Tensions continue to grip the East African Community, as the fallout over Tanzania's deportations of nationals from neighbouring countries, it accuses of being illegal immigrants, continues to deepen.
Ugandan legislators, irked by what the deportations, have questioned Tanzania's move, with some fearing it could deal a heavy blow to efforts to create a strong East African bloc.
Tanzania, on the other hand, seems to be hitting back at its neighbours, whom it accuses of excluding it from regional meetings and treaties.
Authorities in Tanzania recently announced they had begun deporting illegal immigrants, but some of those expelled claimed they were legally in that country, saying at least two generations of their families had been living in that country.
Hundreds of Ugandans and Rwandans who have been living in Tanzania, particularly those in border towns, claim they were expelled without being given an opportunity to sell or carry some of their valuable property.
A Ugandan legislator, Mathias Kasamba on Monday appealed to the government and international community to come to the aid of 4,265 Ugandan and Rwandan citizens who were expelled from Tanzania and transferred to his constituency - Sango Bay - last month.
He said the refugees faced food and water shortages, while there was inadequate shelter to house the expelled Ugandans.
"Hundreds of Ugandans and Rwandans expelled from Tanzania are in Sango Bay under the care of Office of Prime Minister. They don't have enough food and the sanitation in the area is very appalling and requires urgent intervention."
Unease
In 2010, the five-member community, comprising of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi launched a common market to allow the free movement of goods in the sub-region.
But EAC has been rocked by unease after Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete lashed out at Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda last week for holding meetings and agreeing on a raft of projects without the two remaining members of the community.
The projects include, a common visa to enhance tourism in the three countries from January, 2014, as well as a new railway line.
Last month, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and newly independent South Sudan launched a single customs territory to boost business among the partner states, agreeing to eliminate the remaining non-tariff barriers.
"We hear that when some people are asked why Tanzania is not invited, they say: 'Tanzania would join later' - that this is a coalition of the willing. But we have never been invited," Kikwete told parliamentarians last Friday.
But while analysts say Tanzania has slowed the process of regional economic integration, Kikwete said his country will not quit the regional grouping.
Tanzania's mass deportations of EAC nationals appear to contradict the community's protocol on the free movement of persons.
Following the expulsions, some deportees claimed that the Tanzanian authorities had ignored their Tanzanian birth records.
"We carried out a screening exercise and discovered that most of them were born in Tanzania although their parents originated from Uganda," Willy Mukura, an officer in charge of Kikagate resettlement camp in Uganda, said in September.
Meanwhile, Kasamba has demanded a statement from the Ugandan Minister of East African Affairs regarding the mass deportations by Tanzania.
Read the original article on Theafricareport.com : Unease in East African Community after Tanzania deportations | East & Horn Africa
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