Early August this year, Tanzania’s President Suluhu, 61, came to Rwanda for two-day working visit.
He was received by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Vincent Biruta upon arrival before meeting with her counterpart of Rwanda at Village Urugwiro where they held bilateral talks and witnessed the signing of four agreements in the areas of information and communication technology, immigration, education and regulation of medical products.
Suluhu who was in Rwanda for her maiden visit after assuming office in March 2021, also visited Kigali Genocide Memorial where she paid tribute to over 250,000 victims of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi laid there.
In the evening, Kagame hosted her counterpart to the State Banquet at Kigali Convention Center. On the last day of her stay in Rwanda, Suluhu and Kagamevisited Special Economic Zone.
Rwanda and Tanzania enjoy cordial relations and cooperation in the areas of politics, infrastructure, economy and security.
Tanzania is considered a major development partner where over 70% of Rwanda’s imports and exports are transited through.
{{What to know about Tanzania’s Independence }}
Tanzania Independence Day is celebrated on December 9 every year. 2021 marks the 60th year of the country’s independence from Britain, which governed Tanzania till 1961 under the name of Tanganyika.
Tanzania’s independence movement started in 1954 led by Julius Nyerere, who co-founded the “Tanganyika African National Union (TANU)”.
Nyerere was educated in Uganda and Scotland and began voicing his anti-colonial, Africanist political agenda as he returned to his country.
His ideology was inspired by the non-violent independence movement waged by Mahatma Gandhi in India and advocated for a similar resistance in Tanganyika.
Nyerere was instrumental in uniting several tribal factions over the region to launch a united front against the British.
Elected to the General Council in the national elections of 1958–59, Nyerere, known as teacher or ‘Mwalimu’ in Swahili because of his teaching career, became the first President of an independent Tanganyika in 1961.
The latter became a Republic the next year and merged with Zanzibar in 1964 after Sultan of Zanzibar was overthrown. This is when the name of the country changed to Tanzania.
Among others, Nyerere was also a socialist who laid down state-ownership policies for services and community ownership for farms.
When his plans failed to make Tanzania self-reliant, he became the first African leader to voluntarily resign from office. He remains a respected figure in the region because of his ethical principles.
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