|
Refugees, illegal aliens ’a security threat’
2005-07-23 07:35:39
By Judica Tarimo, Dodoma
Refugees and illegal immigrants pose a major security threat in the country, Parliament was told yesterday.
The Parliamentary Committee on Defence and Security said in its report that armed robberies and other forms of violent crime were now rampant in border areas.
The report was unveiled in the House by committee chairman Jackson Makweta shortly after the 2005/6 budget estimates of the Ministry of Defence and National Service were tabled by the minister in charge, Prof Philemon Sarungi.
The committee appealed to the government to crack down on illegal immigrants in border regions and deport them immediately to their respective countries.
Armed robberies carried out by people from neighbouring countries were especially rampant in areas bordering Lake Tanganyika, it said.
The committee urged the government to intensify security in the most affected areas by deploying patrol boats and providing security agents with modern communication equipment.
It also said protracted hostility among refugees from Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in refugee camps in western and northwestern Tanzania called for the government’s immediate intervention.
The government and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) should consider deploying political experts in the camps to educate refugees about the importance of peace.
’The refugees must to be taught how to cultivate a culture of tolerance and reconciliation,’ the committee said in its 17-page report.
Debating the Defence and National Service Ministry’s estimates, Halmeshi Mayonga (Kigoma North, CCM) said illegal importation of firearms from war-torn areas in the Great Lakes Region was on the increase in border regions, especially Kigoma.
He called for joint efforts to stamp out insecurity in the areas instead of leaving the task to the Tanzania People’s Defence Forces (TPDF) only.
’People are no longer safe in Kigoma and other border regions. This calls for joint efforts by all defence and security forces,’ he said.
Thomas Nyimbo (Njombe West, CCM) suggested that TPDF members should be recruited from the National Service only instead of the current practice of picking recruits at random.
”Through the National Service, we could get committed and able soldiers who are ready to serve our nation,” he told the House.
Semindu Pawa (Morogoro South-East, CCM) and Aziza Ali (Special Seats, CCM) said the government should increase its funding to the Tanzania Automatic Technology Centre (TATC) to enable it produce tractors with a view to helping modernise the country’s farming sector.
Ngwali Zubeir (Nungwi, CCM) and Khamis Awesu Aboud (Mkanyageni, CCM) asked the government to stop mistreating retired soldiers.
They said retired soldiers had to travel from all over the country to follow up their retirement benefit claims in Dar es Salaam, adding that this was subjecting them to unnecessary inconveniences and hardships.
’It takes months for their claims to be processed and yet most of them do not have relatives in Dar es Salaam and neither do they have money for food and accommodation…we have to sympathise with them,’Aboud said.
|
