Report on Citizenship Law: Tanzania been long-term immigrants in Tanzania were expelled and deported135. Some persons that were expelled were effectually rendered stateless136. Tanzania being a member of the East African Community (EAC) that accords rights of free movement and residence among member states, the matter was discussed by the EAC Council of Ministers and it was decided that the EAC Secretary General undertake a factfinding mission; and that the governments of Rwanda and Tanzania meet on the matter; among others. This was in regard to those citizens of other EAC member states, particularly Rwanda that had been affected by the deportations. In February 2014, the East Africa Law Society (EALS) submitted an inquiry as to what remedial measures had been taken by the EAC Secretary General to resolve the issue, and learned that the two State governments had not yet met, there was no Peace and Security Council, and though a fact-finding mission took place in September 2013, the EAC Secretary General had yet to submit the findings to the relevant EAC organs. The EALS then filed a petition in the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) alleging that the prolonged inaction and failure to carry out the directives of the Council of Ministers constituted a breach of the EAC Secretary General’s obligations to investigate matters relevant to the Community. In its decision issued in March 2016, the EACJ condemned the failure of the EAC Secretary General to investigate and provide redress for the illegal expulsion of immigrants, which “if its illegality was confirmed, would constitute a flagrant violation of the objectives and fundamental principles of the community”137. As Tanzania turns the tide against its immigrant population, there are some communities that may lie somewhere on the margins or the periphery. These include those communities that arrived much earlier particularly during the colonial labour recruitment process, who may find themselves in a more or less precarious situation as they had been ineligible for citizenship although they continued to reside in Tanzania. Most notable among these are the Comorians and the Makonde who now constitute part of Tanzanian’s stateless population in Zanzibar. 4.2 The Comorians People of Comorian origin have lived in Zanzibar which is their immediate neighbouring state and trading hub long before the Omani took over Zanzibar. Comorians arrived in Zanzibar for different reasons; some went to Zanzibar for economic and social status; from manual labourers to civil servants and religious leaders138. Under the 1911 decree on Zanzibar nationality, Comorians would only become subjects of the Sultan by application139. From 1952, Zanzibari nationality was automatically attributed 135 Operation Kimbunga was launched in September 2013 to expel “illegal immigrants” living in Tanzania without a permit - see Manby, Statelessness, supra note 130, page 65. 136 See for example, R Naluyaga (2013), ‘Expelled immigrants stranded as ‘countries of origin’ deny their citizenship’, The East African, 21 September 2013 available at https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/Expelledimmigrants-stranded/2558-2001848-format-xhtml-sejgwg/index.html, accessed 23 March 2020. 137 East African Law Society v. Secretary General of the EAC, Ref. No. 7 of 2014, Judgment of 22 March 2016, available at http://eacj.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Referene-No-7-of-2014-Judgment-of-22-March-2016.pdf accessed on 7 November 2019. 138 For more information on the Comorians in Zanzibar, see I Walker (2014), ‘Identity and citizenship among the Comorians of Zanzibar, 1886-1963’ in A Sheriff & E Ho (eds.), The Indian Ocean: Oceanic Connections & Creation of New Societies: London: Hurst & Co. 139 Manby, Statelessness, supra note 130, p. 63. 20 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2020/6- © 2020 Author(s)