Is Tanzania going the way of Northern Nigeria, Somalia, Mali ... ?

An Assemblies of God pastor in Tanzania was beheaded by Islamic extremists during a brawl between Christians and Muslims in February 2013.   

The tensions erupted into violence in the town of Buseresere in Tanzania's Geita region, where Muslim resentment had been growing over newly opened Christian-operated butcheries, local police commander Denis Stephano told All Africa News.

A group of youths wielding sticks and machetes attacked a butcher shop, beheading pastor Mathayo Kahili and injuring several others in the outburst, Stephano informed All Africa News.  

Besides the obvious tragedy and brutal loss of life, Tanzanians are troubled by the growth and entrenchment of ever deadlier religious tensions and violence, which is at odds with the country's reputation for peace.  Tanzania has enjoyed a long history of good relationships between Muslims and Christians, but in recent months, enmity between these religious groups has increased.

This most recent beheading was linked to perceived threats to a "long-standing tradition" in Tanzania that Muslims have a monopoly on the meat industry.

Recently however, Christians in Geita district, Mwanza region – on the southern shores of Lake Victoria – have entered the butchery trade, causing outrage amongst Muslims.

Tensions escalated over several months until, in early February, the Minister of State in the President's Office responsible for social relations, Mr. Stephen Wassira, traveled to Mwanza to meet with Christian and Muslim leaders in an effort to defuse tensions.

Mr. Stephen Wassira categorically directed that the task of slaughtering animals for public consumption should be executed only by Muslims. He said that people of other faiths may slaughter animals if the meat is solely for family/private consumption – but certainly not for sale to, or consumption by, the general public.

He declared that, should non-Muslims want to go into the meat business, then the slaughtering must be done according to Islamic tenets and rituals.

Reportedly, religious leaders of the Christian faith were barred by the regional government from making a public statement on the matter for fear of agitating their followers against the 'Wassira Proclamation'.

Christian priests called upon their followers to "retaliate" by boycotting "Muslim-oriented" butcheries – and are planning to seek judicial recourse. 

Tanzanians fret about who is behind the country's ongoing religious conflicts, and as the government takes unspecified measures to resolve the problem, Christians seem to bear the brunt of the violence. 

Adding to sense of unease, some Muslims allege that the government functions according to Christian laws, such as closing government offices on Sunday.  Muslims want to know why Fridays, their weekly day of prayer, are not also recognized by the closure of government offices.

The Buseresere beheading is only the most recent clash.  Tanzania's recent history tells a discouraging tale.  

Chaos erupts as boy urinates on Quran

Violent clashes erupted in Dar es Salaam’s Mbagala suburb October 12, 2012 when scores of Muslim youth stormed a police station and demanded that a 14-year-old boy accused of urinating on the Quran be handed over to them.

In the aftermath of the confrontation, at least five churches were attacked, several car windows smashed and passersby injured as the angry mob moved from street to street at Mbagala Kizuiani protesting the desecration of the holy book.

Apparently, a Christian and Muslim boy got into an argument over the power of the Quran to turn anyone who defiled it into a snake.

The Christian boy swore he would not be harmed if he played with the Quran, while his Muslim friend maintained that he would turn into a snake or go out of his mind if he did so.

The Christian boy then urinated on the book to prove his point, and so set off a chain of events that turned the area into a battleground for what Muslims described as a defense of their faith.

Failing to kill the offending boy, who fled to the police station for protection, the mob rampaged through the city.  The protesters attacked the Catholic Church at Mbagala Zakhem and broke down the door, and an Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania was torched in the same area.

According to police reports, in Mbagala Kizuiani, the Seventh Day Adventist, Tanzania Assemblies of God (TAG), Moravian and Anglican Church and two other Catholic churches were attacked and properties destroyed.

Police says more churches would have been attacked had the police not taken action. Police reported that 11 cars, including two belonging to police, were destroyed by the protesters.

Catholic priest shot and killed in Zanzibar

Father Evarist Mushi was on his way to lead a service at the Betras Catholic Church in Mtoni – an area not far from Stone Town, a World Heritage Site – when assailants cornered and killed him.

The incident echoes a similar attack in December, when attackers shot and seriously wounded another Catholic priest in the Tomondo area to the south of Stone Town.

Mushi’s death spurred condemnation from security officials on the island, who urged calm and vowed to apprehend the perpetrators.

“No religion or political grouping supports violence in principle,” remarked Said Mwema, the Tanzanian inspector general of police.

Despite these assurances, the death of Father Mushi is sure to unsettle Zanzibar’s Christians, who are vastly outnumbered on the archipelago. Tanzania as a whole is 60 percent Christian and 36 percent Muslim. But in Zanzibar, more than 95 percent of residents follow Islam.

The threat of violence in Zanzibar has grown in recent years with the rise of a group called the Association for Islamic Mobilization and Propagation, also known as Uamsho, which means “awakening” in Swahili. Though founded in 2001 as a charitable organization, Uamsho has evolved to become a strong critic of tourists’ perceived excesses on the archipelago, as well as an advocate for Zanzibar secession.

Alhaj Juma Salum, a chief sheikh in Dar es Salaam, warned police that the assailants who killed Mushi might have been linked to Uamsho activists.

So while the specter of violence on the idyllic archipelago is nothing new, the recent deaths are bringing long-simmering issues into the spotlight. That’s bad news for the Tanzanian economy, which depends on tourism to generate about 17 percent of GDP annually.

What is happening now?

Police are holding three people for questioning in connection with the Zanzibar murder of Father Evarist Mushi.  President Jakaya Kikwete warned that the government would not put up with any individual or group of people disturbing the peace that the country enjoys.

In a statement issued by the Directorate of Presidential Communications, Mr. Kikwete, who said he had received with shock and grief the news on the killing of Father Mushi, directed the police force to use its full strength and know how by conducting in-depth and speedy investigation to ensure that perpetrator(s) of the act are arrested and arraigned.

While pledging to get to the root cause of the recurring attacks, President Kikwete ordered the police to liaise with other local and international security organizations from friendly countries to arrest people behind the crimes.

IGP Mwema said the police had dispatched a team of senior police officers from its headquarters in Dar es Salaam to Zanzibar to lead investigations. The team includes Deputy Police Commissioners Peter Kivuyo and Samson Kasala who will lead intelligence and investigations, respectively, while Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police (SACP) Simon Sirro will be in charge of operations.

 “We want our government to have supremacy. We want a supreme Zanzibar,” said Shaikh M. Ali Mselem, leader of the Uamsho group, in the run-up to the violence.

Mselem denounced the political leaders of Tanzania and semi-autonomous Zanzibar as “liars, unjust, corrupt” and said Uamsho sought peace but independence from Tanzanian rule.

Deep social, political and economic divides are a rallying cry for disenchanted and often unemployed youngsters, raising fears of escalating religious and political tensions.

“Uamsho has a lot of power,” said Emmanuel Seron, a street trader, who pointed to where his church was burned down in May. “I think they are similar to Boko Haram as they hate Christians. It’s a big problem for us.”

Boko Haram is fighting to create an Islamic state across the continent in Nigeria, and its fighters have killed hundreds in bomb and gun attacks since 2009.

Benson Bana, Scholar from a well-respected University of Dar es Salaam said Uamsho is showing an increasingly hardline religious leaning, marked by a surge in violence, unlike the separatist Mombasa Republican Council movement in Kenya.

What the two groups have in common are the social-economic conditions driving their groundswell of support.

“You cannot divorce what is happening from social discontent,” Bana said. “These young men and women with no jobs.  They are desperate. They are easy to mobilize.”

Asked why Uamsho was becoming increasingly militant, Bana said: “Whoever is financing this movement is demanding results, to deliver violence.”

Poor Muslim coastal areas in Kenya and Tanzania have proved fertile recruitment ground for Somalia’s al Shabaab militants. This is a trend some Western officials have said could threaten stability along the east African seaboard.

East Africans have taken part in Al Qaeda attacks before, including the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and the suicide bomb attack on a hotel near Mombasa in 2002.

Polycarp Cardinal Pengo, Archbishop of the Dar es Salaam Diocese of the Catholic Church, says the killing of Father Evarist Mushi was planned and if security organs had been alert, it could have been averted.

Speaking to journalists about the killings, he said although he was not expert in security matters, he was convinced the killing of the priest on Sunday was plotted. He however called on Catholics in the country to shun revenge to help ease the situation.

He said the killing did not bode well for the nation, coming on the heels of the shooting of Father Ambrose Mkenda in December, last year.

“We have been receiving leaflets from people calling themselves members of Uamsho saying, the struggle would continue,” said Cardinal Pengo, displaying, one of the said leaflets.

He said the fact that he received one of the leaflets, shows that many people must have received them, and that the security forces knew what was going on.

Who is to blame and what is to be done?

That is a question with no proper answer for now.  But it is obvious that when a child cries, one should look to his parents and see what actions they take.

Following the murder of Father Mushi, Dr. Shein met with the leader of Roman Catholic Church in Zanzibar, Dr. Augustino Shao, on how to avoid future episodes of violence.  Shein added that from now on all houses of prayer will have special security.

Cardinal Pengo warned: “Allowing these clear acts of breach of the law to continue is extremely dangerous and will plunge the country into chaos.

The secretary general of Tanzania Episcopal Conference (TEC), Fr. Anthony Makunde said the situation signaled a plot to destroy peace in the country.

Most Tanzanians express shock at these events. The killing of Father Evarist Mushi, apart from stunning many Tanzanians, has cast a dark shadow over the country’s good image.

The popular sentiment is that the government should look for effective techniques to end these conflicts, which have led to the murder of religious leaders.

Zanzibar President Dr Ali Mohamed Shein has directed his government to add support to the probe team by collaborating with the police in the hunting of the culprits.

In addition, the international community, including the USA, has announced they are ready to support Tanzania in its efforts to conduct a serious investigation of the matter.

This story, first published by our partner organization The Media Project, is used with permission.  Dismas Lyassa is Social Editor at leading daily, Mwananchi, in Tanzania.