Controversy mounts over Serengeti road

Contradictory reports are coming out of Tanzania about the proposed road across the Serengeti to link Arusha in the north with towns on Lake Victoria. The proposed road would link Arusha and Musoma on the lake, which are at present only connected by a road through Kenya.

The assistant minister of natural resources pointed out in an interview on 11 July to the French news agency AFP that so far only an environmental impact report on the feasibility of the road has been commissioned, but that no final decisions have been made.

The following day the minister of tourism told The East African newspaper that the road is still on course, explaining that it will go ahead because it was a major election pledge to voters on Lake Victoria in 2005.

This year is also an election year in Tanzania for parliament and the presidency.

The Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania is now planning to raise international awareness against the road, which would disrupt the animal migration routes across the Serengeti, one of Tanzania