Tanzania has played host to tens of thousands of refugees for more than four decades in a region torn apart by civil conflicts. Since independence in 1972, Burundians have fled their country repeatedly to find safe sanctuary there. In the last decade, since the outbreak of the civil war, which began in 1993 and killed an estimated 200,000 people, around 300,000 Burundians have fled to Tanzania, leaving behind their homes, farms and lands. But Tanzania's traditional generosity, which has been hailed by many for years, including by the U.S. Congress in 2003, is finally wearing thin. The country is becoming increasingly intolerant of the refugees' presence.

A spate of weekend bombings on Zanzibar, which hosted visiting German President Johannes Rau on Monday, hit the homes of local political and religious leaders and a restaurant being used by Western diplomats, police said. There were no casualties from the homemade bomb blasts at the house of Zubeir Ali Maulid, a cabinet minister in the Tanzanian semi-autonomous island's government, and the home of Zanzibar's Mufti and top Islamic leader, Harith bin Khelef, said police spokesperson George Kizuguto.

A new bill has been drafted in Zanzibar imposing stiffer penalties for homosexuality and lesbianism. Deputy attorney general Omar Makungu said if enacted the new law would also ban same sex marriages. Under current laws, homosexuality is already illegal, but Mr Makungu says they want to stop the practice becoming an accepted part of Zanzibari culture.

Two teachers have appeared in court charged with causing the deaths of nine students in Iringa, southern Tanzania. The primary school children were buried in a landslide while collecting sand to build their classrooms. Regional police chief Omar Mganga told the BBC the teachers contravened laws barring students from taking part in projects other than studies.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has officially granted journalist Jenerali Twaha Ulimwengu citizenship by naturalisation. In 2001, in a move that shocked many, the government announced that Ulimwengu, a prominent journalist and chairperson of Habari Corporation Limited, and three other individuals had been stripped of their citizenship for allegedly failing to prove their parents' citizenship.

Police in Zanzibar have begun investigations into the possible link between protestors who clashed with them recently and the main opposition party, the Civic United Front (CUF), a senior police official told IRIN on Monday. "Many protesters were CUF members," Juma Mtumwa Abdallah, the assistant regional police commander, said on Monday. He added that the police were also looking into the protestors' possible links with other anti-Western political parties and terrorist groups.

Britain’s Home office has denied allegations that it is trying to dump failed Somali asylum seekers on Tanzania, with a spokesman dismissing as speculation media reports that thousands of Somalis who had failed to be given political asylum in the UK could be sent instead to Tanzania. In Dar, the Home Affairs minister confirmed that consultations with the British government over a request to set up a camp in Tanzania for screening Somali asylum seekers were going on, also adding that there were some alleged Tanzanian nationals in the UK who pose and continue to live in the UK as Somali refugees. Somalis made up the largest number of refugee applicants to Britain last year but the numbers are still tiny (around 6,000 in 2003) compared with the numbers that Tanzania has to host, over 600,000.

ARTICLE 19 last week published an analysis of the Tanzanian government's Information and Broadcasting Policy. The Policy contains a number of commendable commitments, including to bring Tanzanian law and practice into line with international standards. Other commitments, however, appear to contradict this, as does a recent law on telecommunications. The Tanzanian government adopted a new Information and Broadcasting Policy in October 2003, the culmination of several years' work by a broad coalition of stakeholders, including government representatives, to this end.

Women, lacking power, resources and education because of Tanzania’s patriarchal society, are bearing the brunt of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the East African country, the Tanzania Media Women's Association (TAMWA) reported this week. Despite ongoing activities and debates aimed at tackling the spread of HIV/AIDS, the roots causes of the problem are not being properly dealt with, many HIV messages are out of context and current attitudes are not conducive to reversing the spread of the disease, especially among women, says Ananilea Nkya, TAMWA's executive director.

A gender activist with the Tanzania Media Women Association (TAMWA) has criticised local journalists for what it called their “unjust and unfair” portrayal of women. The activist, Echikael Maro, said in most cases journalists have shown bias when covering women stories.

The management of the state-run Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology (DIT) in the Tanzanian commercial capital on Wednesday closed the college and suspended all 619 students after accusing them of vandalism. The students on Sunday stormed the college's stores and destroyed foodstuffs and harassed cooks, saying meals were unwholesome. They also accused the institution's administration of mismanagement.

In 1997 the SADC Heads of State and Government signed the Declaration on Gender and Development at a summit held in Malawi. The declaration mandated all member states to increase the number of women in all decision-making positions to at least 30 percent by 2005. Despite the signing of the declaration, the number of women in decision-making positions at all levels in many countries remains below the 30 percent target. Yet women’s involvement in decision-making is one of the key concepts of democracy, good governance and promotion of human rights in any country. According to a 2003 survey by the Tanzania Media Women’s Association (TAMWA), women in Tanzania constitute 21.3 percent in parliament and 14.8 percent in cabinet.

There exists a large opportunity for more constructive processes around conflict issues like illegal hunting, cattle grazing in protected areas, water management, and community development with regards communities adjacent to Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, according to a study by the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA). The study found that many people have a distrustful and difficult relationship with the park agency and the way the park and wildlife resources are being managed. Hunting was a prevalent and highly important activity for the communities and poaching is frequently counted as the most important conservation impact in Serengeti.

Sub-Saharan Africa should have more say in the decisions of the International Monetary Fund, Tanzania's finance minister told a seminar on Tuesday. The minister, Basil Mramba, said African nations, including some of the poorest countries in the world, had less and less influence over the workings of the world finance body. "It is still of major concern that we from sub-Saharan Africa are represented by only two chairs on the Fund's Executive Boards while also our quota share and voting rights continue to decline," he said in the commercial capital of Dar es Salaam.

Investors and likely partner organisations are asked to please contact Terry Harnwell through the email address provided to describe their interest in becoming involved in a brand new conservation project in northern Tanzania. 1200 Acres of virgin bush on the borders of Tarangire National Park (in the Manyara-Tarangire migration corridor) have been acquired to set up the project. Project will comprise a Carnivore Rescue & Rehab Centre, Educational Facility, Research Facility and adjoining Lodge.

Two additional crossing points on the Tanzania-Burundi border will be opened in coming months to facilitate the return of Burundian refugees living in Tanzania, according to officials. More concerted steps would also be taken to prepare for the return of Burundians living outside Tanzanian camps and those who have been living in Tanzania since the 1970s, known as the "old caseload", the Tripartite Commission on Voluntary Repatriation of Burundian Refugees from Tanzania concluded on Wednesday at the end of its seventh meeting in Arusha, northern Tanzania.

Four men were arrested in Tanzania's commercial capital Dar es Salaam after they were found with 73 elephant tusks, police said on Wednesday. Regional police commissioner Alfred Tibaigana said officers had not yet determined the weight or probable value of the haul.

A fan blows a gentle breeze across a women's ward in a hospital in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. It comes as a relief to 25-year-old Rukia Pendeza who lies in a bed recovering from an operation to repair an obstetric fistula. Obstetric fistula occurs following a protracted and difficult childbirth and leaves women unable to control their urine and faeces. It is a gynaecological problem which affects the poorest of women in developing countries and it also appears to be on the increase in Tanzania.

Aang Serian, which means "House of Peace" in the Kiarusha language, is a non-profit cultural organisation founded by a group of Tanzanian youth in Arusha town. Their purpose is to promote and protect indigenous knowledge. Aang Serian focuses on education in an effort to raise the self-esteem of young people, to empower them to work together for a peaceful future, and to promote environmentally and socially sustainable development. A key undertaking has been the establishment of a community college.

The Zanzibar government has threatened to take legal action against the editorial board of the banned weekly "Dira" if it attempts to publish the newspaper on the Internet. At a news conference on 3 December 2003, Zanzibar Information Services Director Enzi Talib said that to continue publishing "Dira" in any form would be contrary to the government's order, which banned the newspaper throughout the United Republic of Tanzania.