Somali Bantus Gain Tanzanian Citizenship

[Murax]

Somali Bantus gain Tanzanian citizenship in their ancestral land
News Stories, 3 June 2009

© UNHCR/B.BannonIn Somalia, Bantu children were denied education for decades, but this Somali Bantu boy, a new Tanzanian citizen, attends school in Chogo settlement in northeastern Tanzania.CHOGO, Tanzania, June 3 (UNHCR) – Some 300 years after their ancestors were taken from here to be sold as slaves, almost 1,300 Somali Bantu refugees are now full citizens of Tanzania.

A further 1,500 refugees in Chogo settlement, in the north-eastern coastal region of Tanga, are still in the process of getting naturalized.

Working and living alongside the local population, many of the Somali Bantu refugees and new citizens can trace their origins to this area of the country, from where their ancestors were transported as slaves. The refugees returned in the early 1990s fleeing civil war and the collapse of Siad Barre's regime in Somalia.

Back then, tens of thousands of Somalis travelled on overcrowded and rickety dhows to the Kenyan harbour of Mombasa. A small group of refugees of Bantu origin made their way even further south, to Tanga, reversing the path their ancestors had taken more than three centuries ago.

Ramadhani Abdalah, a Tanzanian Zigua farmer, remembers very well the day the refugees arrived in Tanga.

"I heard about refugees before, but when they came, it was my first time to actually see a refugee," he now recalls. "I was so surprised. They were talking in the same language as I do, Zigua, but they came from Somalia."

Ramadhani lives in one of the neighbouring villages of Chogo settlement where he prepares land for planting. He is hired by a former Somali Bantu farmer and is paid 12,000 Tanzanian shillings (about US$9) for each acre of land he clears.

At first the government of Tanzania, with assistance from UNHCR, hosted the Somali refugees in Mkuyu camp, also in Tanga region. In March 2003, more than 3,000 refugees were transferred from there to Chogo, a newly-constructed settlement some 80 kilometres away, in a move towards naturalizing the Somali Bantus who wished to stay.

Upon arrival in Chogo, each refugee family received more than 2.5 acres (about one hectare) of land, to farm and to build a home. With the help of UNHCR, working with the Tanzanian authorities and the Tanzanian non-governmental organization, Relief to Development Society, a school, health centre and market were constructed.

Since 2005, the new citizens and the 1,500 refugees awaiting citizenship have been supporting themselves and living together with the surrounding communities.

Haji Sefu Ali, one of the elders in Chogo, proudly shows off his farm. "In Chogo, we have named the villages after places in Somalia," he says. "We are tilling land, raising cattle and chicken and are taking care of ourselves."

Life has been a struggle, adds Fatouma, his neighbour and a grandmother of three, but "today, we are citizens of Tanzania. My granddaughters could even become president one day. In Somalia, for a Bantu, that would not be possible."

By Brendan Bannon and Eveline Wolfcarius
in Chogo, Tanzania

[Voltage]

Well there you go. Tanzania is forever closed to us now. Imagine once the history of Somali Bantus of Tanzanian descent start being understood by every Tanzanian child.

[Xamari_76]

Voltage isnt that where you are from Angry you were denied

Youd rather visit kenya and tanzania then somalia

[Khalid Ali]

Life has been a struggle, adds Fatouma, his neighbour and a grandmother of three, but "today, we are citizens of Tanzania. My granddaughters could even become president one day. In Somalia, for a Bantu, that would not be possible."

Somalidu wa dad aad u xun xun walahi

[grandpakhalif]

Well there you go. Tanzania is forever closed to us now. Imagine once the history of Somali Bantus of Tanzanian descent start being understood by every Tanzanian child.

Why do you sympathise with Beesha Bantu?

[Murax]

"Ramadhani lives in one of the neighbouring villages of Chogo settlement where he prepares land for planting. He is hired by a former Somali Bantu farmer and is paid 12,000 Tanzanian shillings (about US$9) for each acre of land he clears."




What a friggin shame. Give that land to a Handicap Somali in Somalia, and watch them waste it.


These Bantus are going to make a positive mark on Tanzania, and somehow gunweilding, qaad addicts in somalia are supposed to be more "honoured and nasab". No wonder Somalia is the worst Nation on earth, they are dumber than rocks.


Voltage,

Somalis bring nothing but trouble, Tanzianians should accept the Bantus and not the Zoomalis. I wish they would also accept the Reer Xamars



Xamari,

Voltage will get beaten to death on the streets of Darasalam, and even the police won't do anything to help Him.

[Xamari_76]

Voltage will get beaten to death on the streets of Darasalam, and even the police won't do anything to help Him

LMAO

[Voltage]

Life has been a struggle, adds Fatouma, his neighbour and a grandmother of three, but "today, we are citizens of Tanzania. My granddaughters could even become president one day. In Somalia, for a Bantu, that would not be possible."

Somalidu wa dad aad u xun xun walahi

Are you bipolar man? Just today you were talking about Madhibaan people. If you discriminate againt those that look like you, are ethnic Somalis, speak your language, have your religion, share your nomadic culture are we to believe you would have better views about the Bantu who look a little differently than you and don't even share your nomadic culture?

[Voltage]

Well there you go. Tanzania is forever closed to us now. Imagine once the history of Somali Bantus of Tanzanian descent start being understood by every Tanzanian child.

Why do you sympathise with Beesha Bantu?

Because they have been wrongly oppressed for looking the way God made them. What is there not to sympathize with them for?

[Khalid Ali]

No but that doesn’t mean somalidu wali inay yihin dad xun xun waxba isu ma ogala wa is xaasidan way is discriminate gereyan way is cunsuriyeaan no matter what. How ever we cant change its just something we are , Somalis if they don’t discriminate . it means they are not Somalis . are we bad people yes.

[Shonuff]

It would be good to remind people that it is only the mushunguli who Zigua and not all Somali bantus. Most mushungulis never considered themselves Somalis anyway. At least the ones I knew were always aware that they were Tanzanians though there are many of their people in Kenya too.

[Murax]

Life has been a struggle, adds Fatouma, his neighbour and a grandmother of three, but "today, we are citizens of Tanzania. My granddaughters could even become president one day. In Somalia, for a Bantu, that would not be possible."

Somalidu wa dad aad u xun xun walahi

Are you bipolar man? Just today you were talking about Madhibaan people. If you discriminate againt those that look like you, are ethnic Somalis, speak your language, have your religion, share your nomadic culture are we to believe you would have better views about the Bantu who look a little differently than you and don't even share your nomadic culture?

Voltage,

Using Somalis retarded logic, in seeing Cali Samatr today, His Daughters are more attractive than most SOmali girls, He is lighter, and Has more "Somali features" than most Somalis. His culture is 100% inline with the Somali nomadic culture, and even these Guys are looked down upon?? I mean at least with the Bantus, there is a disparity in features and culture, here there isn't.

[grandpakhalif]

Well there you go. Tanzania is forever closed to us now. Imagine once the history of Somali Bantus of Tanzanian descent start being understood by every Tanzanian child.

Why do you sympathise with Beesha Bantu?

Because they have been wrongly oppressed for looking the way God made them. What is there not to sympathize with them for?

They are nothing but trouble around here, I don't like them, I don't like them one bit.

[Voltage]

No but that doesn’t mean somalidu wali inay yihin dad xun xun waxba isu ma ogala wa is xaasidan way is discriminate gereyan way is cunsuriyeaan no matter what. How ever we cant change its just something we are , Somalis if they don’t discriminate . it means they are not Somalis . are we bad people yes.

Get a load of this bullshit!

Being Somali is being discriminatory ku lahaa. President Siyaad said SIINAAN. A Madhibaan became his vice-president higher than any Isaaq, Hawiye, Darood, or any other "noble clan". Was he not a Somali? Rather sxb, basically you are not Emperior if you don't discriminate. You are the one who doesn't want to change how you are.

I am a Somali and I believe a literate Bantu is more noble than an illiterate reer Siyaad Diini Farah Ugaas Marehan Darod Somali man.

[Murax]

grandpakhalif. You got a lot of growing up to do kid. Don't spend too much time on snet it will mess u up.