Yearbook 2011
Tanzania. Virtually the entire leadership of the ruling Revolutionary Party (CCM) was replaced in April. The only one left was the President, President Jakaya Kikwete. Although the party won big in the last election in 2010, it declined significantly in terms of mandate. The record low turnout, only 42%, also indicated a fatigue among voters, which the CCM leadership interpreted as having confidence in the party having been cut to the edge. Visit ABBREVIATIONFINDER for the acronym of TZA that stands for the country of Tanzania.
According to Countryaah official site, the confidence in the police was also not so great after several hard-fought interventions. According to the country’s leading human rights group, the Legal and Human Rights Center, the police shot dead 20 people in the first half alone. Five deaths occurred during a clash in a gold mine and three during a demonstration organized by an opposition party in the city of Arusha. The Tanzanian Law Society also accused the police of excessive violence in connection with the shootings against the protesters.
All wildlife exports were halted until further notice when it was discovered that about 130 animals, including four giraffes, had been smuggled out of the country with an aircraft registered in Qatar. Prior to that, President Kikwete had announced that army units would be deployed in the wilds to stop poachers. The President called on Parliament to tighten the penalty for poaching. Up to a year in prison and a few hundred dollars in fines does not deter anyone from killing an elephant or rhino, Kikwete said.
Tanzania’s foreign policy
From independence, Tanzania maintained a high foreign policy profile and was a leading player both regionally, in Africa and in the alliance-free movement. In the fight against Portuguese colonialism in Angola and Mozambique and against apartheid in Rhodesia and South Africa, Tanzania and President Nyerere played an important role. Several liberation movements were held in Tanzania, also militarily, and the country opened the border to refugees from many countries. In 1976, Tanzania sent troops to Mozambique in support of the country’s government against Rhodesian attacks. The same thing happened during the civil war in the 1980s, and Tanzania also sent soldiers to support the government of the Seychelles. In 1979, Tanzanian forces invaded Uganda and deposed President Idi Amin. The war was provoked by Amin and came after several border crossings between the two countries. Ugandan exile politicians had built up a resistance front in Tanzania and participated in the invasion. 1993–95, Tanzania had troops in Liberia to reinforce the West African peacekeeping force there. Tanzania is among the African states that, for decades, have received the most refugees, not least from Burundi and Rwanda. President Nyerere acted as mediator in the Burundi conflict from 1996 until his death in 1999.
In the first years of independence, there was extensive cooperation between the East African states of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in the East African Community (EAC), which was dissolved in 1977 following political disagreement. For a time, Tanzania had a strained relationship with both Kenya and Uganda, partly with closed borders. Neighboring conditions improved in the 1990s, and in 2000, the EAC was restored with headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania. A trade union under the EAC entered into force in 2005, and several regional institutions were established. John Magufuli, President of Tanzania, is EAC Chairman. In 2000, Tanzania withdrew from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), but remained a member of the Southern African Cooperation Organization (SADC).