Tanzania: Kabwe faults crackdown on illegal migrants
Published: 18/Sep/2013
Source: The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
By Anthony Kayanda
Kigoma. An MP from the region has accused the government of targeting and harassing people from the region on pretext of nationality.
As a result scores of them have been sent back to the country from Burundi and DR Congo after realisation that they are Tanzanian nationals.
Speaking at a public rally in Gungu, Mr Zitto Kabwe, the legislator for Kigoma South (Chadema) has alleged that the ongoing crackdown on illegal immigrants has been used to harass the Waha tribe, which forms the majority of the people in Kigoma, repatriating many of them without confirming their nationality.
As a result scores of them have been sent back to the country from Burundi and DR Congo after realisation that they are Tanzanian nationals. The people of the Waha tribe speak a language that is similar to dialects in Burundi, Rwanda and DR Congo. At least 22 people who were repatriated to Burundi and 15 others to DR Congo have been sent back to Tanzania with the authorities in the neighbouring countries saying they have failed to prove their nationality.
The Kigoma Regional Commissioner Issa Machibya told The Citizen recently that efforts are underway to determine the citizenship of the repatriated people.
Read on The Citizen website.