Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
cessary equipment was unavailable. People didn't want to work communally; they wanted
to provide for their own families first. Government prices for crops were set too low. To
paraphrase analyst Goran Hyden, the peasantry responded by retreating into subsistence
farming - just growing their own food. National agricultural production and revenue from
cash crop exports plummeted.
Summing up the results of the
Arusha Declaration
policies, Nyerere candidly admitted
that the government had made some mistakes. However, he also noted progress towards
social equality: the ratio between the highest salaries and the lowest paid narrowed from
50:1 in 1961 to around 9:1 in 1976. Despite a meagre colonial inheritance, Tanzania made
great strides in education and healthcare. Under Nyerere's leadership, it forged a cohesive
national identity. With the exception of occasional isolated eruptions of civil strife on Zan-
zibar, it has also enjoyed internal peace and stability throughout its existence.
TANZANIA ON THE WORLD STAGE
Throughout the 1960s to the 1980s, Nyerere, representing Tanzania, was a voice
of moral authority in global forums such as the UN, the Organization of African
Unity and the Commonwealth. He asserted the autonomy of 'Third World'
states, and pressed for a fairer global economic structure.
Nyerere's government was also a vocal advocate for the liberation of southern
Africa from white minority rule. From 1963, Tanzania provided a base for the
South African, Zimbabwean and Mozambican liberation movements within its
territory as well as military support, at great cost - both human and material - to
itself.
While accepting Chinese assistance to build the Tazara Railway from Zambia
to Dar es Salaam in the 1970s, throughout the Cold War Tanzania remained
staunchly nonaligned, resisting the machinations and blandishments of both
East and West.
Tanzania's lower profile on the world stage in recent years can be attributed
to the passing of the charismatic and revered Nyerere as well as the circum-
scribed room to manoeuvre afforded the government because of its economic
woes and aid dependency. Nevertheless, Tanzania has always opened its doors
to civilians fleeing violence in the countries that surround it - Uganda, Burundi,
Congo and Mozambique. It still hosts more than half a million refugees - more
than any other African country. They are mainly from Burundi and the Demo-
cratic Republic of Congo Zaïre, living in camps along Tanzania's western bor-
ders.
