By Zephania Ubwani, The Citizen Bureau Chief
Arusha. Britain wants the Tanzanian government to act on land conflicts pitting villagers against British farmers in Babati District, Manyara Region.In an interview here yesterday, the British High Commissioner to Tanzania, Ms Diane Corner, said her government was aware of the long simmering conflict that has turned bloody in recent months. She said the standoff has reached the extent of scaring away investors from her country.

"A solution to the crisis must be found so that the investors' rights are protected and local people assured of security," she told The Citizen on Saturday at an Arusha hotel.

Ms Corner, who ended her two-day visit to British investors in Arusha as well as regional organisations based in the northern regions yesterday, said the Tanzanian government must protect them.

She said investors from her country had invested heavily in commercial farming in the Kiru Valley near Babati, the Manyara regional headquarters, but were disturbed by conflicts over land. She explained that although she was agitating for the protection of estate owners and their property, dialogue was the best solution to the crisis because it would ensure that all parties in the conflict zone lived in harmony.

The envoy said her mission has been in touch with relevant government bodies, including ministries of Home Affairs as well as Foreign Affairs and International Relations. It had also contacted regional and district officials who had promised to cooperate on the  matter, she said.

She reiterated that the solution should centre on dialogue between commercial farmers and surrounding communities whose demands for land have increased because of the rising human and livestock population. Conflicts over land for farming and grazing between local people and large-scale farmers in Kiru Valley worsened from early last year, leading to violent clashes in which scores of people lost their lives.

In one incident, villagers torched sugar estates and stormed premises of their owners, burned their houses, vehicles, farm machinery and other property, thus worsening the tensions.

Most of the torching was directed at farms owned by Babati Rural MP Viraljil Jituson as well as Messrs Suresh Odedra and Mukesh Ogan. The latter two are among several farmers who say they are British citizens.

Toward the middle of the year, some investors threatened to withdraw investments from the area if they were not assured of protection by the government from the 'hostile' local people and compensation for their razed down properties.

According to the farmers, the bone of contention has been traditional livestock herders who often fed their animals on the farms and threatened to attack their owners when told to  stop the habit.

For their part, residents of the area have often attributed the problem to the shortage of grazing areas and land to till. They say the row could end once the farmers, mostly of Asian origin, vacate the area.

At one time one of the estate owners, Mr Babu Hatia, warned that some investors might decide to abandon commercial farming in Kiru if their security and that of their properties was not guaranteed.

Later, Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda dispatched  a team cabinet ministers to Babati District to seek ways to end the conflict. Several people were then arrested and arraigned in court for arson and associated violence.

Kiru valley, located between Babati and the southern shores of Lake Manyara, has been famous for settler farming since the colonial days.

After independence, and the Arusha Declaration much later, many of the settlers left the area fallow or sold their farms, many of which were taken over by the state or bought by farmers of Asian extraction.

Kiru commercial farmers are among British investors currently operating in and around Arusha. According to the High Commissioner, currently there are between 1,500 and 2,000 British firms in Tanzania’s northern regions.

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