Air Tanzania Plane Seized in Canada Over Dispute From 1980s

(Bloomberg) -- One of Air Tanzania’s new Bombardier aircraft has been impounded in Canada amid a land-compensation dispute dating back to the 1980s, according to the East African nation’s government.

The decision by Canadian authorities to impound the Bombardier Q400 plane isn’t directly linked to Tanzania’s national carrier and is related to a dispute between the East African nation and a South African farmer who’s seeking compensation for land he says was taken off him 40 years ago, Foreign Affairs Minister Palamagamba Kabudi said. The seizure is the second time an Air Tanzania aircraft has been impounded over the issue.

“The person responsible for this is the same person who forced our plane to be seized in South Africa,” the minister said on the country’s national broadcaster on Saturday. “We went to court and won the case.”

The Tanzanian government successfully appealed the case in South Africa and the plane was released.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ken Karuri in Dar es Salaam at kkaruri@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Gordon Bell at gbell16@bloomberg.net, Alastair Reed, Stanley James

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