The Tanzanian parliament has blocked plans by the government to allow genetically modified (GM) seeds and crops to be imported, saying that they are not needed in the country and could damage its environment. The decision was made during a debate on draft legislation earlier this month covering the import and distribution of GM seeds.

After becoming the first country in the region to adopt an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) policy, Tanzania has embarked on concerted efforts to devise strategies to implement the blueprint which principally deploys a broad-based strategy to address the national development agenda.

On November 24 2003, the Zanzibar government suspended the publication of the weekly “Dira” newspaper, which is published by the International Media Company. The Minister of State in the Chief Minister’s Office, who is responsible for information, Mr. Salum Juma Othman, said the tabloid was being suspended for violating professional ethics.

What are the links between HIV, poverty, education and gender inequality? How have structural adjustment and cost-sharing affected vulnerable children in Tanzania? Are policy-makers able to address the serious inequalities and vulnerabilities faced by the growing number of children working the country's streets?

The African elephant does not make a good neighbour. In the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem, it is simultaneously an endangered species and a pest. How can conservationists work with other stakeholders to lessen the conflict between wildlife and people and to reduce the impact of safari tourism? Can there be a win-win situation for animals, locals and tourists?

While many of the constraints to development of the Tanzanian dairy sector can be tackled locally, low world market prices can largely be explained by EU subsidies, and the existence of cheap powdered milk remains an unfair competition which has effectively blocked the expansion of the dairy sector. This is according to a study by the Centre for International Development Issues that examines how Europe's common agriculture policy (CAP) is operated and influences the livelihoods of dairy farmers in Tanzania and Jamaica in order to demonstrate how European policy can hamper the development of farmers in developing countries.

Sitting on a hard bench, wearing a smile on his face and soaking up the warmth of the early morning sun, Hassan Athuman Bamira appears to be at ease. For Bamira, 9 November was a big day. He is the chairman of the Somali Bantus in Tanzania, and UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers, along with other officials, were visiting this "special" group of 3,336 refugees who have been allowed to settle in Chogo, a remote village in the northeastern Tanga region.

Reporters Without Borders has condemned huge libel damages awarded against the Zanzibar independent weekly paper Dira for printing "false and malicious statements" about the children of the autonomous island-state's president, Amani Abeid Karume.

The sight conjures up stereotypical Western images of traditional African healthcare: An enormous pot sits on red-hot coals, bubbling away and giving off a pungent smell of mixed herbs. A glance inside reveals various strips of vegetation, some roots, and a few shreds of bark being stewed up in a brownish liquid. Since 1990, traditional healers have been receiving basic training in the form of seminars. In addition, meetings between modern and traditional healers have been held to discuss cures and an effective referral network has been set up.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers has appealed to the Tanzanian government to continue its long-standing tradition of hospitality to refugees, the majority of whom are from Burundi. He urged the government not to stain its outstanding record of asylum by imposing more restrictive policies on the movement of refugees. Lubbers was speaking about new measures which have curbed the movement of more than 480,000 Burundian and Congolese refugees living in 12 camps along Tanzania's western border.

The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET), a USAID-funded activity, has warned that access to food by poor households in Tanzania's rural and urban areas is becoming increasingly difficult because of high crop prices, particularly that of maize, the country's staple.

Sitting behind his desk, partly hidden behind a pile of papers he is marking, Barnabus Bugera, a bespectacled Burundian refugee, is everything you would imagine of a schoolteacher. Bugera's passion is educating children. And, having set up and run the first secondary school for Burundian refugees in western Tanzania in 1996, he exudes confidence of a bright future for thousands of refugees who previously had few opportunities after completing primary school.

The repatriation of about 20,000 Rwandans living illegally in Tanzania will be a gradual and voluntary process, Maj Tumainiel Kiwelo, the commissioner for Kagera Region, where the Rwandans are living, told IRIN on Monday. Roughly 600 Rwandans had applied to remain in Tanzania as residents, while the rest had not done so, because they wanted to go back, he said.

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation against Torture (OMCT), in the framework of their joint programme, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, express their deepest concern with regards to the 2002 law on NGOs (NGO Act) in Tanzania, which imposes serious restrictions to freedoms of association and expression. The Observatory wishes to express their support to the initiative of the Tanzanian NGOs against the entry into force of the NGO Act, which is planned through its publication in the Official Gazette before the end of October 2003.

The Tanzanian National Assembly (Bunge) has begun exploring the potential for interactive information and communication technologies (ICTs) to enhance parliamentary democracy and create new channels of communication and participation between the House and citizens.

The High Court in Singida zone has sentenced three women to 30 years in jail after a girl on whom they had performed female genital mutilation (FGM) died.

Two major international NGO coalitions have expressed support for their Tanzanian counterparts who oppose the country's NGO Act, due to enter into force before the end of October, because it would impose "serious restrictions to freedoms of association and expression".

After several years of waiting, the few hours more mattered little. Like others around him, Joseph Kayuka, sat patiently surrounded by a few precious belongings: a bench, a bicycle and some clothes, as well as pots and pans, crammed into a couple of old sacks. But, by mid morning of 1 October, Kayuka, his wife Imacule Mkingiya and their five children had boarded the truck and were riding along a bumpy road heading west back into Burundi.

What are the links between HIV, poverty, education and gender inequality? How have structural adjustment and cost-sharing affected vulnerable children in Tanzania? Are policy-makers able to address the serious inequalities and vulnerabilities faced by the growing number of children working the country's streets?

For the 49,000 Burundians at the Mtendeli Refugee Camp, in Kibondo, western Tanzania, the prospect of a night at the movies is a sure crowd puller; but for aid officials it is a chance to pass on important development messages to the needy.