TPDF - Recent Activities
The Tanzania People’s Defense Force and Special Operations Command Africa co-hosted the East Africa Special Operations Conference in Zanzibar, in February 2013 to provide a forum for each of the participants to come together and share unique perspectives in order to build on partnerships that strengthen the collective effort to combat shared threats.
The theme of the conference was “Capable Special Operations Forces for the Challenges of Tomorrow.” Participants from Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Seychelles, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda took part in the conference, the first time military representatives of these nations have come together in one setting to discuss lessons learned from each perspective.
Across East Africa, the use of Special Operations Forces (SOF) as a means to enhance the capability to protect civilians is a growing trend. Each nation has a unique mission and purpose for its SOF component, and no two look exactly the same. However, SOF in nearly every nation share a common set of experiences as they continue to grow and develop their individual capacities.
While on his official visit in Kagera Region in August 2013 President Jakaya Kikwete after listening to residents’ complaints about illegal immigrants from Rwanda, Burundi and DRC, he declared to form a task force that would organise a special operation to ensure that all illegal immigrants in Kagera, Kigoma and possibly in Simiyu and Geita regions are sent back to their home countries.
The task force, which was formed to do the job comprised officers from Police Force, the Department of Immigration, the Intelligence Unit and Tanzania People’s Defence Force. However, President Kikwete gave illegal immigrants a two -week grace period to leave the country on their own before the operation. It was reported through the media that a good number of illegal immigrants left the country on their own free will, but thousands others did not respond to President Kikwete’s plea.
The Operation Kimbunga, simply meaning a “fierce task force” for that purpose began its work for nabbing immigrants residing in the country illegally. As the operation in those regions came to an end in October 2013, thousands of illegal immigrants already netted, some of them have been in the country for many years.
In October 2013, President Jakaya Kikwete ordered more than 2 300 security personnel from Tanzania’s People’s Defense Force, local police and special anti-poaching militias and wildlife rangers to step up enforcement of a ban on elephant and rhinoceros poaching, which has been growing in recent years.
But in November, Kikwete was forced to end the campaign, dubbed Operation Tokomeza, under heavy criticism. “The anti-poaching operation had good intentions, but the reported murders, rapes and brutality are totally unacceptable,” Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda told the Parliament in December 2013. Pinda said wildlife poaching has reached alarming dimensions in the country’s national parks, especially Selous Game Reserve, whose elephant population had dwindled from 55 000 to 13 000.
Tanzania People’s Defence Force (TPDF) lead the regimented military training and peacekeeping operations in most all the East and Southern Africa regions, minister for Defence and National Service, Dr Hussein Mwinyi reported. Addressing parliament in May 2014, he said the country’s defence forces continue to play a vital role in military training and peacekeeping operations across sub-Sahara Africa.
"To build powerful Regional Cooperation, TPDF conducted numeral military trainings to military officers and troops from member countries of the East African Community (EAC) and South African Development Community (SADC),” Dr Mwinyi who is leading the defense ministry for second time detailed.
According to his report, in the last fiscal year, TPDF offered training opportunities to troops and military officers from defence forces of Botswana, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Malawi. Others on the list include Zambia, Namibia, Seychelles, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe where deeply tailored military courses including defensce mechanisms and Warfield intelligence were offered in both practical and theoretical applications.
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