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TPDF History - 1980-2007 - Evolution

Global changes the early 1990s led to a shift in Tanzania’s foreign and domestic policies, marking the third phase of the TPDF’s evolution. The collapse of the Soviet Union, the consequent end of the Cold War, and the end of liberation struggles in Southern Africa, prompted drastic changes in Tanzania.

During the liberation wars in Southern Africa, TPDF members were deployed in Mozambique in the 1980s to support the liberation struggle. Tanzania, Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe became involved in the war in Mozambique when RENAMO, supported by apartheid South Africa, intensified its increasingly sophisticated operations against the freedom fighters. The TPDF has trained various forces from pre-independence Mozambique and Zimbabwe, personnel from the Seychelles and Comoros, and the African People’s Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Pan African Congress.

From 1994, the TPDF trained the African National Congress (ANC) forces in preparation for their integration into the South African Forces. From 1997 to 1998 the TPDF trained former guerrillas of the Alliance Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo/ Zaire (AFDL) as the new Congolese Armed Forces in the DRC. The TPDF troops were later withdrawn because of the war in the Congo.

Since the 1990s, the TPDF concentrated its efforts on modernizing its forces to meet technological developments, increased threats and regional and international responsibilities. The TPDF was restructured in 1992 to respond to these changes, which included de-politicization.

In September 2007, General Davis Mwamunyange became the TPDF's seventh Chief of Defense Forces. Under his watch, the TPDF made two significant philosophical changes. First, the TPDF decided to become more involved in regional matters to include international Peacekeeping Operations (PKO). Second, it decided to extend military-to-military cooperation beyond its traditional partners such as China and Russia to other nations, especially the United States.

But while General Mwamunyange presided over these changes, it would be a mistake to attribute the changes to him alone. The philosophical shift started two years prior when Jakaya Kikwete became the President of Tanzania. However, General Mwamunyange's predecessor, General George Waitara, resisted President Kikwete's push for the TPDF to become involved in PKO operations and to engage with non-traditional partners.

Rather than openly court a disagreement with his Chief of Defense Forces, President Kikwete, in keeping with African leadership principles, astutely chose to wait until Waitara's pending retirement to implement his desired philosophical changes. General Waitara had two cultural "advantages" over President Kikwete. First and foremost, he was Kikwete's elder. Second, as a retired military officer, President Kikwete used to work for General Waitara. In an African context, the combination of these two factors presented problems for Kikwete. President Kikwete then hand-picked General Mwamunyange, a person with whom he has maintained a close professional relationship with for years, to succeed General Waitara.