Fishermen in Vanga location in Kwale County are up in arms over brutality and other forms of inhuman treatment meted out to them by Tanzanian police when they are arrested on suspicion of fishing in Tanzanian waters of the Indian Ocean using banned fishing gear.

Interviewed, the fishermen accused the police constant bullying and appealed to the government to intervene by setting a clear boundary to end the frequent disputes.

Vanga community resides in a small village adjacent to the Kenya-Tanzania border in Kwale County, and their main source of livelihood is fishing and rice farming, which is done on small-scale basis.

Fishermen and vendors want the government to intervene and set a boundary at the Indian Ocean in Vanga, claiming that the Tanzanian maritime police is brutal to Kenyan fishermen, who sometimes accidentally cross over to look for more fish.

One of the fishermen, Bwamrii Masha, recounted the ordeal he was subjected to when he was arrested and found himself in the hands of Tanzanian police. He was flogged and forced to eat raw fish, besides being given punitive tasks to complete before he was set free.

Vanga Location Senior Chief Kama Abdallah says the locality is free of criminal gangs. He explained that it has been long since the area experienced insecurity. However, he said human trafficking and illegal trade are issues of great concern, noting that illicit drugs are frequently smuggled into Kenya from Tanzania.

Abdallah noted that cross-border relationship with neighbouring Tanzania need to be relooked into and addressed adequately. He observed that collaboration, particularly when dealing with criminals, is critical.

“We have a challenge as nine kilometres from Vanga Location is a Tanzania Border Police Unit. Kenyan fishermen complain of harassment and sometimes their identity cards are confiscated when they present them for identification. As grassroots government, we are working on collaboration with our counterparts from Tanzania to resolve the problem,” he said.

He pointed out that sometimes fishermen are forced to enter the Tanzanian side of the ocean to fish because fish is pushed to Kenyan or Tanzanian side by monsoon winds. At the same time, when they do not have identity cards they end-up in problems when they are arrested on foreign soil.

Abdallah said there is a challenge in the registration of fishermen as there were 980 of them out of whom only 450 have licences.

Tanzanian Chairman Beach Management Unit, Shauri Athman, confirmed that Kenya fishermen have been arrested and punished based on the fishing mistakes they make on the Tanzanian side of the ocean.

Athman said the Tanzania government has set aside some areas where fishing is prohibited to either fisherman from Tanzania or Kenya, however, he claims Kenyan fishermen still find ways to fish in those areas.

Chairman, Jasini Village in Tanzania bordering Vanga village in Kenya, Ali Suleiman, asked Kenyan fishermen to adhere to laws and regulations of the country to avoid being punished by the deployed forces.

Suleiman said that there is a 15-kilometre distance which is free to move for both Kenyans and Tanzania, with only a letter by the local authorities for day-to-day errands, but beyond the said landmark, one needs a passport.

“It is illegal to enter a foreign country without the required travel documents. We should not normalise some behaviours but respect the law placed to govern a country,” he said.

Suleiman asked the local leadership to collaborate and work together in tackling the identified challenges, claiming Kenyan leaders are hard to co-operate sometimes on matters of information sharing.

Director of Grassroots Women Rights Centre (GWRRC) in Vanga Mwanatumu Kadau said that, as human rights defenders, they advocate for peaceful co-existence of the border community, thus the call to have local leaders from Jasini and Vanga villages, to discuss some of the pending challenges facing locals that undermine their co-existence.

“We are hopeful that if our people will support this peace initiative, we will get a lasting solution to the border disputes that fishermen and the general Vanga people are facing,” she said.

• A Tell / KNA report / By Sari Suche

Kenya and Tanzania fishermen during a peace building engagement forum in Vanga, to discuss a way forward on peaceful co-existence at the Indian ocean when doing fishing.

Senior Chief Kama Abdallah addresses local residents of Vanga and Jasini area of the Kenyan border and Tanzanian border respectively on matters of peaceful co-existence. He is flanked by the Assistant Chief (left) and the Vanga Village Chairman.