Neighbours row over Kilimanjaro

Kilimanjaro is 20km from the Kenyan border

Tanzania's tourist industry has accused Kenya of trying to hoodwink tourists into thinking Africa's highest mountain is in Kenya rather than Tanzania.

Kenya's tourism minister Morris Dzoro told a travel agents conference that Mount Kilimanjaro was one of his country's top tourist attractions.

This angered Tanzanian tour operators who said Mr Dzoro was "trying to hijack our tourists and take their money."

The 5,895m high mountain is in Tanzania, some 20km from Kenya.

The nearby Tanzanian town of Arusha has its own international airport.

Chief executive of the Tanzanian Association of Tour Operators, Mustapha Akunaay, told the BBC News Website that the Kenyan comments were perhaps understandable when coming from marketing people but not when delivered by a minister.

"I stand by my criticism. This information from Kenya is distorted and is not right."

Kenya already has twice as many tourists as Tanzania and Tanzania's tourist industry fears it could lose out even further once an agreed customs union comes into force.