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Tanzania: Situation and treatment of Asian businessmen of Indian descent by society, the police and other authorities

For information on the situation of Asians in Tanzania in 2001, please consult Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2001 available at <http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2001/af/8407.htm>, and the attached document on "The Position of Tanzanian Asians" (SAMAR Winter/Spring 2000).

Additionally, in January 2002, Asians farmers living in northern Tanzania reportedly fled to the town of Arusha following clashes with local nomadic pastoralists in the area (BBC News 11 Jan. 2002; The Guardian 2 Jan. 2002). According to BBC News, the local pastoralists were angered by the death of one pastoralist who had been grazing cattle on an Asian farmer's land without permission (2 Jan. 2002). In retaliation, local cattle herders reportedly attacked the farm and killed two Asians (ibid.). BBC News adds that "retaliatory violence" between the locals and the farmers resulted in the mass exodus of the farmers to Arusha, but adds that "tensions between the Asian farmers and the local communities have always been high" (ibid.). The police were reportedly carrying out an investigation, after which, according to the Director of Criminal Investigations, "all those involved, be they Asian or local, would be arrested and charged in a court of law" (ibid.).

Speaking to The Guardian, the chairman of the Hindu Community in Arusha reportedly said that "the Indian community, particularly those who live in the farms, have for sometime now been living in fear of their lives following a number of unreported attacks by villagers who live around the farms." He said that the land issue was not new, but had been aggravated by politicians who had promised people that they will be provided with land which is owned by "Wahindi" Indians" (11 Jan. 2002).

The following contextual information may be of interest.

It's no secret that the Indian communities in the coastal cities of South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zanzibar periodically experience crises of identity and security in relation to the majority; such crises come to the fore during times of heightened political awareness (such as election campaigns) and are at times marked by anti-Indian violence. ...I've heard amazingly frank statements from Indians in Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar about their political marginality and social isolation -- and about their working behind the scenes with African politicians and power brokers to ensure professional success and personal security. Yet for every Indian story about a politician who plays scary games with citizenship, human rights and economic privileges, there's an African story about the Asian merchants' uncertain loyalty, unselfconscious arrogance and unrelenting rapacity. ... the relationship of Indians in coastal east Africa to Africans -- and to African nation-states -- is still an active zone of construction, marked by mixed motifs of love and hate, absorption and rejection, attachment and unmooring (SAMAR Winter/Spring 2000).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

BBC News ['London]. 11 January 2002. "Asians Flee Tanzania Land Clash." (BBC Worldwide Monitoring/NEXIS)

The Guardian Website [Dar-es-Salaam]. 11 January 2002. "Tanzania: Asian Moving to Arusha After Clashes in Northeast." (NEXIS)

South Asian Magazine for Action and Reflection (SAMAR), Winter/Spring 2000. Paul Greeenough, "Uncovering the Links, Part 1: The crows and Pawns of British Colonialism." Vol.13.<http://.samarmagazine.org/archive/article.php?id=19> [Accessed 30 April 2002]

Attachment

South Asian Magazine for Action and Reflection (SAMAR), Winter/Spring 2000, Richa, Nagar. "Saboteurs? Or Saviours?: The Position of Tanzanian Asians." Vol.13.<http://.samarmagazine.org/archive/article.php?id=10> [Accssed 30 April 2002]

Additional Sources Consulted

Africa Confidential

Africa Research Bulletin

Chronicle of Parliamentary Elections 1 January - 31 December 2000

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2000. 2001

Civic United Front (CUF). Office of the Secretary General

Electoral Institute of Southern Africa

The Indian Ocean Newsletter

IRB Databases. LEXIS/NEXIS

Keesings Record of World Events

Oral sources

Resource Centre. Country File. Tanzania.

Internet Sites including:

All Africa

Search engines including:

Google.

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