Tanzania Reportedly Warns Foreign Envoys Against Issuing 'Alarming Statements'

Earlier in January, the US Embassy in the East African country issued a warning of possible terror attacks in locations "frequented by US citizens and other Westerners in Dar es Salaam and elsewhere in Tanzania."

Foreign diplomatic missions should avoid issuing "alarming statements" concerning security in Tanzania, the country's Foreign Minister Stergomena Tax reportedly said. The statement was made at a meeting in the capital Dodoma, organized specifically to warn the heads of the missions on the matter.

Tax asked the diplomats to "observe diplomatic communication channels as stipulated by the Vienna Convention [...] to avoid creating unnecessary tension within and without the country," noting that Tanzania would "remain to be a peaceful, secure and stable country that gives due attention to matters of security internally, regionally and internationally."

The US mission's earlier claim that high-traffic areas frequented by Westerners "continue to be attractive targets to terrorists planning to conduct attacks" was followed by an alert made by the Dutch airline KLM. The latter warned its customers that there could be possible disruptions to its Kenya and Tanzania flights, attributed to "civil unrest."

Responding to KLM's statement, Kenyan Transport Minister Kipchumba Murkomen deemed it "unfounded, false, insensitive and misleading information that paints Kenya in bad light," noting that the government was "shocked" by the airline's warning.

In his turn, Tanzania’s Minister for Works and Transport Makame Mbarawa said that KLM's statement "has caused unnecessary fear and panic to the general public and aviation industry at large."