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Mtwara Gas Project Conflict: Causes of Arising and Ways of Stabilization (Part 2)

Received: 5 April 2017    Accepted: 20 April 2017    Published: 3 June 2017
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Abstract

Conflict about the natural resources has been arising at the end of 2012 in the Mtwara Municipality in Tanzania. Mtwara residents started to show opposition to the extraction of natural gas. During the period of violence more than 12 residents were murdered, property was destroyed, woman were raped and others tortured. Causes of the Mtwara Gas Project conflict till now have not been documented. The study assessed the reasons of local community participation and role of the government in the gas conflict in Mtwara in 2012-2013. The total sample size was 137 respondents included; 98 households who were affected by the conflict, 9 key informants who were experienced and knowledgeable enough to provide relevant information about the conflict and 2 focus group discussion with 15 members each. Pre-designed questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were used to obtain primary data from households and key informants and checklist was used to guide the interviews. Among the reasons of the local resident’s participation in the conflict were identified over-expectations from the local community, false promises from the government, poor stakeholders’ involvement before and after the implementation of the project, political interference, and low benefits sharing from the project benefit. Community expectations were not fulfilled and thus created a conflict between community members and the government. The majority of the respondents reported that strikes foster the implementation of promises and draw an attention to local community needs. The Government implemented some promises after the conflict was stabilized and maintained peace and harmony to the local community in Mtwara. Despite of that, majority of respondents not being satisfied with the benefits received from the Government in 2013. Some of the main reasons for the dissatisfaction were low compensation paid for the land taken, low implementation of job promises, few constructions of industries and other false promises.

Published in Social Sciences (Volume 6, Issue 3)
DOI 10.11648/j.ss.20170603.12
Page(s) 73-84
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Natural Resources Conflict, Reasons of Conflict, Mtwara Municipality, Tanzania

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  • APA Style

    Mwesiga Thobias, Mikova Kseniia. (2017). Mtwara Gas Project Conflict: Causes of Arising and Ways of Stabilization (Part 2). Social Sciences, 6(3), 73-84. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20170603.12

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    ACS Style

    Mwesiga Thobias; Mikova Kseniia. Mtwara Gas Project Conflict: Causes of Arising and Ways of Stabilization (Part 2). Soc. Sci. 2017, 6(3), 73-84. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20170603.12

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    AMA Style

    Mwesiga Thobias, Mikova Kseniia. Mtwara Gas Project Conflict: Causes of Arising and Ways of Stabilization (Part 2). Soc Sci. 2017;6(3):73-84. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20170603.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ss.20170603.12,
      author = {Mwesiga Thobias and Mikova Kseniia},
      title = {Mtwara Gas Project Conflict: Causes of Arising and Ways of Stabilization (Part 2)},
      journal = {Social Sciences},
      volume = {6},
      number = {3},
      pages = {73-84},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ss.20170603.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20170603.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ss.20170603.12},
      abstract = {Conflict about the natural resources has been arising at the end of 2012 in the Mtwara Municipality in Tanzania. Mtwara residents started to show opposition to the extraction of natural gas. During the period of violence more than 12 residents were murdered, property was destroyed, woman were raped and others tortured. Causes of the Mtwara Gas Project conflict till now have not been documented. The study assessed the reasons of local community participation and role of the government in the gas conflict in Mtwara in 2012-2013. The total sample size was 137 respondents included; 98 households who were affected by the conflict, 9 key informants who were experienced and knowledgeable enough to provide relevant information about the conflict and 2 focus group discussion with 15 members each. Pre-designed questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were used to obtain primary data from households and key informants and checklist was used to guide the interviews. Among the reasons of the local resident’s participation in the conflict were identified over-expectations from the local community, false promises from the government, poor stakeholders’ involvement before and after the implementation of the project, political interference, and low benefits sharing from the project benefit. Community expectations were not fulfilled and thus created a conflict between community members and the government. The majority of the respondents reported that strikes foster the implementation of promises and draw an attention to local community needs. The Government implemented some promises after the conflict was stabilized and maintained peace and harmony to the local community in Mtwara. Despite of that, majority of respondents not being satisfied with the benefits received from the Government in 2013. Some of the main reasons for the dissatisfaction were low compensation paid for the land taken, low implementation of job promises, few constructions of industries and other false promises.},
     year = {2017}
    }
    

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    T1  - Mtwara Gas Project Conflict: Causes of Arising and Ways of Stabilization (Part 2)
    AU  - Mwesiga Thobias
    AU  - Mikova Kseniia
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    AB  - Conflict about the natural resources has been arising at the end of 2012 in the Mtwara Municipality in Tanzania. Mtwara residents started to show opposition to the extraction of natural gas. During the period of violence more than 12 residents were murdered, property was destroyed, woman were raped and others tortured. Causes of the Mtwara Gas Project conflict till now have not been documented. The study assessed the reasons of local community participation and role of the government in the gas conflict in Mtwara in 2012-2013. The total sample size was 137 respondents included; 98 households who were affected by the conflict, 9 key informants who were experienced and knowledgeable enough to provide relevant information about the conflict and 2 focus group discussion with 15 members each. Pre-designed questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were used to obtain primary data from households and key informants and checklist was used to guide the interviews. Among the reasons of the local resident’s participation in the conflict were identified over-expectations from the local community, false promises from the government, poor stakeholders’ involvement before and after the implementation of the project, political interference, and low benefits sharing from the project benefit. Community expectations were not fulfilled and thus created a conflict between community members and the government. The majority of the respondents reported that strikes foster the implementation of promises and draw an attention to local community needs. The Government implemented some promises after the conflict was stabilized and maintained peace and harmony to the local community in Mtwara. Despite of that, majority of respondents not being satisfied with the benefits received from the Government in 2013. Some of the main reasons for the dissatisfaction were low compensation paid for the land taken, low implementation of job promises, few constructions of industries and other false promises.
    VL  - 6
    IS  - 3
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Author Information
  • Planner and Natural Resource Management Consultant, Dodoma, Tanzania

  • Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Dodoma, Dodoma, Tanzania

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