Ethiopian Review

By Amri Lugungulo, Kibaha

(IPP) TANZANIA — A total of 362 aliens from Ethiopia and Somalia were arrested between April 1 and May 8, this year, for entering the country contrary to immigration law.

According to Coast Region Immigration Officer Omari Kipande, the aliens had told immigration officers that they entered Tanzania after fleeing clan and tribal wars in their countries.

Kipande said that the illegal immigrants were arrested at different times and in different groups and places in the region by immigration officers in cooperation with the police.

The Regional Immigration Officer said that most of the aliens were arrested in Bagamoyo and Kibaha districts after disembarking from a boat in which they were travelling through Mombasa, Kenya from their home countries, Ethiopia and Somalia.

"It seems there is a syndicate that harbours them and provides them with transport and food when they arrive in the country, but when they are arrested most of their hosts manage to escape," he said.

He said 128 aliens were arrested in April this year in Kibaha District and 120 of them were Ethiopians while 234 were also arrested in April, this year and 61 out of them were Somali nationals.

Kipande said that 51 illegal immigrants both Somali and Ethiopia nationals were arrested between May 1 and 8, this year, 13 of whom were Somali nationals.

The official said that the recent 51 aliens were arrested by the villagers at Lazaba Village and took them to Makurunge Village in Bagamoyo District.

However, he said that the villagers could not arrest the people who assisted them to enter the country.

In April, 90 Ethiopian immigrants were arrested by Tanzanian authorities

Ninety Ethiopians are each serving a six-month sentence after they failed to pay 50,000/-, being the fine ordered by Kibaha Resident Magistrate`s Court in Coast Region for illegal stay in the country.

The sentence was issued by Resident Magistrate, Hamisi Ali Salum, after the accused pleaded guilty to entering Tanzania contrary to immigration rules.

The Coast Regional Immigration Officer (RIO), Omari Kipande, told PST on Wednesday that the driver of the vehicle that carried them, John Mabena (43), and his assistant, Ayub Uhagile (27), were also sentenced to go to jail for three years in default of paying the fine of 100,000/-.

They had earlier pleaded guilty to assisting the aliens by ferrying them from Mlandizi, in Coast Region to Iringa from where the convicted were proceeding to Malawi.

The driver and his assistant were also still facing another charge of conspiracy to assist ferrying the aliens aboard a Scania truck with registration number T990 ACJ.

Kipande said that in the case of immigration prosecuted by an immigration officer, Mwajuma Mfaume, the 90 illegal immigrants would be deported to their home country after completion of their sentence.

He said that the aliens, all males and aged between 18 and 38 years, were arrested on April 4, this year at Mlandizi area in the region.

The illegal immigrants who hailed from Ethiopia had gone through Mombasa, Kenya before they entered Tanzania by boat and later boarded the truck that would have taken them to Malawi, he said.