- All Africa
- Africa abroad
- Algeria
- Angola
- Benin
- Botswana
- Burkina Faso
- Cape Verde
- Burundi
- Cameroon
- Central African Republic
- Chad
- Comoros
- Congo
- Democratic Republic of Congo
- Djibouti
- Egypt
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Ethiopia
- Gabon
- Gambia
- Ghana
- Guinea
- Guinea Bissau
- Ivory Coast
- Kenya
- Lesotho
- Liberia
- Libya
- Madagascar
- Malawi
- Mali
- Mauritania
- Mauritius
- Morocco
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- Niger
- Nigeria
- Reunion
- Rwanda
- Sao Tome and Principe
- Senegal
- Sierra Leone
- Somalia
- South Africa
- Sudan
- Swaziland
- Tanzania
- Togo
- Tunisia
- Uganda
- Western
Sahara - Zambia
- Zimbabwe
tanzania
about tanzania
official name: United Republic of Tanzania
capital: Dar es Salaam
head of state: President Benjamin William Mkapa
state: multi party democracy
population: 36, 2 million
independence: from Britain 1961
languages: Kiswahili or Swahili (official), Kiunguju (name for Swahili in Zanzibar), English (official, primary language of commerce, administration, and higher education), Arabic (widely spoken in Zanzibar)
religion: mainland - Christian 45%, Muslim 35%, indigenous beliefs 20%; Zanzibar - more than 99% Muslim
currency: Tanzanian shilling (TZS)
media: Media Express Weekly http://www.theexpress.com
IPP Media News http://www.ippmedia.comlegal wise
status of homosexuality: illegal
age of consent: 16
laws covering homosexual activity: Section 154 to 157 of the Penal Code criminalize homosexual acts between men, with a penalty of up to 14 years' imprisonment.
background information and government attitudes: A UK citizen was expelled for being gay in 1998. An LGBT movement is growing in Tanzania but it is slow and underground for fear of persecution and improsonment.
communication
mainline telephones: 127,000 (1998)
cellular telephones: 30,000 (1999)
internet country code: .tz
internet service providers: 6 (2000)
internet users: 25,000 (2000)links and contacts
NA
gay
priest in dar es salaam court
May
25, 2005: Although the age of consent is 16 and the penal code imposes maximum
of 14 years on those convicted of homosexual acts, a man is sentenced to life
imprisonment for allegedly having sex with a 16 years old. More...
a
group of four men accused of killing a gay man in zanzibar charged with murder
May
13, 2005: A gay Pemba man was killed for allegedly planning to wed his Kenyan
lover in Zanzibar and the police spokesperson confirms that there is police witch-hunt
for such marriages. More...
vox pop from dar
December 6, 2004: A small survey of LGBT people in Dar es Salaam highlights the
main issues of the day among the community. The countries LGBT organisations and
the Zanzibar bill which is yet to be signed into law by the President. More...
homosexuals risk 25
year in prison
August 22, 2004: Zanzibar has enacted a law that allows
for the imprisonment of homosexuals for up to 25 years. More...
life under the new laws
June 3, 2004: Jeevan Vasagar writes for The Guardian on the tough new anti-gay
laws in Zanzibar. Some gays fear being pushed into a twilight zone while officials
say they only require discretion. More…
gay men liable to
jail for life in zanzibar
March
25, 2004: A moral panic over homosexuality in Zanzibar has prompted the island's
government to draft a law imposing life imprisonment for men convicted of gay
sex. More…
no boat after all
May 26, 2003: Doubt has arisen over the existence of a boat carrying US gay tourists
whose supposed arrival sparked huge protests in the capital of Tanzania and later
in the Kenyan port of Mombasa. More...
protest targets gay
tourists
March 10, 2003:
A noisy protest is scheduled to greet gay American tourists as they arrive in
the
Tanzanian capital this week, 365Gay.com reports More...
lgbt
group opens in dar es salaam
November
2000: Community Peer Support Services (CPSS) is an LGBT movement started by a
few queer activists three years ago to advocate for the rights of LGBT people
in Tanzania. More...
the gay muslim marriage
in tanzania
Undated: Two gay Tanzanian Muslims, Mohammed Issa and Abdulrahman
Juma exchanged rings and were married in public ceremony. More...
'nasty' cardinal prompts gay wedding
May
6, 2000: A religious leader's condemnation of homosexuality in Tanzania has provoked
a sharp response from gays and human rights activists. More...
deported for being gay
1998:
I am a British gay man. In 1990 I went to Tanzania as a volunteer, to teach at
a college in the small coastal town of Bagamoyo. I had expected to be celibate,
but I met a younger, Tanzanian man, with whom I started an affair. We tried to
be discreet, but in a small, gossipy community this was impossible. Also, my friend
became increasingly open about his sexuality and his relationship with me.
More...
homosexuality in tanzania
1998:
In Swahili there is traditionally no word for "male homosexual". (If
one has been coined recently, it is not generally known.) There is a term for
"lesbian": msagaji, literally, one who grinds. More...
amri
ya muungu
1998:
In a letter written to his friend Oskar Baumann - an Austrian explorer, in 1899,
M. Haberlandt discusses occurrence of homosexuality in Zanzibar.
More...
traditions
November
3, 1997: An old Tanzanian tradition in which women may marry women, alarm Aids
workers - but not because the 'married' women have sex. More...
letter
to east african
October 15, 1997: A
contributor from Dar es Salaam wrote in homophobic terms that male homosexuality
is alien to African culture. More...