Following a toxic spill in the north of Tanzania's Mara region by the Canadian company Barrick Gold Corporation, of Norwegian Church Aid Tanzania [mp3] is interviewed by Zahra Moloo of Montreal's Amandla! radio about the situation on the ground, local mobilisation and the potential extent of environmental degration. Overflows of toxic sludge have been a regular fixture for residents in the area, with fields and livestock being exposed to contaminated water. Questions also remain over the relationship between the local community and the mining giant, with reports of shootings from security personnel, denial of the use of road infrastructure and land grabbing commonplace.

With the snow-capped peak of Mount Kilimanjaro providing a backdrop under simmering tropical sunshine, a group of women in Mijongweni village break into song. The song, in Swahili, praises the benefits of protecting the environment and living in harmony with nature for the survival of generations; values vital to the survival of one of the rarest hardwood trees in the world, the African blackwood. Known to locals as mpingo, the African blackwood (dalbergia melanoxylon) is a tree that has been exploited to extinction in southern Ethiopia and Kenya and is currently only found in Tanzania and northern Mozambique. Tanzania boasts large tracts of natural forest and woodlands

Twelve political parties operating in Zanzibar yesterday revived their ‘alliance’ vowing to win the next Zanzibar general elections by strengthening the partnership including placing one candidate for presidency. “There is no way we can manage to remove the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) from power in Zanzibar without reviving our alliance and field one candidate for presidency,” the parties leaders said at a meeting.

The encampment of hundreds of thousands of Burundian refugees in Tanzania is coming to an end after more than 20 years. Rather than respecting the safety and dignity of refugees through truly voluntary repatriation or the pursuit of alternative durable solutions, the Tanzanian Government is pressuring refugees to repatriate through intimidation and the denial of basic services in violationof basic international human rights and refugee law.

The is asking people to

Witnesses have testified in the case of 11 men in Burundi, accused of the attempted murder of albino people and selling of their body parts. Initial charges of murder have been dropped because the prosecution failed to produce enough evidence. Police suspect the body parts are being sold in neighbouring Tanzania, for use in witchcraft.

Bars and nightclubs in several Tanzanian cities will soon have condom vending machines in the bathrooms as part of national efforts to combat HIV. "Our goal is to make condoms widely available to the people. The programme will start in Dar es Salaam [Tanzania's commercial capital] before it is scaled up to various upcountry regions," Stan Mwamaja, a ministry of health official, told IRIN/PlusNews.

It is reported that there has been a major spill of toxic sludge from Barrick's Mara mining operation into River Thigithe that flows into the Mara River. This happened Monday the 11th of May and nearby residents have reported that there are dead fish and all kinds of other dead water life along the river.

Zanzibar nurses have said they were facing serious challenges in carrying out their duties, as the ratio of a nurse to patients stands at 1:50. In their message during the occasion to mark World’s Nurses Day, they expressed the need for the government to consider employing more nurses in health facilities for them, to be able to provide standard services.

In 2008, Tanzania, along with the rest of the world, celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948. During this celebration, Tanzania had the opportunity to consider the improvements and failures in its efforts to achieve the goal of realizing justice, liberty and human rights for all. While Tanzania is committed to upholding the rights contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948, this commitment does not always seem to translate into reality.

No-one knows whether the 1964 union between Zanzibar and Tanganyika was dictated by cold war considerations first, with pan-African ideals of unity playing second fiddle to ideology and personal survival, writes Haroub Othman. But what is clear, Othman argues, is that despite Tanzania’s controversial history, the union brought peace and stability to the region, in contrast with the secessionism and violence seen elsewhere. While corrective measures – supported by the people – are required to ensure that it is fit for purpose, the union is a better option than breaking into a federal structure with Kenya and Uganda, says Othman.

An ammunition dump on the outskirts of the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam has exploded killing at least three people. The BBC's Vicky Ntetema in Dar es Salaam says hundreds of people have been injured as they fled in panic. Police say several buildings in the area were set alight by debris from the blasts at Mbagala army base.

Zanzibar marks the International Malaria Day this week with a remarkable record of combating the disease in the isles, as medical authorities put emphasis on ‘proper malaria diagnosis before treatment or using medicine.” “Some people including medical practitioners prescribe malaria treatment before diagnosis,” medical practitioners said here yesterday at one-day workshop on “updating journalists about malaria in Zanzibar. Malaria prevalence in Zanzibar has dropped from 40 per cent in 2004 to one per cent or less in 2007, according to Zanzibar Malaria Control Programme (ZMCP) statistics.

Police in Zanzibar have banned a Muslim group from demonstrating in the islands in support of the recent move by Zanzibar legislators to demand ‘oil and natural gas’ be removed from the list of union matters. The Association for Islamic Mobilisation and Propagation (JUMUKI) had notified the police of their plan to demonstrate Friday in what they termed as “to show our support to Zanzibar government and legislators on ‘oil and natural gas’ issue.”

At least 2,400 children have been rescued from ‘hazardous’ work in Zanzibar; the Isles Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Employment, Youths, Children, and Women Ms Rahma Mshangama, has revealed. Officiating at celebration to mark 90 years of International Labour Organization (ILO) at Bwawani Hotel, Ms Mshangama said the children included those engaged in fishing and seaweed farming.

Zanzibar Chief Minister, Mr Shamsi Vuai Nahodha, has said that the 1964 declaration that Zanzibar land is government property has enabled the Isles to preserve land for future generations.He made the remark yesterday in the Zanzibar House of Representatives during questions and answer period, following an opinion from Mr Salim Abdallah Hamad, that it was wrong for the government to prevent Zanzibaris from owning land.

Salma Maoulidi pays tribute to Khalfani Hemed Khalfan, who died on 28 March 2009. Khalfan, an activist who campaigned primarily for the rights of people with disabilities in Zanzibar through organisation , helped bring about the passage of Tanzania's Disability Act and encouraged participation in civil society more broadly in Zanzibar.

Tanzanian researchers will investigate whether mobile phone technology can be used to encourage safer sex among homosexual men. The project aims to give homosexual men information about HIV/AIDS via their mobile phone's short message service (SMS) in the dominant language, Kiswahili.

Tanzania's HIV prevalence has dropped to 5.7 percent from a high of seven percent in 2004, according to the recently released Tanzania HIV/AIDS and Malaria Indicator Survey 2007/08. The study was carried out among people aged between 15 and 49 in all 26 regions on the Tanzanian mainland and the semi-autonomous archipelago of Zanzibar.

Current global economic meltdown might be a blessing in disguise for Tanzania should long term strategies be employed to revamp its agricultural sector, Standard Chartered Bank` s Regional Head of Research, Africa Razia Khan has said.
Addressing a press conference in Dar es Salaam this week, Khan said the country stands to benefit immensely from adequate investment in agriculture, its traditional economic mainstay, owing to expected increase in demand for food and food products in countries currently grappling with the economic recession.