Tanzania denies violating sanctions imposed on North Korea
What you need to know:
- Foreign minister off to UN to explain to members
Dar es Salaam. The government on Friday, September 15, denied reports that Tanzania has violatedinternational sanctions imposed on North Korea.
Reports last week said that Tanzania was among several African countries being investigated by the United Nations for violating the sanctions imposed on the Asian country.
But at a press conference in Dar es Salaam, theminister for Foreign Affairs and East Africa Cooperation, Dr Augustine Mahiga, said Tanzania’s agreements with North Korea ceased immediately after the sanctions came into force.
He told reporters that previously, there were agreements with North Korea in diplomatic, political, business and military contracts.
"Tanzania has been named among 11 countries that have defied the sanctions and continued its association with North Korea," he said adding:
“That’s not so because immediately after Tanzania was named for allowing North Korean ships to use the country's flags, we sought help from International Maritime who helped to locate the ships and de-registered them and immediately sent a report to UN on the same.”
He also Tanzania had agreement with North Korea on improving security organs but the agreement was halted in 2014 after Tanzania was asked to do so.
"Of course we had to end slowly as we already had contracts with them, but we did not renew new contracts with them," he stressed.
He added that Tanzania continued to have contractual obligations with North Korea over the military equipment it provided and the former had to finalize its payments despite having stopped association.
He said that on SaturdaySeptember 16, he would be travelling to New York for the General Assembly where he is expected to meet with the five UN permanent members to assure them that Tanzania had ceased relationship with North Korea.
However he said he would make clear Tanzanian’s stance that it does not condone North Korea's decision to continue producing deadly missiles and that it was calling for peaceful dialogue to end hostility—not continuous threats.
