A recent rapid assessment by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), an associate organisation of the United Nations, has found that child labour is "common" in Zanzibar, with prostitution, fisheries and seaweed farming among the "most hazardous" sectors in which children are involved.

The Tanzanian government has charged two environmental activists and an opposition political leader with sedition for speaking out about allegations of widespread human rights abuses at a World Bank Group guaranteed gold mine. Please take 15 minutes to send a short fax to World Bank Group President James Wolfensohn.

Privatising the Dar es Salaam Water and Sewerage Authority (DAWASA) was one of the conditions given Tanzania to receive the HIPC debt relief. Now, the government has raised a credit to fund the US$145 million upgrade of DAWASA, needed to sell off the company at a lower price. Concerns are the privatisation will produce higher water bills or even become another corruption trap.

Journalist Abduel Kenge of "The Express" was arrested and held in police custody for four hours on Tuesday 21 May 2002, it has emerged. Kenge was arrested for allegedly engaging Vice President Ali Mohamed Shein in a manner not befitting the public official's status.

Tanzania's Parliament has been accused of legalising corruption by passing laws which provide loopholes to politicians during election campaigns. University of Dar es Salaam Law Professor Chris Peter said one of the laws allows a candidate in an election to spend money for entertaining his followers or voters. Peter told parliamentarians attending a three-day workshop on corruption in Dar es Salaam that the Electoral Laws (Miscellaneous Amendments Act, 2000 which was assented to by President Benjamin Mkapa on April 8, 2000 legalises corruption.

The Tanzanian government has charged two environmental activists and an opposition political leader with sedition for speaking out about allegations of widespread human rights abuses at a World Bank Group guaranteed gold mine. Rugemeleza Nshala and Tundu Lissu of the Lawyers' Environmental Action Team (LEAT) and Augustine Mrema, Chairman of the Tanzanian Labor Party have been raising concerns over allegations of killings, illegal evictions and destruction of livelihoods at the Bulyanhulu Gold Mine in August 1996.

Britain's Secretary of State for International Development Ms Clare Short has again alleged that the controversial purchase of a $40 million air traffic control system for Tanzania was not transparent. Speaking in the House of Commons last week, Ms Short said that it was right for Britain to have withheld part of its aid commitment to Tanzania for this year because of the deal.

The Tanzanian government has reacted strongly to Transparency International's (TI) most recent report that gave Tanzania the "filthy" tag, reports this week's East African newspaper. Asked about TI's Corruption Perception Index 2001 that gave Tanzania a 2.2 rating out of 10, thereby classifying it as one of the most corrupt countries in the world, Wilson Masilingi, the minister responsible for good governance, denied the existence of rampant corruption in the country, and described TI as "an enemy of developing countries".

Farraja Kotta is a 16-year-old Tanzanian girl who has just finished her O-level education. But on Wednesday, she had the honour of speaking on behalf of African children in an event on promoting children's participation, held at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Children in New York.

Eight years after the Rwandan genocide of
1994, there are approximately 25,000 Rwandan Hutu refugees living in camps
in Ngara District, western Tanzania. Both the Rwandan and the Tanzanian
governments are keen to see the repatriation of all of these refugees. At
the same time, however, the case of each individual Rwandan refugee case is
currently assessed by the Tanzanian authorities, which give refugee status
to over 99 percent of them.

George Maziku, a correspondent for "Mwananchi" newspaper, is facing a criminal case after being interrogated and detained by the police for several hours. He is alleged to have displayed "contempt of Parliament" by writing a seditious article against Parliament. In his column that appeared on 7 April 2002, entitled "Mabadiliko ya Sheria ya Uchaguzi yanakusudia nini?" (Where does electoral law reform lead us?), Maziku explained how the law reform is used to legalise different election scenarios in favour of the ruling Revolutionary Party of Tanzania (CCM).

Since March 28, the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has been facilitating the return of Burundian refugees from Tanzania as part of a tripartite agreement among the Burundi and Tanzanian governments, and the UN agency. While UNHCR is not promoting the return of the refugees, it is assisting those who have voluntarily opted to return. In contrast, both the Tanzanian and the Burundi governments are actively promoting the repatriation process.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO), along with the government of Tanzania and Akiba Commercial Bank, has launched a project to help tackle the problem of child labour in the country by boosting women's income-earning potential.

TANZANIA HAS rejected its ranking by Transparency International as one of the most corrupt countries in the world and described the anti graft body as "an enemy of developing countries." Mr Wilson Masilingi, the Minister in the President's Office responsible for good governance told The EastAfrican last Friday: "The criteria used to reach such conclusions is biased against nations like Tanzania which are struggling against poverty."

While life may be wonderful for tourists visiting Zanzibar, the eastern Tanzanian archipelago renowned for its tranquillity and the unspoilt beauty of its beaches, most urban and rural communities on the islands suffer from poor living conditions and an inadequate supply of clean and safe water. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Tanzania is now backing the development of six water projects intended to provide adequate water supply and sanitation for more than 45,000 people on the largest island of Unguja (popularly known as Zanzibar) and its sister island, Pemba.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO), along with the government of Tanzania and Akiba Commercial Bank, has launched a project to help tackle the problem of child labour in the country by boosting women's income-earning potential.

More than 2500 Burundian refugees who have been living in Tanzania have been repatriated since the installation of a transitional government in Burundi last November. According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), the refugees started leaving last month. According to a daily Tanzanian newspaper, 1083 refugees left Kigoma, Tanzania, last week for the Burundian capital Bujumbura.

United Nations HIV/AIDS experts believe HIV/AIDS prevalence in Zanzibar is on a steady increase, but are worried that currently available data could be underestimating the actual magnitude of the pandemic in the semi-autonomous islands.

Eighty Tanzanian religious leaders came together at a forum in Dar-es-Salaam recently to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and agree on ways to support the national campaign against the deadly epidemic.

A Rwandan former priest, Hormidas Nsengimana, was on Wednesday transferred from Yaounde, Cameroon, where he was arrested last month, to the United Nations Detention Facility in Arusha, Tanzania. According to a news release from the Arusha-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Nsengimana is the fifth clergyman to be arrested at the request of the Tribunal on charges connected with the genocide in Rwanda in 1994.