THE faculty of engineering of the University of Dar es Salaam has launched a project to produce medicated soaps and lotions using extractions from neem trees (Mwarobaini)

The project will encourage Tanzanians to grow more neem trees and enable the country to produce abundant medicated soaps and lotions from local raw materials.

The faculty’s head of chemical and processing department, Dr. Enock Masanja, said production of the soaps in small quantities has started; and that lotions will be produced next year. Soaps produced range from 20 to 320 grammes in weight.

"We’re now producing the medicated soap at an average of 20 kilos a week and, by next March, we’ll be producing much more- at least to cover (demand in) some parts of Tanzania," he said.

He said some business people in Dodoma, Mwanza and Kigoma regions were interested in distributing the products. "Demand for the products is very high; we can’t, therefore, Satisfy the local market; but at least, every region will be having our products-though not everyone in the country."

The production and sale of the products is in line with the University’s policy of ensuring that every department generates some income.

Income from the sale of the products will be spent on research in the department concerned.

He said: "Ordinary soaps have no additional advantage for the common people; but our products are of economic potential for Mwarobaini growers, especially in Kilosa district. Meanwhile, our products are economically viable to the University, "he said.

Production of the two items follows research conducted by the department, which showed that most people prefer organic medicated soaps to inorganic ones which are harmful..

We haven’t opted for the production without appropriate research; and that’s why we’re now developing a body lotion which many people with skin diseases are being tested on," he said.

Mwarobaini, scientifically known as Azidarachta indica, was brought to Tanganyika from India some time ago. It cures people suffering from various maladies, including diabetes mellitus (sugar disease), ulcers, malaria and heart ailments. Some of its products are also used in birth control, and as insecticide-as well as insect repellent. They have even shown encouraging developments in treating cancer.

Neem trees-mainly grown in Dar es Salaam, Tanga and Morogoro regions-produce seeds that can be harvested between March and October each year; and a Kilogramme of the seeds fetches Tsh 1,000.on the market.

CELEBRATION to mark the next millennium have been launched in Tanzania, with various events taking place to attract more public participation.

The events include competitions in essay writing picture drawing,’ Best Millennium Song’ ‘and a Miss Utalii’ contest.

The Tourism Millennium Committee chairman, Amant Macha, said in an interview in Dar es salaam recently the events were aimed at promoting tourism; and competition winners would be awarded.

Pupils have been invited to take part in essay writing and picture drawing, with the themes plant a Tree of Millennium and Tanzania: Tourist Destination in the Next Millennium. But participants have to choose one of the themes.

Troupes, taarab groups, bands and choristers have been invited to compete by composing songs with either of the two themes. Girls are also invited to participate in a Miss Utalii contest to represent Tanzania as the best tourist attraction in Africa and the works at various local and international ceremonial events.

The Miss Utalii competition will be restricted by academic qualifications, in which case contestants will be judged by their fluency in the English and ki-swahili languages- with knowledge of a third language as an added advantage.

"My committee is hoping to get as many contestants as possible, and we are eagerly waiting to receive entry applications from confident and qualified girls, accompanied with one’s postcard size photograph and a short educational background," he said.

The nine-member national Tourism Millennium Committee was established by the ministry of natural resources and tourism three months ago to conduct various tourist events for the next millennium. They include the Mount Kilimanjaro special millennium climbing expedition; visit to wildlife havens, and parties in tourist hotels and lodges where tourist will participate.

Campaigns to publicise Tanzania as the Third Millennium Destination have been directed to market the most attractive wildlife parks of Serengeti, Ngorongoro, lake Manyara, and Mount Kilimanjaro as the centre of millennium celebrations.

The Olduvai Gorge- where the skull of one of earliest people in the world was discovered by archaeologists Louis Leakey and his wife Mary in 1959 has been identified as another site needing a strong marketing drive under the committee because of its historical importance to mankind, he said.

Tour operators in Arusha say bookings for millennium celebrations have been picking up.

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (Reuters) - World leaders mourned the death of Tanzania’s founding President Julius Nyerere Thursday, hailing him as a great statesman and tireless champion of African independence and the oppressed.

Within hours of his death in a London hospital after a long battle against leukemia, leaders of all political stripes paid tribute to his moral integrity.

The chorus of praise was led by former South African President Nelson Mandela, perhaps the only African leader to surpass Nyerere in charm and international appeal.

"All of us share, a deep sense of loss and sorrow at the passing away of one of Africa’s greatest patriots," Mandela said, acknowledging Nyerere`s firm support in the ant-apartheid struggle that finally swept Mandela to power in 1994.

"I count myself as deeply privileged to have been amongst the first South African freedom fighters to be received by him, when we sought his country`s help as we embarked on the armed struggle," Mandela said in a statement.

Nyerere, 77, led his country to independence in 1961 and served as president from 1962 to 1985 when he became one of the first post-colonial African leaders to leave office voluntarily.

At home and across the continent, Nyerere was known simply as " Mwalimu"- Kiswahili for "teacher."

Although his bold experiment to build as socialist society ended in economic failure, he stayed above the Cold War rivalry of the era, making his country as an oasis of peace and actively supporting the ANC and other African liberation movements.

At the same time, he charmed European and U.S. leaders and even became a friend of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, despite having led the struggle against British rule in his homeland.

US President Bill Clinton said Nyerere was "a pioneering leader for freedom and self-government in Africa". Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter went even further: "Julius Nyerere was a man of vision and principle and should be remembered as one of the greatest leaders of this century."

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Nyerere was "a leading African statesman of his time," and French President Jacques Chirac hailed him as "a tireless champion of the emancipation and unity of the African continent."

One of Nyerere`s greatest legacies was his success in building a country where national identity was more important than tribe, something rare in Africa’s history.

In the rest of the world, he charmed even his critics and offered a dignified and intelligent face of socialism.

The United Nation’s children fund UNICEF said in an unusually lengthy tribute that Nyerere`s death "is one of those moments which makes time stands still."

"It’s not just the riveting end of an era: it’s the silencing of a voice which, uninterrupted for five decades, never abandoned principle, never abandoned vision," it said.

World Bank president James Wolfenson, too, was full of admiration for the Tanzanian leader`s integrity.

"While world economists were debating the importance of capital output ratios, President Nyerere was saying that nothing was more important for people than being able to read and write and have access to clean water," he said in a statement.

Even after he stepped down, admitting that his economic policies had failed, Nyerere remained a revered elder statesman and led efforts to bring peace to his region.

His last mission, one that he continued until he was hospitalized last month, was mediating talks aimed at ending a vicious civil war in neighboring Burundi.

Unlike other socialists, he avoided the Cold War trap of becoming a client state of the Soviet Union and being forced to devote huge chunks of the national budget spending.

His one foreign policy military adventure, sending troops into neighboring Uganda in 1979, created few enemies because it helped bring down murderous dictatorship of Idi Amin.

"All patriots of Uganda are eternally gratefully for Mwalimu`s contribution," said Yoweri Museveni.

Mandela summed up Nyerere`s legacy, paying tribute to his humanitarian vision.

EAST Africans are worried about the type of integration the member states are going to adopt as the presidents of Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda are scheduled to sign the East African Community Treaty next month.

This was disclosed at a one day forum organised at the Sea Cliff Hotel in Dar es Salaam by The East African newspaper, in collaboration with Friendrich Ebert Stiftung.

The forum was aimed at discussing political aspects of integration before the three sign the Treaty.

Victor Kimesera, a businessman and politician with Chama Cha Maendeleo na Demokrasia (CHADEMA) raised the concern on Tuesday this week while contributing to the East African Forum on Political Aspects of Integration.

"While our governments expect to sign the Treaty next month, they don’t know what kind of integration we want: political or economic? Do we want a federal organisation? People have to be told the kind of integration that will come, " said Kimesera.

He said most people in East Africa have not been given the opportunity to review the proposed Treaty before it is signed; for, "it is not clear whether the Treaty has to be signed first, and then it goes to the people for review-or Vice versa".

This may hold water in respect of East Africans: many of them have not even seen the draft Treaty itself, something that raises eyebrows on their knowledge of what is going on about EAC.

"I am a graduate living in Dar es Salaam; but I’ve not seen even the draft Treaty. How about people living in the rural areas?" queried one graduate who preferred anonymity.

Responding to Kimesera’s concern, Fulgence Kazaura, the deputy executive secretary of East African Co-operation Secretariat, said the Secretariat had been receiving recommendations from East Africans regarding the Treaty and as such, the public was aware.

"All recommendations from East Africans were published in the media; so we believe that the public is quite aware, "said Kazaura.

He said the coming co-operation was expected to be private sector-driven so as to raise the economic status of the region.

Signing of the East African Community Treaty has several time been postponed in the past, due to various reasons-including what was termed "unpreparedness of some member States, "including Tanzania, which believes the grouping would be a preferential trading area for Kenya, especially when the zero tariff became operational. Up to now, member States have postponed signing of the EAC Treaty about for times.

Professor Tarsis Kabwegyere of Kampala, Uganda, however, said East Africans should not worry about Kenya swallowing up Tanzania and Uganda as far at trade is concerned. "We are all poor; Kenya shouldn’t be discussed as among the rich nations and, thus, make other members fear it in the coming co-operation.

A country that has not even a single big manufacturing industry should not be feared, " Prof. Kabwegyere said.

Doctor Otieno Odek of the University of Nairobi, Kenya, Urged East Africans to formulate and coordinate policies in critical areas such as "transport co-ordination, regional investment, external tariffs, coverage arrangement, internal tariffs, removal of non-tariff barriers, co-ordination of economic policies and policies on the free movement of the means of production" in order to have a successful economic integration.

Doctor Odek added: "For integration to work, there is a need for common vision amongst all member States. Such commonalties should be geared towards maximisation of benefits from the exploitation of national resources."

It has sent a Japanese tourism expert, Naoto Katsumata, to survey the Lake Nyasa shores and other tourist attraction sites in the southern highlands.

He will be advising the government on the best options to be carried out to develop the lake and its surroundings into full tourist sites.

The official said the 800 metre deep Lake Nyasa is one of the major tourist attractions the country, but good transport and hotels are lacking in the southern circuit.

Unlike the Tanzanian shoreline, the Malawi sides of the lake shore has high-class tourist lodges and hotels of international standards. Boats can operate in the lake-which is 500 kilometres long, and 50 kilometres wide.

Areas needing immediate development in the lake are Mbamba Bay, Manda and Matema Beach-all of which could accommodate luxury boats and lodges. Matema Beach in Mbeya is excellent for sunbathing, the official said.

The lake lies 472 metres above sea level; and is shared by Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania, all of which form the Mtwara Development Corridor, a good proposition for investments.

Uporoto Mountains, Kipengere and Livingstone ranges and the Rift Valley in Mbeya and Iringa regions are other tourist attractions.

The 20-tonne nickel-iron meteorite in the Mbozi area, and the Kalambo Falls near the Zambia -Tanzania border in Mbeya, are other attractions.

The historic areas of Kalenga and Isimila are some of the tourist attractions. Kalenga was the palace of the legendary Chief Mkwawa of the Hehe people in Iringa. Mkwawa’s well-drilled warriors once trounced German colonial forces before they retreated, reogranised and raided his fortress over 100 years ago.

Swearing not to be taken hostage by his enemies, Mkwawa shot himself dead.

Historians say Isimila is the first place in Africa where early Stone Age tools were discovered. The Iringa region natural resources officer, Issai Swai, said the two historic places were preserved as tourist attractions; but they lacked publicity and development.

Other attractions are the Lulanda natural forest which harbours a number of rare animal species. Chief Mkwawa’s shrine is located under a ‘sacred’ tree in the Lulanda forest.

Ruaha and Udzungwa National parks in Iringa are also tourists attractions which are ripe for development.

The earnings increased to USD 29 million (Tsh 23.2 billion) in August from USD 25.8 million (Tsh 20.64 billion) in the previous month.

Traditional and non-traditional crop exports increased by 44.4 per cent and 3.2 per cent, respectively, according to Bank of Tanzania’s economic review of September this year.

Traditional export earnings increased from USD 5.7 million in July to USD 8.2 million in August while non- traditional export earnings increased slightly from USD 20.1 million to USD 20.7 million.

The increase in earnings from traditional exports resulted from higher export volumes of coffee, cotton and cashew nuts.

The impact of the increase in export volumes was, however, covered by declines in unit prices for most of the traditional commodities.

High earnings from non traditional exports originated from petroleum products, manufactured coffee, manufactured tobacco and other exports that recorded increases of 178.2 per cent, 493.2 per cent 255.1 per cent and 52.2 per cent respectively.

Moreover, fish and fish products increased by 8.6 percent during the month under review. Minerals manufactured goods, cotton yarn, sisal products and horticulture produce decline by 41.7 per cent, 1.3 per cent, 76.7 per cent, 5.3 per cent and 25.9 per cent respectively.

A comparison of export earnings for August 1999 with the corresponding month in 1998 indicates an increase of 24.5 per cent to USD 29 million from USD 23.3 million recorded during that period.

Earnings from both traditional and non-traditional exports increased by 10.9 per cent and 30.9 per cent respectively compared the two periods.

The increase in traditional exports was mainly attributable to strong volume effect especially for coffee, tea and cashew nuts.

The recorded decreases in unit export prices for most of the traditional commodities could take significant impact in export receipts.

Similarly, the performance of non-traditional export earnings was partly affected by the existing ban on fish and produce imports from East Africa by European countries.

On annual basis, export earnings for the year ending August 1999 decreased by 8.6 per cent to USD 537.8 million compared with USD 588.3 million recorded during the corresponding period a year earlier.

Earning from traditional exports declined by 21.9 per cent. The decline was attributable to a number of factors, including fluctuations in export volumes and unfavorable developments in the world market that pulled down unit prices.

Except for tobacco, which fetched a 5.8 per cent increase in unit price, the rest of traditional exports recorded lower unit prices. Earnings from non traditional export increased by 16.5 per cent to USD 238 million in the year ending August 1999 from USD 204.4 million recorded during the same period last year.