Somali community in Eastleigh, Nairobi, Kenya. Some 3,000 Somali Bantus
have settled near Tanga, Tanzania since 2005. Picture: File
By A JOINT REPORT
Tanzania has blacklisted 14 Somali businessmen
suspected of engaging in human trafficking and who allegedly enjoy close
links with powerful politicians.
The businessmen, who are naturalised citizens, are
said to be responsible for facilitating the illegal entry of hundreds
of Somalis, enroute to Southern African countries and Europe. This has
resulted in a surge of arrests of Somali nationals in the past three
years.
According to intelligence sources, the suspects’s
activities are widely known to senior officials within Tanzania’s
Ministry of Home Affairs. However the suspects’s names are yet to be
revealed.
It is understood that various options for handling
the case are being discussed within government circles and repatriation
to Somalia is top on the list.
The EastAfrican has been informed that
the government, through various law enforcement agencies, is
investigating the activities of companies and business entities owned by
naturalised Tanzanians of Somali origin over their alleged involvement
in human trafficking of Somali nationals. The individuals present
themselves as refugees before obtaining fake Tanzanian immigration
documents in exchange of millions of dollars.
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