The ‘magnetic pull’ of Arusha is historical, dating back to the 1830s

What you need to know:

  • A week or so later he walked into our classroom and scribbled on the blackboard a question: ‘What is a Rush between two As?’ Needless to say we failed to come up with an answer. “The answer is A-rush-A: Arusha. And that is where I come from,” he wrote on the board.

I do recall that it was in 1971 when I and other young native minds were in Form III at the-then Mkwawa High School in Iringa being groomed into the ‘modern’ ways of life.

There were several men and women from Bongoland and as far as UK and India - teachers - whose daily task was to mould our native brains into this ‘modernity’ thing...

One of them was a young Indian teacher who taught us English Language. But his English accent was very Indian at that. And we used to laugh and share jokes about this. Then one day he admonished us in Swahili. We were to say the least shocked and subsequently apologised and asked where he came from. He did not respond.

A week or so later he walked into our classroom and scribbled on the blackboard a question: ‘What is a Rush between two As?’ Needless to say we failed to come up with an answer. “The answer is A-rush-A: Arusha. And that is where I come from,” he wrote on the board.

From that day I began thinking about Arusha. Yes, it was a famous town. But how was life there. I had read a lot about it and indeed I looked forward to the day I would visit it.

Little did I know that, many years later, I would become an Arusha resident for more than 30 years - and, indeed, make it my second home.

But then Arusha swallows anyone who dares to come into close contact with the bustling, now a city, nestling below the panoramic Mount Meru. The suburbs of Arusha are full of people from all over the globe who initially went there as staff of international organisations or as tourists and investors.

What is the magic behind all this? I did some research. You see: this place was first settled in the 1830s by the agro-pastoral Arusha Maasai from Arusha-Chini south of the mighty Mount Kilimanjaro.

The early settlers traded grains, honey, beer and tobacco with the pastoral Kisongo Maasai in exchange for livestock, milk, meat and hides. In the 1860s, Arusha became more important following extension of the Pangani trade route through Old Moshi, Arusha and ultimately to Western Kenya.

Then Arusha was conquered by the Germans in 1891 after the murder of the first two missionaries who attempted to settle on the southern slopes of Mount Meru.

In due course, the Germans established a permanent presence in 1890s, and they built a military fort - a Boma- and soldiers were garrisoned there, as a symbol of German power. The Boma is now a museum.

During World War I (1914-18), the British took Arusha from the Germans in 1916, and deported most of their missionaries and settlers. Then, in the 1920s, the British welcomed missionaries from the US and settlers from Britain and Greece. These re-occupied the former German settler farms - and the town grew.

Actually, by the 1950s, Arusha was a polyglot ‘westernized’ little town with rail facilities and attracting such Hollywood stars as John Wayne to appear in Howard Hawks’ 1962 film ‘Hatari!’

But, what most people do not know is that Arusha has hosted and facilitated some interesting historical events with global significance.

These include the fact that the official documents ceding independence of Tanganyika were signed by the United Kingdom at Arusha in 1961. And, not forgetting the famous Arusha Declaration signed there on February 5, 1967.

In the aftermath of the Rwanda civil war in the early 1990s it was Arusha again which hosted the Peace Accords signing on August 4, 1993.

The Peace and Reconciliation Agreement for Burundi was also signed in Arusha on August 28, 2000.

The January 2015, an Agreement for South Sudan, creating a framework for the reunification of the country’s ruling SPLM party was signed in Arusha. The party had splintered into three, creating a humanitarian crisis as fighting among the factions intensified.

Then in 1994 the UN Security Council decided by Resolution 955 of November 8 that Arusha should host the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). After the ICTR closed in 2014 it’s legal successor, the Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, established by the UN Security Council Resolution 1966, is now located in Arusha.

Arusha is all the foregoing - and more! The metropolis hosts several other international organisations, including the East African Community Secretariat (EAC); the Pan-African Postal Union (Papu); the African Court on Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR); the Pan-African Nelson Mandela Institute of Science and Technology, and the East and Southern African Management Institute (Esami) - to mention just a few.

These institutions - including the Arusha International Conference Centre (AICC), whose slogan is ‘Bringing the World to Tanzania’ - and the thousands of tourists who visit the city every month make Arusha a place of international repute.

I adore and love this city, my second home, which was officially granted ‘City Status’ on July 1, 2006.

________________________________________________________________

The author is a veteran journalist and communications expert based in Arusha.