks. It has also created an easy entrance for Tanzanians and other foreign fighters who take advantage of the lapse border security facilitated by a sense of brotherhood between the people of the two countries easily cross to Mozambique to join up insurrection in Cabo Delgado.  

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Africa News

Tanzania moves to boost sugarcane production

Tanzanian authorities have announced measures they were taking to boost the production of sugarcane that will lead to ending sugar scarcity in the East African nation…reports Asian Lite News

Hussein Bashe, the Agriculture Minister, said on Sunday that the measures included the construction of irrigation schemes for small-scale sugarcane growers in sugarcane growing regions.

Bashe directed the Sugar Board of Tanzania and the National Irrigation Commission to earmark areas in sugarcane growing regions for the construction of irrigation schemes, Xinhua news agency reported.

“Most of the sugarcane grown by small holders in the country is rain-dependent. We should stop this and use irrigation,” he told a meeting of sugar stakeholders in the Morogoro region organised by the Sugar Board of Tanzania.

He added that another measure was to mobilise production and use quality sugarcane seedlings that will produce better yield.

Bashe also directed the Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute to research high yielding sugarcane seedlings.

ALSO READ:Tanzania launches campaign for alternative energy

Kenneth Bengesi, the Director General of the Sugar Board of Tanzania, said the lack of sufficient sugarcane was the reason behind the poor production of sugar in the country.

According to the Agriculture Ministry, Tanzania’s annual demand for domestic sugar is about 470,000 metric ton while the country’s five sugar processing factories only have the capacity of producing 378,000 metric ton annually.

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Africa News

Tanzania launches campaign for alternative energy

Tanzanian authorities on Monday launched a campaign aimed at mobilizing people to use alternative energy, including using gas for cooking, to stop deforestation…reports Asian Lite News

January Makamba, the Minister for Energy, said the first phase of the campaign will be done in 38 districts in 14 regions where poor families that use firewood for cooking will be given cooking gas cylinders free of charge, Xinhua news agency reported.

Addressing public rallies in Butiama, Musoma and Bunda districts in Mara region at the start of the campaign, Makamba said the government will reduce levies imposed on gas to make it affordable to poor households.

The minister added that about 22,000 people die in the country annually from respiratory ailments caused by the use of firewood and charcoal.

According to state-run Tanzania Forest Services Agency (TFS), Tanzania has approximately 39.9 percent of forest cover but the country has an annual deforestation rate of about 1 percent, which is around 400,000 hectares.

TFS says between 1990 and 2010, Tanzania lost 19.4 percent of its forested land, or around 8 million hectares.

Zambia-Tansania oil pipe

Construction works on a second oil pipeline connecting Zambia and Tanzania have started, a Zambian government official said on Tuesday.

Peter Kapala, the Minister of Energy, said construction of the pipeline has already begun with the building of a 700 km segment on the Tanzanian side.

He said the two governments recently firmed up modalities to operationalize the whole framework of the project and that the new pipeline will soon start pumping diesel into Zambia.

He said in a statement that the Zambian side was in the final stages of finalizing the financing mechanism for the project with phase one expected to cost 250 million U.S. dollars and 300 million U.S. dollars to complete.

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The total project cost for the two countries has been estimated at 1.5 billion U.S. dollars, he added.

“This will consequently reduce transportation costs and hence sustainably reduce the pump price of diesel, which is currently at a record high,” he said.

The countries already share the Tanzania-Zambia Mafuta (TAZAMA) pipeline, a 1,710 km pipeline that has been transporting raw crude oil material for refining from the Port of Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania to Indeni Petroleum Refinery in Zambia’s Ndola town.

According to the minister, the new pipeline will run alongside the old one and will be more modernized and mostly subterranean for security reasons.

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Africa News

Tanzania pays Tributes to Nyerere

Tanzania hosts forum to mark 100th anniversary of Nyerere’s birth

A one-day symposium to commemorate the centenary of Tanzania’s first President Mwalimu Nyerere’s birth was held Tuesday in Dar es Salaam, the commercial capital of Tanzania, jointly organized by the Mwalimu Nyerere Foundation and the Chinese embassy in Tanzania.

Joseph Butiku, the chairperson of the Mwalimu Nyerere Foundation, said Nyerere should be remembered as a highly principled and believing man.

“He believed in humanity, human rights, and the rights of individuals and communities. He believed in peace and unity,” said Butiku.

Chen Mingjian, the Chinese ambassador to Tanzania, said Nyerere set the tone of the comprehensive and consistent friendship between China and Tanzania, and forged the tradition of sharing weal and woe between the two countries.

Tanzania pays Tributes to Nyerere

“President Nyerere was dedicated to promoting China-Tanzanian friendship all through his life, leaving much told tales,” she told the symposium attended by retired Tanzanian leaders, leaders of political parties, ambassadors and high commissioners of foreign countries to Tanzania, and representatives of think tanks, charity organizations and media houses.

Deng Li, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of China, delivered a video message, saying Nyerere was dearly loved by the people of Tanzania, enjoyed high prestige in Africa, and was well known to and respected by the Chinese people.

“We are commemorating President Nyerere to carry forward his legacy of courage and fortitude, look back on the history of China-Tanzania and China-Africa friendship, solidarity and cooperation and chart the course for the future of China-Tanzania and China-Africa relations,” said Deng.

Speaking on behalf of Tanzania’s Zanzibar President Hussein Ali Mwinyi, Zanzibar’s Minister of State in the Second Vice-President’s Office, Hamza Hassan Juma, said Nyerere and Zanzibar’s founding leader Abeid Amani Karume were the brains behind the union between Tanganyika and Zanzibar forged in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania.

ALSO READ: Coffee Culture Thrives In Tanzania

Juma added that Nyerere emphasized the need to promote African culture in a variety of areas, including encouraging the use of the Kiswahili language.

Humphrey Moshi, the director of the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Dar es Salaam, said in two decades, China has become Africa’s most important economic partner in areas such as trade, investment, and infrastructure construction.

Moshi said Africa-China cooperation, including Tanzania, has empowered African economies through trade, investment and aid to accelerate economic growth rates, reduce poverty and drive forward industrialization.

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Africa News

Coffee Culture Thrives In Tanzania

Coffee drinking joints located under trees along streets have become a culture practiced in the East African nation’s cities and regional headquarters with Dar es Salaam leading with many such joints.

Walking in the streets in Tanzania’s commercial capital Dar es Salaam’s suburbs, one is likely to see people seated under shades of trees drinking coffee at selected locations.

Coffee drinking joints located under trees along streets have become a culture practiced in the East African nation’s cities and regional headquarters with Dar es Salaam leading with many such joints.

“We meet in these street coffee drinking joints to while away time when we are off-duty,” said Abel Richard Chideba as he was drinking coffee under a tree at Biafra in the business capital’s Kinondoni suburb.

Chideba, a driver-cum-videographer, told Xinhua in an interview that drivers, carpenters and tailors meet in the street coffee drinking joints to discuss various issues ranging from politics, economics, to sports.

“Apart from being a sort of entertainment, coffee drinking brings together friends from all walks of life. We meet in these street coffee drinking joints to discuss various matters of national interest,” said Chideba as he gulped his second small cup of coffee.

He said currently the coffee drinkers, mostly drivers, are discussing skyrocketing prices of fuel caused by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

“The rising prices of fuel are making most of us jobless because people are not hiring our vehicles to transport their goods because we have also hiked transportation rates,” said Chideba.

He said the most preferred coffee is Arabica and Robusta which are easily available, adding that they sometimes add ginger to make the drink tastier.

“Coconut peanut brittle is a preferred bite for coffee drinkers,” said Chideba, adding that one can drink up to 10 small cups of coffee a day but in intervals.

Sultan Saleh Mtima, 47, also a driver, said street coffee drinking helps some of the drinkers handle stress caused by the rising cost of living.

“You can engage in a brawl with your wife at home but when you come here and drink two cups of coffee you feel refreshed,” said Mtima.

Erick Richard, a 20-year-old street coffee seller, told Xinhua that he started selling coffee in the streets three years ago after his friends phoned him from Dodoma region telling him that street coffee selling was a lucrative business in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam.

Richard said he gets 15,000 Tanzanian shillings (about 6.5 U.S. dollars) for selling one kettle of 10 liters of coffee, adding that on a good business day he sells up to three kettles.

ALSO READ: Over 920K foreign tourists visit Tanzania in 2021 amid Covid

“I sell my coffee in the suburbs of Biafra, Namanga and Leaders Club where there are street coffee drinking joints,” said the young man, adding that he buys coffee in the Kariakoo area where a kilogram sells at 8,000 Tanzanian shillings.

“I can sell three kilograms of coffee in a week,” said Richard, adding that he is saving the money he is getting from selling coffee so that he can build a house in his native region of Dodoma.

He said his customers are very friendly and they prefer both types of coffee, Arabica and Robusta.

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Over 920K foreign tourists visit Tanzania in 2021 amid Covid

Over 920K foreign tourists visit Tanzania in 2021 amid Covid

At least 922,692 foreign tourists visited Tanzania in 2021 amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism Damas Ndumbaro said…reports Asian Lite News

Addressing a press conference in the capital Dodoma, Ndumbaro said 620,867 foreign tourists visited the east African nation in 2020, reports Xinhua news agency.

Ndumbaro said the number of domestic tourists visiting the country’s attractions increased to 788,933 tourists in 2021 from 562,549 recorded the previous year.

He said revenue collected from foreign tourists increased from $714.59 million in 2020 to about $1.3 billion in 2021.

Tanzania is a country with many tourist attractions.

ALSO READ: 1.4mn tourists visit Tanzania in 2021

Approximately 38 per cent of Tanzania’s land area is set aside in protected areas for conservation.

There are 17 national parks, 29 game reserves, 40 controlled conservation areas and marine parks.

Tanzania is also home to Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest point in Africa.