TANZANIA: $29.5 Million Smuggled Petra Diamonds Impounded At Dar Airport

Tanzania said on Saturday it planned to nationalise diamonds whose value it put at $29.5 million belonging to a mine majority owned by London-listed Petra Diamonds after it accused the miner of under-declaring its mineral exports.

The diamonds were seized at the main airport in Tanzania's commercial capital Dar es Salaam on Aug. 31 as they were being exported by Williamson Diamonds Ltd to Antwerp, Belgium.

The government first confirmed the confiscation on Thursday, when President John Magufuli was receiving audits by parliamentary committees on the mining sector.

While Williamson Diamonds Ltd declared in its documentation that the value of the diamonds was $14.798 million, a fresh valuation done by the government established that the actual value of the diamonds is $29.5million," Tanzania's Finance and Planning Ministry said in a statement.

Among the legal action to be taken include the nationalisation of all the diamonds seized after it was established that there was cheating involved in declaring the actual value of the minerals, it said.

Petra owns 75 percent of the stake in Williamson Diamonds, with the remaining shares held by the government. The Williamson mine accounted for 18 percent of Petra's revenue last year.

Officials at Petra were not reachable for comment on Saturday.

On Thursday, the company said its business was conducted in a transparent manner and that it had complied with all legislation in Tanzania.

The government halted the export of the diamond shipment and ordered a fresh sorting and valuation of the minerals to verify if the actual value was declared and all relevant taxes were paid.

The statement said Tanzania's Finance and Planning Minister, Philip Mpango, had also ordered a criminal investigation to be launched against all officials involved in declaring the value of the diamonds and issuing export permits.

The minister also ordered the arrest of employees of the diamond mine and public officials involved in the shipment.

Tanzania is likely losing more than $46 million each year from the export of under-cleared diamonds through this airport,Mpango said in the statement.

Magufuli on Thursday ordered a review of Petra Diamonds' contract and asked senior public officials to resign over the outcome of an investigation into the mining sector.

One minister and a deputy minister quit their posts as requested, state-run television reported.

The president's actions are a continuation of a crackdown in a mining sector that accounts for about 4 percent of Tanzania's gross domestic product.

A parliamentary committee said on Thursday there were gross irregularities in the manner in which the Tanzanian government diluted its shareholding in Williamson from an initial 50 percent to the current 25 percent.

Magufuli also said he had ordered law enforcement agencies to investigate allegations of under-declared diamond exports.



Tourism Observer

TANZANIA: Israeli Visa Handling Center In Dar es Salaam

Tanzania is looking to attract Israel tourists and business stakeholders, while Tanzanian Christian pilgrims are looking up to visit Israel in rising numbers through visa application between Dar es Salaam and Tel Aviv.

The Embassy of Israel in Nairobi has established a visa handling center in Dar es Salaam to strengthen bilateral relations with Tanzania, looking to process travel documents between Dar es Salaam and Tel Aviv.

Tanzania President John Magufuli had expressed his intention to open the Tanzania embassy in Tel Aviv in a letter he addressed to Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his official visit to Uganda in July of last year.

In the letter sent to Mr. Netanyahu through Tanzanian Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr. Augustine Mahiga, President Magufuli had expressed his intention to establish a permanent embassy in Israel for the first time.

Tanzanian Minister for Tourism Prof. Jumanne Maghembe said a visa handling center, of which he witnessed its opening, would speed up travel arrangements between Tanzania and Israel with expectations to attract more Israeli tourists while facilitating visa application to Tanzanians looking to visit the Holy Land.

Prof. Maghembe said tourist charter planes from Israel are welcomed to bring tourists to Tanzania through travel arrangements to be processed in Dar es Salaam.

The number of Israel tourists to Tanzania had increased from 3,007 in 2011 to 14,754 in 2015, according to data available from the Tanzania Tourist Board.

Israel still conducts its relations with Tanzania via its Embassy in Kenya, and Tanzanians wishing to travel to Israel had to process their documents through Nairobi. The 2 countries are now looking to further strengthen their relations for which Israel has opened a visa center in Tanzania.

The Tanzania Tourist Board, on its part, has been encouraging Israeli tourists to make Tanzania their African safari destination, while a number of Tanzanians were looking to travel to Israel for religious pilgrimage in holy cities of Israel.

Negotiations between the Tanzania government and Israel are going on to get the best means that would help to strengthen and quicken travel and tourism links between Israel and Tanzania.

There are tourist charter planes from Israel landing at Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar boarded with Israelis.

Israel ambassador in Kenya Mr. Yahel Vilan said Tanzania stands among African countries which Israel has been looking for business and diplomatic cooperation. Israeli airline, El Al, has been looking to launch special tourist flights to Tanzania.

Numbers of pilgrims from Tanzania intent to visit the Holy Land, are expected to increase, affirming that easing access to a visa is a key element to encourage additional travel.

The Embassy of the State of Israel in Nairobi will be officially opening an Israeli Visa Handling Center in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on November 4 in a function set from 10 am-12:30 pm.

The Honorable Professor Jumanne Maghembe, the Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism, has graciously accepted to be the Guest of Honor.

The purpose of opening the visa office it to allow for all visa applications and documents, which are brought from all over Tanzania to be handled at the Centre, simplifying the process for Tanzanians who wish to visit Israel, and as another step in the strengthening of relations between Tanzania and Israel.

Numbers of pilgrims from Tanzania intent to visit the Holy Land, are as a result expected to increase, affirming that easing access to a visa is a key element to encourage additional travel.

The Ambassador of the State of Israel, who will travel to Dar es Salaam for this landmark event, will be available for interviews by local, regional, and international media on the matter of the pending UNESCO resolution where Tanzania has called for a vote together with Croatia on behalf of the State of Israel, a sign of strong bilateral ties between the two countries.

The official inauguration ceremony of the Israeli Visa Handling Center at Rickshaw Travels offices will take place in the Hyatt Hotel in Dar es Salaam. The event will be held at the offices in the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Kibo Hall.

Hands Off Our Elephants

Had former President Daniel arap Moi set ivory alight on 19th July 1989, notably a whole year before a global ivory trade ban came into effect. Former President Mwai Kibaki then did the same during a ceremony in Tsavo National Park on 20th of July 2011 while current President Uhuru Kenyatta on 03rd of March last year, at which time he promised to put the country's entire ivory stock beyond economic use.

Kenya's unprecedented step sets the country apart from many other elephant range countries where the governments are still hanging on to the notion that their stocks may eventually be sold, forgetting that it was the loosening of sales regulations by CITES in the first place which saw the blood ivory trade and poaching reach industrial levels and which, in neighbouring Tanzania, wiped out tens of thousands of elephant over the last several years of the regime of former President Jakaya Kikwete.

While that administration stood by almost idle in the face of the onslaught did they lobby hard to sell ivory on the world market, a notion which after the Nairobi burn on Saturday will be put firmly to rest.

African governments will find themselves under increased scrutiny and pressure now that Kenya is putting over 105 tons of ivory beyond use, to follow suit and either burn it or crush it.

The presence of Chinese officials on Saturday will be greeted by many with incredulity, as that country is seen as the main global driver for blood ivory and most customs seizures have taken place enroute or on arrival in China. Sadly are also more than 90 percent of all arrests made by airport security in Nairobi for illegal ivory trafficking of Chinese origin, so officials present on Saturday ought to take a stark message back home to Beijing to finally ban all trade,craft and possession of ivory, to pull the rug from underneath the demand side.

While poaching in Kenya is thankfully well contained, inspite of periodic reports of dead elephant being found, mostly courtesy of a renewed effort to fight poaching since Dr. Richard Leakey was appointed to chair the organization's Board of Trustees, has poaching of elephant for ivory flared up in Southern Africa.

Uganda and Rwanda have very few reported cases of poaching though Uganda is being used by smugglers in Eastern Congo and from South Sudan to traffic blood ivory through, and the new administration of Tanzanian President John Magufuli has cracked down hard on the syndicates with of late massive fines and decades long jail terms handed down to culprits.

In South Africa though, after a relentless onslaught on the country's rhinos which saw several thousand killed over the past few years, again with the Zuma regime doing very little to stop the menace until more recently, elephant poaching is on the upswing, including Mozambique and other range countries.

Kenya has invited political leaders and global opinion leaders from high finance to the show business to drive home the message of what the country is doing, once again claiming the moral high ground in conservation and in the process of course sending out the signals that visiting Kenya for big game safaris is once again an en vogue must see destination.

Pressure after the event will be massive on CITES and ivory consumer countries like China to put a complete stop to any form of trade and include other species for good measure too, to preserve wildlife for future generations at a time when debate rages across the world over growing human - wildlife conflict, including by the way in Kenya itself.

Expect a live report from onsite on Saturday as this correspondent will cut short a visit to Seychelles to be in Nairobi for the event and share pictures and impressions from the burn site at Nairobi National Park.