UAE carves out its own 'territory' in Tanzania
ALVAR MWAKYUSA
Dar es Salaam
'HAVE a pleasant stay in the UAE (United Arab Emirates)', says an automatic text message on your mobile phone once you enter a certain part of Tanzanian territory in Arusha Region, which locals say has now been effectively colonized by the Arabs.
The area in question is located within the Loliondo game-controlled area (LGCA), in Ngorongoro District.
Residents of the area say all local mobile phone networks have somehow been blocked in favour of the UAE's Etisalat telecoms company. They say they can't make calls through the local networks because of lack of a signal.
They say they are forced to log into some strange codes, and end up being charged very high rates to make local phone calls as if they were making international calls.
Dear guest, welcome to the UAE (United Arab Emirates). Enjoy the best network coverage and other unmatched services only with Etisalat. Have a pleasant stay in the UAE, states the text message that greets visitors near a safari camp owned by the UAE-based Ortello Business Corporation, at a place refereed to by the locals as 'Arabiya.'
Locals say the area actually resembles a foreign colony within Tanzanian borders, with members of the police Field Force Unit (FFU) providing 24-7 security to the camps where unauthorized visits are strictly forbidden.
A fleet of off-road vehicles can be seen roaming the area, some of them bearing number plates with Arabic inscriptions or just blank plates with no numbers at all.
In the heart of the arid plains of Ngorongoro District, the UAE investor also has a number of trucks providing clean water to camps operated by OBC.
OBC was registered as an international company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands. It is owned by UAE army major general Mohamed Abdul Rahim Al Ali, and started its operations in Tanzania in 1992 when the government granted it a 10-year hunting concession for the LGCA hunting block.
With a built-in royal palace included, here is where the king and other members of the UAE royal family, along with and other influential businesspeople, are said to spend leisure time during hunting seasons which start in June each year and last for several months.
They don't even need to use the Julius Nyerere (Dar es Salaam), Kilimanjaro, or Jomo Kenyatta (Nairobi) International Airports; not with a modern airstrip at their disposal right within the hunting block.
A team of local journalists and activists on a fact-finding mission were recently barred from entering a designated VIPs (very important persons) area within the block. After being received by a uniformed FFU policeman at the gate, the team was told to wait so he (the policeman) could consult his superiors.
Within minutes, the said superiors turned up in a four-wheel Nissan Patrol vehicle with registration number T179 AGX, and after some discussion with the leaders of the 20-plus delegation, they handed over the matter to someone described as the camp manager. He neither identified himself nor showed any cooperation with the team.
I don't have any notification that you would be visiting here, and I thus can't allow you inside. There are rules to follow; you can't just barge into someone's house like this, said the visibly uneasy camp manager as he also made excessive use of his own phone through several incoming and outgoing calls.
As the visiting delegation was leaving the area in their three-vehicle convoy, and probably suspecting that the journalists might be taking photographs along the way, the camp manager and two other vehicles - including one carrying a posse of FFU policemen - trailed them for some kilometres in what seemed like a script straight from a Hollywood movie.
Whenever the delegation stopped, they would also stop. After a while, they eased off, though the camp manager could be seen still on his phone almost all the time.
A few kilometres to the Loliondo township of Waso, the delegation was stopped by an acting inspector of police, Isaack Manoni, who ironically is the in-charge of the operation to evict the Maasai pastoral community in the area and burn down their kraals.
According to Inspector Manoni his superiors had notified him by phone that a team of activists had caused some chaos and taken photos of the area. The swiftness of the response by the police to OBC's complaints appeared to be a clear indication of the strong influence wielded by the UAE firm over authorities in the area.
Said Manoni: I have received calls from the DC (district commissioner) and the RC (regional commissioner), that you went into the OBC camp and caused some chaos on top of taking photos. I kindly ask that if you have taken any photos of the camp, you should not publish them.
The delegation leader told him that no photos were taken at the camp.
The Loliondo game-controlled area is located in Ngorongoro District, Arusha Region. It borders the Ngorongoro highlands to the south, Serengeti National Park to the west, and the Maasai Mara Game Reserve in Kenya to the north, encompassing an estimated area of over 4,000 kilometres.
According to OBC Managing Director Isaac Mollel, the Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority (TCRA) is aware of the presence of Etisalat's phone network in the area. It has been there even before other local networks came in...moreover, Etisalat is a parent company of ZANTEL and therefore I see no problem there, stated Mollel.
TCRA Publicist Innocent Mungy has recently been quoted as saying the communications watchdog has dispatched its own team to the area to assess the situation.
Source; ThisDay