Thousands of Somali refugees to receive Tanzanian citizenship

TANZANIA - Citizenship will be granted to thousands of Somali Bantu refugees, authorities in Tanzania said--a move that will benefit the group, already settled in the country's eastern coastal region of Tanga.

Tanzania's Deputy Home Affairs Minister, John Chiligati, said more than 3,000 Bantus fled to Tanzania following the collapse of the regime of Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

Chiligati explained that the refugees had been given special treatment by being hosted in Tanga, because their origin was traced to the Wazigua ethnic group.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees, (UNHCR) has already built a health center, schools, playgrounds, shops, markets, water points and a police post at Chogo, for an estimated cost of $2 million.

The UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) have launched a large-scale plan to resettle Bantus, who say they are persecuted in Somalia.

About 900,000 Bantus, who remained in pre-civil war Somalia continued with their farming livelihoods along the Juba River and became part of the fabric of Somali society.

The Somali Bantus that are to be resettled in the United States, originate from one of six main ethnic groups in the three countries along the shores of the Indian Ocean--Wangindo, Wamakua, Wanyasa, Wayao, Wazaramu, and Wazigua.