Monday, February 12, 2001
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Shock as Tanzania Acts Against 'Aliens'
A JOINT REPORT
THE EASTAFRICAN
THE GOVERNMENT crackdown on "aliens" signalled by the declaration of four prominent personalities in Tanzanian politics as "non-citizens" has sent shock waves through the country's border regions, where thousands of people of foreign origin could face deportation.
Estimates put the number of "aliens" at well over 30,000, most of whom live in Kagera, Kigoma and Rukwa in western Tanzania and Ruvuma and Mtwara in the south, as well as in Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar. Many have intermarried with Tanzanians, and are accepted as citizens by local people.
Refugees have been migrating into Tanzania almost continuously since the first wave that fled ethnic killing in the Central African states of Burundi and Rwanda some 50 years ago. Some of them lives in refugee camps but others intermingled with Tanzanians in villages along the borders.
Asked about the crackdown, the spokesman of the Directorate of Immigration, Mr Herbert Chilambo, told The EastAfrican: "The government is not ready to comment on the issue at the moment." However, a senior government sourcein Dar es Salaam confirmed, "This is just the beginning. The crackdown will continue to net all non-citizens and remove those found to be in sensitive civil service positions. We have names that we are following up on," he added without revealing any.
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