Figure 3.1: Proportion of respondents who heard or witnessed or experienced election-related violence
Election violence
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
83.4
58.5
31.7
Heard election
violence
Witnessed
violence
Experienced
violence
Source: University of Dar es Salaam, Mapping and Analysis of 2010 Election-Related Incidents of Violence. Research Report,
the College of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Dar es Salaam, December 2011.
138.
The CRM wishes to highlight another underlying source of tension that may pose a challenge to internal cohesion
if not properly addressed. While it can be affirmed that different religions in the country co-exit peacefully,
however, during stakeholder consultations, the CRM noted a strong desire among Muslims across the country to
have Khadi Courts handle their civil matters such as divorce, marriage and inheritance. The Indian community
formulated similar demands, asking for special courts to handle their civil matters.
Interstate conflicts
139.
The occasional boundary dispute occurs between Tanzania and neighbouring countries. Natural resource
management bodies have been unable to resolve some of these disputes over shared trans-boundary resources
like water. One such dispute is between Tanzania and Malawi. Malawian investors are accused of exploring for
oil and fishing on the Tanzanian side of Lake Nyasa in Mbinga District. While Tanzania claims that the boundary is
in the middle of Lake Nyasa - which lies within the country’s territory - Malawi contests this claim. The origins of
the conflict date back to the colonial period when Germany first placed the border along the shore. Subsequent
modifications under British rule shifted the boundary to the middle of the lake.
140.
Tanzanians and DRC citizens also have disputes over fishing rights in Songea, with the Congolese accused
of illegally entering Tanzania to fish in Tanzanian rivers. At CRM stakeholder meetings in Bukoba, Arusha and
Kigoma, participants called attention to cross-border cattle rustling disputes along the Tanzanian and Kenyan
border, especially in Tarime district. It is alleged that stolen cattle area moved to both Kenyan and Tanzanian
markets from the sparsely-populated land of the Serengeti plains to the Kenyan border20. Security in the region
has been threatened by small arms and light weapons that are used in cattle raiding.
141.
20
21
The persistence of cattle rustling is mainly attibuted to the limited capacity of the state to police the region and
rural areas. There are mechanisms and rules to address the problem but enforcement is weak and corruption
may make enforcement impossible. According to reports, the Sungusungu - a kind of community-policing
vigilante group – try to work out peace deals in these cattle-raiding regions21. On the western border, cattle
herders from Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and Kenya are also accused of crossing over to graze their cattle in
Tanzania and of destroying the environment, especially in the Mara Region. The invading herders are also
accused of cattle rustling.
Between a rock and a hard place - Armed Violence in African pastoral Communities, James Bevan, UNDP report, 2007
Ibid.
49
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