Dar es Salaam. Good morning! The Chanzo is here with a rundown of major news stories reported in Tanzania on Wednesday, January 10, 2024.
Police brutality in Tanzania: A rogue Police Force or a few bad apples?
The Tanzania Police Force has had a hard time defending itself in the past few days following serious accusations that its officers behave unlawfully while on duty, resulting in torture, forced disappearances of suspects and even murder.
Reports of serious human rights violations involving members of the law enforcement organ have been making headlines recently, prompting Tanzanians to wonder if the incidents result from the force being systematically rogue or if it’s just the actions of a few bad apples.
The question becomes even more significant when one considers that this is not the first time the institution tasked with ensuring the protection of people and their properties has faced these accusations, prompting authorities as high as the presidency to demand the force to evaluate itself.
Police deny that they carry these violations deliberately, with its spokesperson David Misime telling Clouds TV recently that the malpractices are committed by individual police officers who frequently are held accountable for the actions when found guilty.
Full story here.
The World Bank abdicates its responsibility to human rights in Tanzania
The Tanzanian government’s plan to massively expand tourism across the country is no secret. In blind pursuit of attracting five million visitors annually and generating US$6 billion from the tourism sector by 2025, it has waged a brutal campaign against local and Indigenous communities living adjacent to Protected Areas (PAs).
The government’s denial of basic services to forcibly relocate 90,000 Maasai pastoralists in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) and the violent eviction of 70,000 from grazing lands in Loliondo have captured global headlines in recent years.
While the government has come under fire for these abuses, the role of the international “development” partners – such as the World Bank – has only recently been uncovered and deserves further scrutiny.
Full analysis here.
Tanzania, Iran seek to partner in extraterrestrial farming
Tanzanian authorities have met with their Iranian counterparts to prepare for the anticipated intergovernmental committee, which will be held soon and focus on cooperation in extraterrestrial farming.
According to reports by the Iranian press, the preparatory meeting was convened in the Iranian Ministry of Agriculture on Wednesday to prepare the ground for inking several memoranda of understanding at the next meeting of the high-ranking officials of Iran and Tanzania as part of the intergovernmental committee.
Iran is pursuing agricultural diplomacy and expanding cooperation with Africa in the field of extraterrestrial farming, which involves growing crops in different countries and importing them into Iran.
Extraterrestrial farming, or agriculture in other countries, is practised by many countries worldwide to provide food security to respective countries through extraterritorial resources.
Iran, facing water, soil erosion and food insecurity challenges, approved the arrangement in 2016, selecting eight countries around the world with which it’ll partner in realising it, including Tanzania.
The cooperation involves the selected country leasing potential lands to Iran, which ultimately cultivates required products in accordance with the climatic conditions and soil of the target country, exporting the produce to Iran.
In 2023, Iran reached an agreement with Kenya to cultivate 20 hectares of the country’s farms during a visit of President Ebrahim Raisi to the East African nation.
Iran wants the same thing with Tanzania, which the West Asian nation considers strategic in its plan to invest in agriculture outside the country.
Wednesday’s Iran-Tanzania Joint Economic Cooperation Commission prepared the necessary platforms for negotiations in the upcoming meetings between senior officials of the two countries, Iranian press reported.
The First Specialized Exhibition of Export Potentials of the Islamic Republic of Iran was held in Tanzania on November 21-24, licensed by the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran (TPOI).
Mwanza confirms 28 cases of Cholera
The Regional Commissioner of Mwanza, Amos Makalla has confirmed 28 cases of cholera cases in Mwanza ,an increase from the initial report of seven cases.
Makalla was speaking to the members of the Regional Primary Health Care Committees and confirmed that areas which are most affected are Ilemela, Nyamagana and Magu.
About 21 cases were confirmed to come from Magu with the Regional Commissioner pointing out most of the patients had an interaction with neighboring region Simiyu.
This is it for today, and we hope you enjoyed our briefing. Please consider subscribing to our newsletter (see below), following us on X (Twitter) (here), or joining us on Telegram (here). And if you have any questions or comments, please drop a word to our editors at editor@thechanzo.com.
