Tanzania’s national air carrier says it is suspending flights from the commercial capital Dar es Salaam to South Africa’s biggest city, Johannesburg, which has been the scene of several days of xenophobic violence.
“You are aware that there is ongoing violence in South Africa whereby the youth have taken laws in their hands
,” Tanzania’s Transport Minister Isack Kamwelwe told reporters in Dar es Salaam.
“Due to that, we have decided not to transport passengers to the destination where their lives will be in jeopardy.”
No Tanzanians are known to have been killed. The official death toll records that of the seven people killed in the violence that began on Sunday, only two were foreigners – both Zimbabwean.
Some skepticism has been leveled at the company’s decision to suspend the flights, with critics suggesting what Air Tanzania really fears is losing yet more planes following South Africa’s decision last month to impound of one of its aircraft.
