Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses
मनोहर पर्रिकर रक्षा अध्ययन एवं विश्लेषण संस्थान

India – Tanzania Ties Get A Fillip

  • Ruchita Beri
    He worked at Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses from 1991 to 2023 read more
View Point

India’s ties with Tanzania are on the upswing after the five-day state visit of President Jakaya Kikwete to New Delhi from June 17-21, 2015. The importance of the visit lies in the fact that it was the first state visit from an African country to India ever since Narendra Modi took over the leadership of the country. Bilaterally, during the visit six Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) were signed between the two countries to strengthen cooperation in the fields such as, agriculture, maritime zone, capacity building and tourism. Strategically, this visit highlights India’s plans to forge cooperation with Tanzania on maritime security, counter terrorism and energy security among other areas.

India and Tanzania have a common interest in maritime security. 1 Looking at the wide range of threats in the maritime sphere such as sea piracy, armed robbery, narcotics trafficking, terrorism, India, has declared maritime security as top priority. 2 Similarly there is no doubt that maritime security is an issue of concern for Tanzania to. There is continuous traffic of freight vessels of African, European, Asian (including Indian) countries, along its 1424 km long coast line. Protection of Sea Lanes of Communication (SLOC) is an important concern but Tanzania has a small navy that is not sufficiently equipped to deal with the emerging maritime threats. In 2010, 29 incidents of piracy were reported off Tanzanian coast, 9 in 2011, and subsequently there has been a decline. 3 Largely, the acts of piracy in Tanzania are different from those close to Somalia. These incidents happen mainly while the ships are at the outer anchorage of the Dar-es-Salaam port. The pirates board the ship and steal whatever they can lay their hands on and run away. However in 2010, during the height of piracy in the Indian Ocean region, Somali pirates ventured south to attack shipping vessels in Tanzanian waters. 4 Moreover, the fact that this area is far from the normally patrolled seas by the international counter piracy coalition also made these waters attractive to the pirates. These incidents pushed Tanzania, South Africa and Mozambique to a trilateral maritime security agreement in 2012. The provisions of this agreement allowed each country, among other things, to patrol and undertake hot pursuit operations against any suspects. Nevertheless, despite the decline in piracy, there are other threats such as threat of illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing. The recent discovery of large deposits of natural gas off the country’s sea coast has made the Tanzanian government vary of threat to the emerging natural gas infrastructure in the region and it is open to finding new partners, like India, to deal with this peril.

During President Kikwete’s visit, Prime Minister Modi offered to cooperate in the development of the natural gas sector of Tanzania. 5 While natural gas was first discovered in Songo Songo offshore block in 1974, it is the recent discoveries (2010) that have revealed that Tanzania has sizable natural gas deposits deep in the Indian Ocean. It is estimated that the country has over 46.5 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves, and they are predicted to rise to 200 trillion cubic feet by 2016. A large number of foreign oil companies such as Stat oil ASA, BG group, Exon – Mobil, Ophir energy have been active in Tanzania’s natural gas sector. China has been involved in constructing the Mtwara to Dar-es-Salam pipeline. 6 This connects offshore natural gas fields in Manzi Bay and Songo Songo Island located in southern Tanzania to the mainland. While India has shown interest in Tanzania’s natural gas sector, it should realise that with the exception of Songo Songo and Manzi Bay fields that are producing a small amounts of gas, bulk of Tanzanian gas industry is still in exploration phase and infrastructure associated with this sector such as the Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) terminal etc. still remains to be constructed. It may take around a decade before natural gas production starts in a big way. 7 Further, Tanzania does not have an adequate legal, regulatory framework to govern the petroleum sector, both in the interest of the citizens of the country and also the foreign investors. The debate over the management and regulation of the natural gas sector is quite intense in the country. Recently, the Tanzanian parliament passed the controversial petroleum bills in ‘urgency’, amidst protests by the opposition parties. Concern has also been expressed by members of the civil society and they claim that the entire legislative process was not consultative.8

Finally, during President Kikwete’s visit India and Tanzania agreed to set up a joint working group on counter terrorism. Tanzania shares India’s concerns over the spread of terrorism and is interested in seeking India’s expertise in countering the threat. Tanzania is experiencing a rising number of terror attacks that have targeted local Christian leaders and foreign tourists, as well as popular bars and restaurants. 99 These attacks, which began in 2012, rarely make the headlines of international media. While Tanzania is widely regarded as a stable country it is not new to terrorism; most well-known is the attack on the US embassy in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania on August 7, 1998. Recent terror attacks in Zanzibar and Arusha have raised fears that stability in Tanzania may be disrupted. These fears have grown since President Kikwete’s revelation that terrorists may have been behind attacks on several police stations in the country earlier this year.10 Some of these attacks have been traced back to Muslim fundamentalist groups such as Association of Islamic Mobilisation and Propagation (UAMSHO) within the country. These groups may have emerged out of marginalisation of conservative Islamists voices in Tanzanian politics or frustration over status of Zanzibar (a predominantly Muslim region) in the union. Apart from the home grown terror network, the greater threat is that there may be a link with other regional counterparts such as the Al Shabaab in Somalia and it’s Kenyan off shoot Al Hijra. In 2013, the Tanzanian police arrested over eleven young men in Mtware province, who were undergoing terrorism training and were reported to have links with Al Shabaab. 11 This was followed by the police busting an Al Shabaab terror training camp in Kilindi district.12

Thus President Kikwete’s visit to India has opened up new vistas of cooperation between the two countries. India has dealt with the scourge of terrorism for several decades and Tanzania would benefit from sharing of best practises in countering terrorism. In so far as the natural gas sector in Tanzania is concerned it is at an embryonic stage, and while it does provide opportunities for Indian companies, it will take at least a decade for the investments to get returns. From India’s perspective cooperation in maritime security and blue economy is extremely vital and mutually beneficial. India is currently Tanzania’s largest trading partner, hopefully this visit will reinforce the ties further.

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