The Cypriot Foreign Ministry’s Crisis Management Centre swung into action on 1 November 2025 after violent unrest and a nationwide curfew in Tanzania left 22 Cypriot nationals unable to leave the country. Fourteen of those affected are secondary-school students who had flown to the south-eastern region of Kilwa for a two-week volunteer programme; they are accompanied by two teachers, two Greek volunteers and four other Cypriots in the area on private business. Ministry spokesman Theodoros Gotsis confirmed that consular staff are in constant contact with the group and with anxious families back home, while the High Commission in Nairobi—Cyprus’ accredited mission for Tanzania—coordinates on-the-ground logistics.
Commercial flights out of Dar es Salaam were suspended after protests erupted in the capital on 30 October. With airports closed and roadblocks on main highways, Cypriot officials examined overland evacuation routes to neighbouring Kenya before securing chartered light aircraft to move the students to Zanzibar, where they are now awaiting a connection through Dubai. The EU delegation in Dar es Salaam and the EU Civil Protection Mechanism are providing support.
![Cyprus activates crisis cell to repatriate 22 nationals stranded in Tanzania]()
This incident is the first real-time test of Cyprus’ revamped consular-crisis protocols introduced in April 2025. Under the new model, every citizen travelling abroad is urged to register on the digital “Connect2CY” platform; all 22 stranded nationals had done so, enabling rapid tracing and two-way messaging. The ministry also issued its first country-specific travel advisory graded “orange”, urging Cypriots to defer all non-essential trips to Tanzania pending stabilisation.
For multinational employers, the episode underlines the importance of robust duty-of-care procedures for staff on assignment or service trips originating from Cyprus. Schools and NGOs organising short-term volunteer projects are being advised to conduct region-specific security risk assessments and to purchase specialist evacuation insurance.
Once the group returns—expected within the week—the foreign ministry plans a de-brief to refine evacuation playbooks and will circulate lessons-learned to corporate travel managers and school administrators alike.
Commercial flights out of Dar es Salaam were suspended after protests erupted in the capital on 30 October. With airports closed and roadblocks on main highways, Cypriot officials examined overland evacuation routes to neighbouring Kenya before securing chartered light aircraft to move the students to Zanzibar, where they are now awaiting a connection through Dubai. The EU delegation in Dar es Salaam and the EU Civil Protection Mechanism are providing support.
This incident is the first real-time test of Cyprus’ revamped consular-crisis protocols introduced in April 2025. Under the new model, every citizen travelling abroad is urged to register on the digital “Connect2CY” platform; all 22 stranded nationals had done so, enabling rapid tracing and two-way messaging. The ministry also issued its first country-specific travel advisory graded “orange”, urging Cypriots to defer all non-essential trips to Tanzania pending stabilisation.
For multinational employers, the episode underlines the importance of robust duty-of-care procedures for staff on assignment or service trips originating from Cyprus. Schools and NGOs organising short-term volunteer projects are being advised to conduct region-specific security risk assessments and to purchase specialist evacuation insurance.
Once the group returns—expected within the week—the foreign ministry plans a de-brief to refine evacuation playbooks and will circulate lessons-learned to corporate travel managers and school administrators alike.
