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Two Suspected 'Witches' Hacked to Death in Tanzania

Two Tanzanian women were hacked to death by men who accused them of casting spells that made them sexually impotent, police said Friday, in the latest killings of alleged "witches".

The women, one aged in her 80s and her 45-year old daughter, were killed in the village of Ihugi in Tanzania's northern Shinyanga province late on Tuesday.

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Tanzania to Grant Citizenship to 200,000 Burundi Refugees

Tanzania said Tuesday it will grant citizenship to some 200,000 refugees from neighboring Burundi, a move hailed by the U.N. refugee agency.

"Those to be granted citizenship are refugees who have stayed in Tanzania since 1972 and have voluntarily opted to stay in the country," Home Affairs Minister Mathias Chikawe told Agence France-Presse.

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U.N. Expert Condemns 'Appalling' Abuse of Tanzania Albinos

A U.N. expert Monday condemned the abuse of young albinos in government care centers in Tanzania, a country where many are killed and their body parts sold as lucky charms.

At least 74 albinos have been murdered in the east African country since 2000.

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Defeat of Somalia's Shebab 'Matter of Time'

A former top U.N. envoy said Wednesday that Somalia's al-Qaida-linked Shebab rebels will be defeated if foreign governments stay the course in backing the fragile government in Mogadishu.

Speaking at Land Forces East Africa, a two-day regional defense conference and military technology exhibition, the former envoy to Somalia played down a recent upsurge in Shebab attacks inside the country and across the border in Kenya.

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Attacks Hit Tanzania and Kenya Tourist Sites

Tanzania and Kenya were targeted in separate attacks in key tourist sites in the east African nations, police said Tuesday, the latest in a series of bombings and gun battles scaring off foreign visitors.

While the attacks -- including a restaurant bomb blast that wounded eight in Tanzania and a gun battle at a wildlife conservation center in Kenya -- are not reported to be connected, they threaten to badly dent the countries' crucial tourism industry.

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UNESCO Lists Tanzanian Reserve among Endangered Heritage Sites

U.N. cultural body UNESCO on Wednesday put the Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania on the list of endangered World Heritage sites because of widespread poaching.

The animal population at the 50,000 square kilometers (19,000 square miles) park had dwindled significantly since it was listed as a heritage site in 1982, UNESCO said.

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Police: One killed, Several Wounded in Zanzibar Bombing

One person was killed and several others were wounded in a bomb attack near a mosque on Tanzania's Indian Ocean island of Zanzibar on Friday, police said.

Police said the bomb went off in the Daranjani commercial district of Stone Town, the UNESCO-listed historical centre of the semi-autonomous Tanzanian archipelago, at around 8:15 pm (1715 GMT).

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Australian Warship Makes Hashish Seizure

An Australian warship has seized 786 kilograms (1,733 pounds) of hashish in the Arabian Sea, the defense department said Thursday, one week after it found a large stash of heroin off Somalia.

The drugs, estimated to have a street value of Aus$30 million (US$28 million), were found on Monday after HMAS Darwin personnel searched a dhow -- a sailing vessel -- for 23 hours, the navy said.

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A Revolutionary Trip down Tanzania's Memory Lane

Mejah Mbuya hops off his bike outside a building that seems to be unoccupied.

"There used to be a plaque around here somewhere," he murmurs, searching in vain. The building is in central Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's steamy port city, and looks like many of the other older buildings in the area, in need of repair and dwarfed by proliferating highrises.

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At Least 10 Dead in Dar es Salaam Flooding

At least 10 people have died in heavy floods in Tanzania's commercial capital of Dar es Salaam, officials said Sunday.

The city's regional commissioner, Said Mecky Sadick, said the toll may rise with roads damaged and several bridges swept away.

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