Publications
- On Wednesday the US Embassy issued a terror alert to would-be travellers to Tanzania.
- The Tanzanian government says the country is safe and authorities constantly work with friendly countries to monitor any threat.
- The biggest terror threat as yet was the 1998 bombing of the US embassy in Dar es Salaam.
The Tanzanian government has allayed fears raised by the United States embassy in Dar es Salaam warning would-be travellers to the East African country to worry about potential terrorist attacks.
In a statement issued on Wednesday directed to American and European travellers, the US embassy said tourist attractions in Tanzania were in danger.
"Locations frequented by US citizens and other Westerners in Dar es Salaam and elsewhere in Tanzania continue to be attractive targets to terrorists planning to conduct attacks," the embassy said.
The embassy also highlighted that "terrorist groups could attack with little or no warning, targeting hotels, embassies, restaurants, malls and markets, police stations, places of worship, and other places frequented by Westerners."
Therefore, among other things they should keep a low profile and practice personal security measures.
But in response to the alarm, Tanzania's ministry of information, communication, and information technology said those were false claims.
READ | 'Terror attack': Natjoints warns South Africans not to circulate false information
"The government of Tanzania has noted with great concern the false claims spread by some foreign institutions/companies that there's civil unrest in Tanzania," the ministry said.
The ministry also reassured the public that the government cooperates with "friendly" countries to deal with any security threat.
Since the bombing of the American embassy in 1998, Tanzania has not experienced a significant terrorist attack, however, there have been several small-scale occurrences.
The community of Kitaya in the Mtwara region close to the Mozambique border was attacked in October 2020.
Islamic extremists operating out of northern Mozambique claimed responsibility for the incident.
Attempts against western interests are also possible, however, most attacks target the local security forces.
According to government statistics, Americans make up the second-largest group of international visitors to Tanzania after the French and Italians as of 2021.
About a million tourists arrived in Tanzania in 2021 as the world opened up from the Covid-19 lockdown.
The News24 Africa Desk is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation. The stories produced through the Africa Desk and the opinions and statements that may be contained herein do not reflect those of the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
