The Tanzanian government has urged its citizens not to travel to conflict zones to fight as mercenaries after confirming that a Tanzanian man died in October in Ukraine while taking part in fighting in the ranks of the Wagner Group.
Tanzanian Foreign Minister Stergomena Tax stressed that the country’s Constitution prohibits citizens from «joining any army or armed group in other countries, except in the ranks of the Tanzanian Armed Forces», as reported by the ‘Daily News’.
Tax, who has expressed his condolences to the family of the man, identified as Nemes Tarimo, has indicated that he died on October 24, 2022 and added that his body is in Russia and will soon be delivered to Tanzania.
He has also confirmed that the man was enrolled in 2020 at the Moscow University of Technology and was subsequently sentenced to seven years in prison, without giving further details. «When he was in prison, he was offered and agreed to serve in the ranks of the Wagner Group to fight in Ukraine in exchange for receiving money and being released,» he has added.
Tarimo’s family indicated last week that they were informed of his death in late December, after which they received information to this effect from the Tanzanian Embassy in Moscow. «He informed us that he was going to war in Ukraine. We begged him not to do so, but he said he did not know when he would achieve his freedom so he left. The last time we contacted him was on October 17 and since then he was unreachable,» a relative said, according to the Tanzanian daily ‘The Citizen’.
The news about the death of Tarimo, 33, circulated on social networks along with a video in which he was given a military farewell. The case came to light weeks after the death of a Zambian in combat in the ranks of the Wagner Group, owned by an oligarch close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
