Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan has stated that a five-year-old order to burn 6,400 live chicks imported from Kenya was incorrect.
The chicks were set on fire in November 2017 after being impounded at the Namanga border town on suspicion of being smuggled into Tanzania.
Five years after the fire, the president said the incident nearly ruined the two countries’ long-standing relationship.
“It was not an appropriate way to handle such imports.” said president Samia.
“Even chickens have the right to live,” she said in an address to the region’s lawyers.
Members of the two neighboring countries’ business communities, as well as animal rights organizations, slammed the move.
The 6,400 day-old chicks were impounded at the two states’ famous border town on suspicion of being illegal imports.
Kenya nearly became embroiled in a diplomatic spat after formally protesting what it called “a policy shift that condones hostile actions against Kenyan citizens.”
Pindi Chana, the then Tanzania’s High Commissioner to Kenya, was summoned by Kenya’s Foreign Ministry to explain “the unilateral action.”
The Ministry of Livestock Development and Fisheries stated at the time that the burning of live chicks was done to prevent the spread of bird flu.
