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Arusha

City in Arusha Region, Tanzania

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View of Arusha City in 2021, Arusha Region, Tanzania.
Halidtz · CC BY-SA 4.0

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Through United Nations, Christianity and Islam

Located below Mount Meru on the eastern edge of the eastern branch of the Great Rift Valley, Arusha region has a temperate climate. The region is close to the Serengeti National Park, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Lake Manyara National Park, Olduvai Gorge, Tarangire National Park, Mount Kilimanjaro, and Mount Meru in the Arusha National Park.

The region is a major international diplomatic hub. It hosts the African Court of the African Union and is the capital of the East African Community. From 1994 to 2015, the region also hosted the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, but that entity has ceased operations. Currently, it hosts one of the branches of the United Nations International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals.

Arusha is a multicultural region with a majority Tanzanian population of mixed backgrounds: indigenous African, Arab-Tanzanian and Indian-Tanzanian population, plus a small European and North American minority population. Religions of the Arusha region population include Christianity, Islam, Sikhism and Hinduism.

History

The current site of Arusha was first settled in the 1830s by the agro-pastoral Arusha Maasai from the Arusha Chini community, south of Mount Kilimanjaro. They traded grains, honey, beer, and tobacco with the pastoral Kisongo Maasai in exchange for livestock, milk, meat, and skins. Demand for Arusha's foodstuffs increased substantially during the 1860s when the Pangani Valley trade route was extended through Old Moshi, Arusha, and ultimately to western Kenya. Although not yet a town, it was a regional centre with a number of urban features.

Arusha was conquered by the Germans in 1896 after the murder of the first two missionaries who attempted to settle on nearby Mount Meru. The Germans established a permanent presence in 1900 when a military fort (a boma) was built and soldiers were garrisoned there. "The boma was a solid statement, meant to impress German moral and political order on the surrounding countryside. Set on a rise overlooking the plains, the fortress-like building dominated the surrounding landscape" complete with a machine gun.

Many Africans were forcibly displaced from their ancestral lands by the Germans and forced to dig lime or carry stones to construct the fort. The British took Arusha from the Germans in 1916 during World War I. German officials left the area, the British deported German missionaries and settlers, and only a skeletal military administration of the town remained.

During the 1920s, civilian administration was implemented, missionaries from the United States arrived, British and Greek settlers reoccupied the former German farms, and the town grew, especially after the British moved the regional administration from New Moshi to Arusha. The extension of the railroad from Moshi to Arusha in 1928-29 greatly increased commerce. The Great Depression soon squelched commerce and Arusha in 1940 had fewer than 2,000 residents. Growth resumed during World War II and by 1948, the population had increased to more than 5,000.

In 1952, a partial census was conducted in Tanganyika, covering cities and towns. Arusha's population at the time was 7,797, of whom 1,084 were Europeans, 3,153 were Asians, and 3,560 native Africans.

By the 1950s, Arusha was "a polyglot, westernized little town; it has a Greek community, several Germans predating World War I, and some German Jewish refugees post-dating World War II." A state of emergency was declared in the Arusha region in 1953 in response to the Mau Mau Uprising. Journalist John Gunther noted at the time that "a loyal tribe, the Waarusha, threatened to take violent countermeasures against the Kikuyus themselves, if the British did not. The authorities arrested the leading Mau Mau conspirators, screened thousands more, and deported other thousands back to Kenya."

In the 1960s, parts of the movie Hatari! with John Wayne were filmed at Momela Lakes and at Mount Meru.

Arusha has been a crucial city in the history of modern Tanzania. Official documents ceding independence to Tanganyika were signed by the United Kingdom at Arusha in 1961. The Arusha Declaration was signed in 1967 in Arusha. The Arusha Accords were signed at the city of Arusha on 4 August 1993, by representatives of competing factions in the Rwandan civil war.

The Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement for Burundi was signed on 28 August 2000 as part of a process forging peace in that country through power sharing and establishing a transitional government.

The January 2015 Arusha Agreement for South Sudan created a framework for the reunification of South Sudan's ruling SPLM party, which had splintered into three creating a humanitarian crisis as fighting between factions intensified. It provided that all SPLM members who were dismissed be reinstated to their previous positions and a secret ballot system be adopted.

In 1994, the UN Security Council decided by its Resolution 955 of 8 November 1994 that Arusha should host the ad hoc International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. The establishment of the tribunal with its foreign employees has influenced the local economy of the city increasing the cost of living for residents. The tribunal has downsized due to its closure in 2014, but its legal successor, the United Nations International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals established by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1966, will continue entertaining a branch in Arusha, opening on 1 July 2012. The tribunal indicted 93 individuals and sentenced 62.

The Tanzanian government intended to declare Arusha a city on 1 July 2006, but this was delayed due to pending municipality boundary adjustments. Arusha was granted city status on 15 August 2012, with it becoming official on 2 November 2012.

In 2013, a quarry located in Arusha collapsed and killed 14 miners after heavy rain.

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