By APOLINARI TAIRO

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Tanzania has raised the alarm over the rising number of illegal Ethiopian immigrants arrested en-route to South Africa.

According to immigration reports, more than 15,786 illegal immigrants were arrested in Tanzania between 2020 and 2021, mostly from the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes Region.

Last week, Tanzanian police and immigration officers in Dodoma intercepted 51 Ethiopian immigrants on their way to South Africa. Dodoma regional police commander Onesmo Lyanga said that the Ethiopians were hidden in a truck that was loaded with fresh tomatoes, travelling from Kilimanjaro region in northern Tanzania to the south.

Ethiopian immigrants used to enter Tanzania then travel through the coastal zone, but police road blocks have seen truck drivers use other routes.

Tanzania’s police spokesman David Misime said immigrants enter Tanzania with support of locals through negotiated payments.

Previous reports from the International Organisation for Migration indicated that each immigrant pays between $1,600 and $3,000 to syndicates who facilitate the move to South Africa, Botswana and Namibia.

Tanzania Minister for Home Affairs George Simbachawene said in parliament last year that over 1,000 illegal immigrants were arrested in Tanzania between July and October, mostly from neigbouring countries and the Horn of Africa. Porous borders between Kenya and Tanzania has been identified as key entry points for Ethiopian and Somali immigrants.

The borders between Kenya and Tanzania in Kilimanjaro, Arusha and Tanga regions is the most known entry for illegal immigrants, with a few sneaking through the Indian Ocean from Lamu, Mombasa then Pangani in Tanga, according to immigration reports.

Namanga (Arusha), Holili and Tarakea (Kilimanjaro) and Horohoro (Tanga) have hundreds of unmanned entry points while informal ports are used by speed boats along Tanga’s Indian Ocean coastline to ferry immigrants from Somalia via Mombasa.