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TITLE:  TANZANIA HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1994
AUTHOR:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DATE:  FEBRUARY 1995

                            TANZANIA


The United Republic of Tanzania amended its Constitution in
1992 to become a multiparty state.  However, pending national
elections scheduled for 1995, the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi
Party (CCM) continued to control the Government.  President Ali
Hassan Mwinyi was reelected to a final 5-year term as President
of the Republic in October 1990.  The Government sets and
implements fundamental political policies, including steps
toward the 1995 national multiparty elections.  The islands of
Zanzibar are integrated into the United Republic's governmental
and party structure, but the Zanzibar Government exercises
considerable autonomy.  The structure of the union continued to
be the subject of debate.

The police have primary responsibility for maintaining law and
order.  They are supported by a variety of citizens' anticrime
patrols known as "Sungusungu" in urban areas and "Wasalama" in
rural zones.  The police regularly mistreat and occasionally
beat suspects during arrests and interrogations.  The citizens'
anticrime groups have also used excessive force at times while
carrying out their tasks.

Agriculture provides 90 percent of employment.  Cotton, coffee,
sisal, tea, and gemstones account for most export earnings.
The industrial sector is small.  Economic reforms undertaken
since 1986, including liberalization of agricultural policy,
the privatization of state-owned enterprises, rescheduling of
foreign debt payments, and the freeing of the currency exchange
rate, have helped stimulate economic growth--estimated between
4 and 4.5 percent in 1994--for the eighth straight year.

There was little change in the human rights situation, and the
Government and the CCM continued to restrict civil rights as
they attempted to control the pace and direction of political
change.  In the process, the Government restricted freedom of
the press, interfered with the right of peaceful assembly, and
continued to infringe on citizens' rights of privacy and free
movement.  In December the Court of Appeal upheld an
unprecedented High Court ruling nullifying a CCM by-election
victory.  The judicial system does not provide expeditious
justice and fair trial for many citizens.  The police continued
to detain, abuse, and mistreat suspects arbitrarily, but the
Government rarely prosecutes offenders.  Prison conditions are
harsh and life-threatening.  Mob justice and discrimination and
violence against women remained severe and widespread, and the
Government did not usually prosecute offenders.  Some abuse of
children continued.

RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Section 1  Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including
           Freedom from:

     a.  Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing

There were no reports of political or other extrajudicial
killings.  There was no resolution of an extrajudicial killing
from the previous year.  On January 31, 1993, following a
confrontation on the island of Pemba over the removal of
opposition party flags of the Civic United Front (CUF), a local
policeman shot and killed one party member and injured
another.  After a lengthy investigation, the policeman who
fired the shots was charged with murder without intent, but
remained free.  Opposition leaders complained that there was no
progress towards an actual trial.  The case was still pending
at the end of 1994.

In August, in a 10-day wave of "mob justice" in Dar es Salaam,
mobs killed at least seven people, including by dousing
suspected criminals with gasoline and setting them on fire.
Government officials said that mob justice had killed 433
persons nationwide since 1992.  The press highlighted those
cases in which victims have been rescued by the police.
Although government officials have condemned the practice,
there are no reports of individuals being arrested or
prosecuted for engaging in mob justice.

The widespread belief in witchcraft has led, in some instances,
to killing of alleged witches by their "victims," aggrieved
relatives, or mobs.  For example, in March alleged witches were
brutally murdered in Rungwe district.  While government
authorities attempt to discourage such practices, they rarely
prosecute participants.

     b.  Disappearance

There were no reports of disappearances.

     c.  Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
         Treatment or Punishment

The Constitution prohibits the use of torture and inhuman or
degrading treatment, but the police regularly threaten and
mistreat and occasionally beat suspected criminals during and
after their apprehension and interrogation.  Although
government officials condemn these practices whenever such
cases become public, the Government seldom prosecutes officials
for such abuses.

The People's Militia Laws, as amended by Parliament in 1989,
bestow quasi-legal status on the traditional "Sungusungu" and
"Wasalama" neighborhood and village anticrime groups.

Government officials acknowledge that prisons are overcrowded
and that living conditions are poor.  Serious diseases such as
dysentery, malaria, and cholera are common and result in
deaths.  The Government does not release statistics regarding
the number of prisoners or the number of deaths.  Convicted
prisoners are not allowed to receive food from the outside and
are often moved to different prisons without notification to
their families.  Pretrial detainees are held together with
those serving sentences but are allowed to receive food from
the outside.  There is no outside monitoring of prison
conditions.

     d.  Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile

The Criminal Procedure Code, amended in 1985, requires that a
person arrested for a crime, other than a national security
offense under the Preventive Detention Act, be charged before a
magistrate within 24 hours.  However, in practice, the police
often fail to do so.  The 1985 amendments also restricted the
right to bail and imposed strict conditions on freedom of
movement and association when bail is granted.  Because of
backlogs, an average case still takes 2 to 3 years or longer to
come to trial, during which pretrial detainees remain
incarcerated under poor conditions.  The Code provides for a
right to defense counsel.  The Chief Justice assigns lawyers to
indigent defendants charged with serious crimes such as murder,
manslaughter, and armed robbery.  There are only a few hundred
practicing lawyers in Tanzania, and most indigent defendants
charged with lesser crimes do not have legal counsel.

Under the Preventive Detention Act, the President may order the
arrest and indefinite detention without bail of any person
considered dangerous to the public order or national security.
The Act was also amended in 1985 to require the Government to
release detainees within 15 days of detention or inform them of
the reason for their detention.  The detainee was also allowed
to challenge the grounds for detention at 90-day intervals.
Despite a landmark ruling by the Court of Appeal in 1991 that
the Preventive Detention Act could not be used to deny bail to
persons not considered dangerous to society, the Government has
still not introduced corrective legislation.  The Preventive
Detention Act was not used in 1994.

The Government has additional broad detention powers under the
Regions and Regional Commissioners Act and the Area
Commissioner Act of 1962.  These Acts permit regional and
district commissioners to arrest and detain for 48 hours
persons who may "disturb public tranquility."

Police continued to make arbitrary arrests, although less
frequently than in the past.  For example, police occasionally
arrest relatives of criminal suspects, holding them in custody
without charge for as long as several years in efforts to force
the suspects to turn themselves in.  Such relatives who manage
to get their case before a judge are usually set free, only to
be immediately rearrested when they leave the courtroom.  The
Government has not taken any action to correct these abuses.

In 1993 the police arrested Christopher Mtikila, the leader of
the unregistered Democratic Party, and charged him with using
threatening language against the President.  The authorities
dropped this specific charge on a technicality in March, but
only after detaining him for 2 days in February to keep him
from traveling to Kigoma, where a parliamentary by-election was
being held (see Section 2.d.).  Mtikila complained that the
police used other continuing legal proceedings against him as a
pretext to inhibit his travel around Tanzania and to harass
him.  While members of opposition parties have been harassed by
government officials, particularly on Zanzibar, none was
detained under the Preventive Detention Act during the year.

Six Angolans who entered Tanzania in July 1993 refused offers
of political asylum.  Therefore, they were classified as
illegal aliens, arrested in December 1993, and held in prison
at year's end.

     e.  Denial of Fair Public Trial

Weaknesses in the judicial system and government interference
deny expeditious and fair justice to many citizens.

The legal system is based on the British model, with
modifications to accommodate customary and Islamic law in civil
cases.  Military courts do not try civilians, and there are no
security courts.  Defendants in civil and military courts may
appeal decisions to the High Court and the Court of Appeal.
Criminal trials are open to the public and the press; courts
must give reasons on the record for holding secret
proceedings.  Criminal defendants have the right of appeal.

Zanzibar's court system generally parallels the mainland's
legal system but retains Islamic courts to handle Muslim family
cases such as divorce, child custody, and inheritance.  Cases
concerning Zanzibar constitutional issues are heard only in
Zanzibar's courts.  All other cases may be appealed to the
Tanzanian Court of Appeal.

While the judiciary is constitutionally mandated to operate
independently from the executive branch, the Government
sometimes influences cases.  For example, judges who render
decisions unpopular with senior police or government officials
have been pressured or transferred and reassigned.  In July a
judge with a good record of supporting human rights withdrew
himself from hearing a suit brought by Mtikila after the
Government alleged that he lacked impartiality (see Section
1.d.).  Government officials sometimes ignore judicial
rulings.  However, the judiciary asserted a measure of
independence when the High Court ruled in favor of an
opposition candidate, declaring the results of a parliamentary
by-election in Kigoma null and void.  The Court of Appeal
upheld this ruling in December, but the National Electoral
Commission announced that no new by-election would be held
before the general elections in October 1995.

In addition to government interference, the judicial
bureaucracy is widely criticized as inefficient and corrupt,
bringing into question a defendant's ability to receive a fair
and expeditious trial in all cases.  There are reports of
prisoners waiting several years for trial because they could
not pay bribes to police and court officials.  Although the
Government initiated efforts as early as 1991 to highlight
judicial corruption, it has made little progress in correcting
this situation.

There were no known political prisoners.

     f.  Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
         Correspondence

The State continued to interfere with these rights, which are
generally provided for in the Constitution.  The CCM has
historically penetrated all levels of society through local
cells, varying in size from single-family homes to large
apartment buildings and containing from 10 to 200 persons.
Unpaid party officials serve as 10-cell leaders with authority
to resolve problems at the grassroots level and to report to
authorities any suspicious behavior, event, or noncompliance
with compulsory night patrol service in the neighborhood.  In
1993 elections were held for new grassroots leaders to replace
the CCM 10-cell leaders in nonparty business.  Because the
Government reversed its position and subsequently held the
elections on a party basis, most of the opposition parties
boycotted the elections.  In fact, few voters participated in
these elections, and the former CCM 10-cell leaders retained
nearly all of their power and influence.

CCM membership is voluntary and is estimated at approximately 2
to 3 million cardholders.  While in the past CCM membership had
been necessary for advancement in political and other areas,
the importance of such membership is waning.

The Criminal Procedure Act of 1985 authorizes police officials
(including the civilian anticrime units) to issue search
warrants; however, the Act also authorizes searches of person
and premises without a warrant if necessary to prevent the loss
or destruction of evidence connected with an offense or if
circumstances are serious and urgent.  In practice, warrants
are rarely requested, and the police and others search private
homes and business establishments at will.  The security
services reportedly monitor telephones and correspondence of
some citizens and selected foreign residents.

Compulsory participation in local anticrime groups known as
"Wasalama" and "Sungusungu" continued in some areas.
Historically, these groups have operated only in rural areas to
combat cattle rustling and other criminal activity; however,
government ministers continued to promote them vigorously in
urban areas to combat crime.

Section 2  Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

     a.  Freedom of Speech and Press

The Constitution provides for freedom of speech and the press.
Opposition political party members and others openly criticized
the Government and ruling party in public forums.  Generally,
the official media--radio, television, and press--largely
reflect official positions, following guidance from the
Ministry of Information.  Editorials are often written by
senior officials.  Government-controlled Radio Tanzania,
broadcasting in Swahili and English, is the medium through
which most citizens receive their information.  Radio has been
slower than the print media to reflect a diversity of views.

In the past year, the trend towards press liberalization and
openness continued.  Media competition forced official
newspapers to include more stories critical of the Government,
as private newspapers increased both in numbers and frequency
of publication.  However, while there is no official
censorship, public media often practiced self-censorship
themselves due to fear of government reprisals.

The Government employed various methods to restrict what it
considered objectionable voices in the independent press.  In
January the Government closed the Swahili paper Baraza for 1
month, nominally on technical grounds related to its license,
but more likely for an article accusing a senior government
official of involvement in the death of a Muslim cleric.  The
Government charged publishers and editors of the Express with
seditious libel in March for an editorial that compared the
Government to a garbage heap.  At year's end, this case had not
been decided in court, and the Express continued to publish.
However, in May the Express and its Swahili affiliate Mwananchi
announced that the two newspapers had been denied permission to
begin printing daily.  Opposition political leaders charge that
the Zanzibar Government is much more restrictive than the union
Government in limiting the publication of private newspapers.

Fair coverage of the political opposition, as well as direct
access, are issues of continuing concern as Tanzania approaches
national multiparty elections in October 1995.  In August the
High Court nullified the results of the February parliamentary
by-election in Kigoma, based in part on allegations that Radio
Tanzania improperly favored the ruling party in its election
reporting.  Despite this ruling, opposition parties continued
to receive little official coverage and are limited to one
45-minute radio broadcast each week, which is repeated the
following day.  Two private television stations and two private
radio stations began broadcasting in Dar es Salaam but featured
only nonpolitical programming.

Academic freedom exists in theory, although most academics are
employed in government institutions and hesitate to promote
sensitive subjects in their classrooms.  On the other hand, in
publications and public appearances, they have been outspoken
and frank in their views.

     b.  Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association

The Constitution provides for the freedom of peaceful assembly
and association, and citizens generally enjoyed the right to
discuss freely political alternatives.  However, the
Constitution and other legal acts limit these rights and
stipulate that citizens cannot run for public office unless
they are members of a political party.

Until a judicial reversal in October, the Government required
permits from district commissioners for any public meeting,
except for political party rallies during official election
campaign periods.  At times district commissioners issued
permits too late for opposition parties to publicize their
rallies, or the permits were too restrictive in terms of times
or locations.  In July the police used tear gas to break up an
unauthorized march to the National Assembly in Dar es Salaam
following a legal rally by opposition parties, and they
required opposition party members to report for questioning.
In August police issued a permit to the opposition party
Chadema (Party of Democracy and Development) for a rally in
Kigoma but warned that they would immediately break up the
rally if speakers used "abusive" or "insulting" language.  In
Arusha the district commissioner issued a permit for an
opposition party to hold a rally but then insisted that another
permit was needed in order for the party to publicize the
rally.  Rally organizers complained that the ensuing delay
sharply reduced attendance at the rally.  The authorities also
explicitly denied some requests for rally permits.  For
example, in April the district commissioner in Zanzibar
prohibited the opposition party CUF from holding a rally 2 days
before a national holiday, while the CCM was allowed to hold a
rally on the same day.

In a major landmark ruling in October, a High Court judge
determined that permits from district officials were no longer
needed for public meetings.  However, in December Parliament
diluted this ruling by passing a legal amendment requiring
registered political parties to obtain police approval for
political rallies.  Police were given the authority to deny
permission on public safety or security grounds or if the
permit seeker belonged to an unregistered party.  At the end of
1994, the rally permit issue was confused, with permits being
issued inconsistently and in a few cases being denied
outright.  On Zanzibar, officials announced that the mainland's
High Court decision did not apply to Zanzibar, and permit
requirements did not change.

In July police arrested 35 Muslims at a mosque in Morogoro
after a May presidential announcement prohibiting rallies that
slandered other religions.

The registrar of political parties has sole authority to
approve or deny the registration of any political party and is
responsible for enforcing strict regulations on registered or
provisionally registered parties.  The electoral law prohibits
independent candidates, requires all standing Members of
Parliament to resign if they join another political party,
requires all political parties to support the union with
Zanzibar, and forbids parties based on ethnic, regional, or
religious affiliation.  Parties granted provisional
registration may hold public meetings and recruit members.
They have 6 months to submit lists of at least 200 members from
10 of the country's 25 regions, including 2 regions on the
islands, in order to secure full registration and to be
eligible to field candidates for election.  Nonregistered
parties are prohibited from holding meetings, recruiting
members, or fielding candidates.

The most prominent unregistered party was Reverend Christopher
Mtikila's Democratic Party which advocates the dissolution of
the union and the expulsion of minorities from the mainland.
Despite his political party's lack of government recognition,
Mtikila was able to publicize his views through his legally
registered church and through a lawsuit against the Government
challenging the appointment of Zanzibaris to the union
Government.

Under the Societies Ordinance, the Ministry of Home Affairs
must approve any new association.  Several nongovernmental
organizations (NGO's) formed in the last few years to address
the concerns of families, the disabled, women and children.  A
number of professional, business, legal, and medical
associations exist, but they have only begun to address
political topics.  Leaders of a new human rights group, called
Defenders of Human Rights in Tanzania, complained that the
Government refused to act on their application to register (see
Section 4).  Opposition leaders complain that the Zanzibar
Government is even more restrictive in registering societies
than the union Government.

     c.  Freedom of Religion

The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respects this right in practice, subject
to measures it claims are necessary to ensure public order and
safety.  Missionaries are allowed to enter the country freely
to proselytize, and citizens are allowed to go abroad for
pilgrimages and other religious practices.

Although freedom of worship is not infringed, there continued
to be evidence of religious tension between Muslims and
Christians, including the arrest of 35 Muslims at a mosque in
Morogoro after a May presidential announcement prohibiting
rallies that slandered other religions (see Sections 2.b. and
5).  Some government officials have spoken out against
religious intolerance, and the Government has banned meetings
in which religious leaders attack other faiths.  Except for the
Morogoro incident, however, the ban has not been enforced.  In
December a local court sentenced 16 Muslim fundamentalists who
had been charged in the rioting and destruction of several pork
butcheries in Dar es Salaam in April 1993.  The court acquitted
4 of the defendants and sentenced the remaining 12 to 4 years'
imprisonment.  One of the Muslim leaders who had been charged
with instigating the violence and later with sedition, Sheikh
Kassim Jumaa Khamis, died in January 1994.

     d.  Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign
         Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation

Short-term domestic travel is not restricted, but citizens must
follow national employment directives stipulating the nature of
employment and the location of residence.  The Human Resources
Deployment Act of 1983 requires local governments to ensure
that every resident within their areas of jurisdiction engages
in productive and lawful employment.  Those not employed are
subject to transfer to another area where employment is
available.  In December the Dar es Salaam City Council rounded
up 395 beggars and returned them to their home areas at
government expense.  Some vowed to return.  These laws are also
used as a pretext for police to solicit bribes and intimidate
urban residents.

Leaders of the opposition party CUF complained that the
Zanzibar government harassed them whenever they attempted to
visit their party offices outside of Zanzibar town.  Zanzibar
regional government leaders have also interfered with CUF
attempts to visit Pemba island, considered by CUF as its
stronghold.  In February Democratic Party leader Mtikila was
briefly detained by the police as he was about to begin travel
to the site of an impending parliamentary by-election in
Kigoma.  Although he was soon released and no charges were
filed, the Government move was likely intended to prevent
Mtikila from speaking in Kigoma against the ruling party and
its candidate, a businessman of Asian origin.

In August the union Government announced that agreement had
been reached with the government of Zanzibar to do away with
the longstanding requirement that mainlanders present passports
to travel to Zanzibar and Pemba.  However, at year's end
Zanzibar immigration officials continued to require mainlanders
to present passports pending implementing legislation.
Mainlanders are able to obtain special travel documents valid
only for travel to Zanzibar and Pemba at no cost but are not
allowed to own land or work in the islands.

Passports for foreign travel can be difficult to obtain, mostly
due to bureaucratic inefficiency, and authorities subject those
planning to travel or emigrate to intense scrutiny.  Citizens
who leave the country without permission are subject to
prosecution upon their return.

Tanzania has a liberal policy toward refugees and admitted some
300,000 refugees from Burundi in late 1993 and nearly 600,000
refugees from Rwanda in 1994.  While the majority of Burundian
refugees repatriated in early 1994, Tanzania continued to host
at year's end over 600,000 refugees, at considerable cost to
the local environment and people.  The United Nations and NGO's
provide assistance to the refugees.  Although Tanzania has made
efforts, with the support of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), to improve security in the
refugee camps, security concerns persist due to the nature of
the refugee population and inadequate police resources.  The
Tanzanian police have been unable to ensure the security of
Rwandan refugees who wish to return to Rwanda, and crime in the
camps, including rapes and killings of alleged "witches," has
increased along with the population.  Leaders associated with
the former government of Rwanda have threatened or intimidated
refugees in the camps.  An unknown number of Rwandans and at
least three Tanzanians have been killed in the Rwandan refugee
camps located inside Tanzania.  Approximately 30 Tanzanians
have been killed in other violence associated with the influx
of Rwandan refugees.  The Government would like the Rwandan
refugees to return home and has suggested that a safe haven
should be created for them inside Rwanda.  However, the
Government kept its borders open to new refugees and did not
engage in any forced repatriation in 1994.

In 1994 the Government reversed its policy and granted
political asylum to citizens of Kenya who formerly had been
denied refugee status in Tanzania.  Refugees in Dar es Salaam
are sometimes threatened with the loss of refugee status and
assistance unless they agree to move to refugee camps in rural
areas, although there were no such cases in 1994.