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Tanzania: Warriors Destroy Maize Farms in Midnight Raid
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The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
14 May 2008
Posted to the web 14 May 2008
Felix Mwera
Tarime
About 100 hectares of maize farms belonging to the Wakira clan were destroyed by Wanchari warriors in Tarime District, Mara Region on Monday. The Wanchari attack comes as part of the revenge cycle on their rivals, conducted at midnight by armed militias, according an eye witness, Mr Anthony Manga.
Mr Manga who is also a ward councilor for Sirari ward which hosts the Wakira clan told The Citizen yesterday, that valuation has already been done and estimates submitted to the district authorities to determine the acreage of maize farms destroyed.
"The report is yet to be released," the councillor noted. The valuation was conducted by senior land and agriculture officers at the district level, he said. "The Wanchari destroyed many farms and we estimate the area to be around 100 hectares," the civic leader stated.
Remage and Ng'ereng'ere villages, both inhabited by Wakira were badly hit by the destruction, while several crop farms were destroyed by Wakira clansmen at Korotambe village in Mwema ward where the Wanchari live.
The two clans of the Kurya tribe in Tarime district engaged on fresh clashes a few weeks ago in which they exchanged arrows but police managed to disperse them before the situation went out of hand. However a number of people from both sides were reported wounded.
Members of Field Force Unit (FFU) have since been patrolling the villages in an effort to avert clashes, Regional Police Commander David Saibul said. "The situation is now calm but the clans people can't visit each other and there is still fear," interviewed villagers said yesterday.
Both sides are demanding the Government to place a demarcation line to separate their respective zones, but fiercely dispute where the boundary is located, and this sparked an unending dispute between them.
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The current clan clashes have been claiming lives and losses of property in Tarime since it broke out afresh early this year. Tarime district is notorious for having clan clashes among the Kurya tribe mainly caused by land disputes and livestock rustling.
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