RELATIONS between Tanzania and Mozambique will remain cordial and cooperative, the foreign ministry has asserted amid reports of Tanzanians living illegally in Mozambique being forcibly deported and,
in some cases, allegedly mistreated by local police officers in the process.
At least 132 Tanzanian nationals, most of whom were reportedly living without proper documentation in Mozambique’s northern Monte Puez district, Cabo Delgado province, have so far been sent home over the past few days as part of a major new Mozambican government crackdown on illegal immigrants in general.
According to a statement issued yesterday by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, East Africa, Regional and International Cooperation in Dar es Salaam, the repatriation exercise being deployed by Mozambican authorities involves the arrest and subsequent ejection of all foreigners residing in the country illegally, regardless of original nationalities.
“The Mozambican government has admitted to have launched a special crackdown on illegal migrants only in Monte Puez, since that is where there is a larger number of foreigners compared to elsewhere in Mozambique. The operation targets those living without legal immigration credentials,” the ministry’s statement said.
It is estimated that there are over 3,000 Tanzanians living and engaging in various social-economic activities in Monte Puez. Since the current crackdown began, several of them have been deported in groups, beginning with the first batch of 58 Tanzanians last Sunday, 24 more on Tuesday, and 50 others just yesterday.
There have also been unconfirmed reports of some Tanzanians earmarked for deportation allegedly being systematically mistreated in a physical manner by Mozambican police officers, including lurid tales of women being beaten up and sometimes raped.
“They have closed all the borders and seized our travel documents,” Angel John, one of the affected Tanzanians, was quoted as lamenting while also calling for top Tanzanian government intervention in the matter.
But the ministry’s statement made a point of stressing that the repatriation exercise won’t be allowed to dent long-time bilateral ties between Tanzania and Mozambique, stretching back to the latter country’s pre-independence, freedom struggle years.
It noted that only last December, government representatives from both countries held a meeting specifically aimed at strengthening existing relations even further.
“During the meeting held in Pemba town, Cabo Delgado province, both government delegations identified new areas of cooperation which include improving mutual cross-border trade and immigration issues,” the ministry statement said.
According to the ministry, the Tanzanian consulate in Mozambique is closely following up on the repatriation exercise to ensure the safety of those being sent back to Tanzania, along with their properties.
Officials from the Tanzanian embassy in the capital Maputo have been dispatched to Monte Puez for the purpose, the statement said.
On a visit to Mozambique in 2015, then-president Jakaya Kikwete and his Mozambican counterpart Felipe Nyusi agreed to put in place stronger mechanisms to record cross-border trade volumes that were said to be huge but had previously remained unofficial.
Kikwete noted that a number of factors had contributed to the phenomenon of such enormous unofficial cross-border trade.
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