Police in southern Tanzania used teargas Wednesday to disperse
about 200 Christian rioters attempting to torch a mosque over an animal
slaughtering conflict.
“The situation is now under control and there is not much damage, but two people including a policeman sustained stone injuries,” Mbeya Regional Police Commander Diwani Athumani told AFP.
Police arrived at the mosque in time to put out the fire.
Athumani said the estimated 200 rioters also destroyed property of
a Chinese firm building a road between the town of Tunduma where the incident
took place and Sumbawanga.
“At least 50 people have been arrested in connection with the
riots and efforts are still going on to apprehend more troublemakers,” the
police commander said.
He said tensions between Muslims and Christians in the area had
been rising over the slaughtering of animals for public consumption, a task
traditionally carried out by Muslims.
The issue of Christians performing the slaughtering sparked
tensions in different parts of the country, as Muslims fear they will not
respect Islamic rules.
Source: Vanguardngr
Athumani said the issue had been resolved during several meetings
held by Mbeya Regional Commissioner Abbas Kandoro, but some politicians were
now instigating people to riot.
“It is no longer a religious issue, but some people now want to
make political capital out of the matter,” he said.
On the nearby Zambian side of the border, authorities in the town
of Nakonde announced they had closed the border after the incidents.
“We have closed our border in Nakonde because Muslims and
Christians are fighting in Tanzania and we are afraid that if we remain open,
many can flock into here,” said James Singoyi, the District Commissioner for
Nakonde, approximately 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) north of the capital
Lusaka.
The Nakonde border is the main entry point into Zambia, a
landlocked country for imported goods particularly second-hand vehicles from
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