Bacterial leaf blight (BB) of rice, caused byXanthomonas oryzaepv.oryzae(Xoo), threatens global food security and the livelihood of small-scale rice producers. Analyses ofXoocollections from Asia, Africa and the Americas demonstrated complete continental segregation, despite robust global rice trade. Here, we report unprecedented BB outbreaks in Tanzania. The causative strains, unlike endemic AfricanXoo, carry Asian-type TAL effectors targeting the sucrose transporterSWEET11aand iTALes suppressingXa1. Phylogenomics clustered these strains withXoofrom Southern-China. African rice varieties do not carry effective resistance. To protect African rice production against this emerging threat, we developed a hybrid CRISPR-Cas9/Cpf1 system to edit all known TALe-binding elements in threeSWEETpromoters of the East African elite variety Komboka. The edited lines show broad-spectrum resistance against Asian and African strains ofXoo, including strains recently discovered in Tanzania. The strategy could help to protect global rice crops from BB pandemics.