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LV Parliament building
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MV Members arriving
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SV Sheikh Kombo, Secretary General of the Afro-Shirazi Party, arriving
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MV Member arriving
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MV Second Vice-President Kawawa arriving
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MV More members arrive
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Initials AH/BHH/ES.1650 AH/BHH/ES.1657



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Tanzania's Parliament started its first session of the year yesterday (Tuesday). Among the eight bills submitted to the MPs was a controversial plan to bring uniformity to the marriage laws in the country.

The session -- the second since the country's general election last October -- is expected to last about a week. But this will largely depend on the debate generated by the Law of Marriage Bill.

If the Bill becomes law it will set down statutes of wedlock in a land where marriages are currently governed by Moslem and Christian Law, as well as by local custom. It fixes 15 as the youngest age at which a girl can marry in normal circumstances.

But the Bill does not apply to the semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar, where there were reports last year of girls being married against their will.