Dar es Salaam. Good morning! The Chanzo is here with a rundown of major news stories reported in Tanzania over the weekend.
Zanzibar launches special police unit for protection of tourists
Zanzibar President Hussein Ali Mwinyi on Friday launched a special police unit for protecting tourists visiting the Islands, Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday.
Speaking after the launch of the police unit, President Mwinyi said the new special police unit was intended to guarantee the protection and security of visitors in the Zanzibar archipelago.
The newly launched special police unit is comprised of 150 officers.
“Police officials assigned to the new unit should work professionally and earn trust from the visitors and make Zanzibar a peaceful destination,” said Mwinyi, stressing the government is determined to ensure tourists who visit Zanzibar are secure and serve as goodwill ambassadors of the Islands’ tourist attractions.
While saying some countries have already lost tourists due to security uncertainties in addition to other factors, including political unrest, civil wars and outbreaks of epidemics, Mwinyi urged Zanzibaris to participate in protecting visitors, warning that criminal acts and deterioration of security were among key factors behind declining tourism sector.
Tourism is Zanzibar’s largest economic sector and is essential for local socio-economic stability.
Over 500,000 people use heroin in Tanzania
Commissioner-General of the Drug Control and Enforcement Authority (DCEA) Gerald Kusaya revealed on Friday that Tanzania is estimated to have 500,000 heroin users, urging members of the general public to collaborate with DCEA in the fight against drug use in the country.
Kusaya said this in Dar es Salaam yesterday while handing over equipment for the operation of a small clinic that provides services to drug addicts (inmates) at the Segerea Prison.
“Tanzanians should cooperate with DCEA especially by reporting all people who engage in the business,” Mr Kusaya was quoted as saying. “In this war, we do not fear anyone, we will work tirelessly, day and night to achieve the goal, so what we want is your cooperation.”
According to tp Kusaya, the Dar es Salaam region has a total of four clinics that have been established to provide services to drug addicts. The country has a total of 11 clinics.
He said the number of drug addicts receiving medical services at the centres had reached 10,600, something that makes some facilities to be overwhelmed.
Fire destroys four tourist hotels in Zanzibar
A fire whose source is yet to be determined gutted down four tourist hotels in Tanzania’s semi-autonomous archipelago of Zanzibar with properties worth of billions of shillings reportedly lost.
The hotels were located at Jambiani, a group of villages located on the southeast coast between Paje and Makunduchi.
The affected hotels are Villa de Coco, Spice Island, Fun Beach and Cobe, all owned by different people, all of them being foreign nationals.
However, the fire that the Fire Brigade managed to put out at around 8 PM hurt neither tourists nor workers, authorities said on Friday.
Nor are owners yet to determine the real losses suffered following the incident.
This is it for today and we hope you enjoyed our briefing. Please consider subscribing to our newsletter (see below) or following us on Twitter (here) as that is the best way to make sure you do not miss any of these briefings. And in case you have any questions or comments, please consider dropping a word to our editors at editor@thechanzo.com.
One Response
On Friday, President Mwinyi launched a special police unit for protecting tourists visiting the Island (of Zanzibar). The same day, four foreign-owned lodges are gutted by fire at Jambiani.
This does not sound like a coincidence. Good luck special police unit!