E-mail from Anonymous May.2


600 OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS ARRESTED
EASTERN AFRICAN NEWS, MAY 2, 1996

About 600 opposition members have been arrested in Zanzibar in a government crackdown since last week according the opposition Civic United Front (CUF) party. The Front said in a statement that the arrest followed the tough stance adopted by president Benjamin Mkapa in which he backed fully the Zanzibar president Salmin Amour. The opposition has refused to recognise Amour because they claim he rigged the October 1995 elections. They have also boycotted parliament and this has polarised Zanzibar because CUF captured seats on Pemba island inhabited mainly by Zanzibaris of Arab origin while the ruling CCM party captured all the seats in Ugunja where Zanzibaris of all African origin are the majority.
Copyright 1996 Features Africa Network All rights reserved. Distributed by Africa Online Inc.
MREMA CHALLENGES MKAPA OVER ZANZIBAR
EASTERN AFRICA NEWS, APRIL 30, 1996

Opposition leader Augustine Mrema has challenged Mkapa goverment over its handling of the Zanzibar problem. He told a huge rally in Dar that he will organise a protest demonstration against the union government's stand on Zanzibar. Mrema criticised Mkapa's full endorsement of the stance of the Zanzibar president, Salmin Amour. Mrema said the union president has refused to recognise that a problem exists in Zanzibar. Analysts said Mkapa has closed the door to negotiations in the Zanzibar row and Amour now appears to have support for his strong-arm tactics against the opposition on the island.
Copyright 1996 Features Africa Network All rights reserved. Distributed by Africa Online Inc.
DONOR SOUGHT FOR ZANZIBAR PROJECT
EASTERN AFRICA NEWS, APRIL 29, 1996

The Zanzibar government will look for alternative funding for the last part of a rural electrification project following withdrawal of Norwegian aid. This was disclosed at State House in Zanzibar by the chief government spokesman, Ali Tahir, when reacting to reports that Norway had frozen 4.5 million US dollars earmarked for the project. It was reported that Norway was unhappy with the political situation in Zanzibar and accused Salmin Amour's government of human rights violations. The government chief spokesman told reporters that the government would identify new sources of funds for the project and that the people should not be worried by the donor country's decision. However, Tahie pointed out that it was unethical for foreign missions in Tanzania to interfere in the internal affairs of the country such as elections.
Copyright 1996 Features Africa Network All rights reserved. Distributed by Africa Online Inc.
NORWAY CUTS OFF AID FOR ZANZIBAR
EASTERN AFRICA NEWS, APRIL 24, 1996

Norway has cut off aid to the Tanzania's island province of Zanzibar over the 1995 elections which the opposition Civic United Front (CUF) has refused to recognise alleging that they were rigged. A senior official in the Norwegian embassy in Dar es Salaam announced the suspension of the 4.5 million dollars electrification programme project in Zanzibar. A statement later issued by the embassy said the suspension was due to the irregularities in the October 1995 elections. Meanwhile president Benjamin Mkapa has threatened a crackdown on the opposition in the islands for what he called its attempt to misuse democracy. He accused the Civic United Front of trying to sabotage and destabilise the union of Tanzania and promised firm action to control the party. He criticised the donor community for referring to action to contain sabotage as violation of rights.
Copyright 1996 Features Africa Network All rights reserved. Distributed by Africa Online Inc.
Tanzanian Govt Tightens Control On Zanzibar Opposition
DAR ES SALAAM (April 22) XINHUA

Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa on Sunday dismissed any compromise with the Zanzibar opposition, saying the latter was using democracy to disrupt peace in the country. Addressing thousands of Zanzibar residents, Mkapa said the ruling Revolutionary Party (CCM) would maintain peace and harmony, "a task which the government was prepared to accomplish at all costs." Mkapa, who is the president of the Union Government of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, said he had received a lot of letters from the opposition and their allies outside the country, all of them trying to pursued him to intervene in the Zanzibar crisis. "But what crisis is there for me to intervene?" he asked, adding that the opposition's claim to restrain Zanzibar President Salmin Amour was "baseless." "Instead of restraining him, I would rather put them (the opposition) under control," he said. Mkapa said the zanzibar leader would stay together with the union president and vice-president "because we are all implementing the same election manifesto which we previously promised to adhere to." "The emancipation of the people is the result of their own sacrifice and not by sending messages to foreigners," he said, referring to the opposition Civic United front (CUF) protest outside the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam last week. Ridiculing certain Western donors who supported the opposition, Mkapa said "most of them knew that the opposition was causing civil disobedience and other sabotage acts" in the Zanzibar Island. "Our governments are trying to have this sabotage and disobedience brought under control, but to the contrary we are regarded as contravening human rights. What kind of human rights are associated with sabotage and law breaking?" the president asked. He appealed to the donors not to approve of the actions of the opposition, saying "their statements were geared at drawing the country into a civil war." The president said his government would be wage an all-out war to crush all elements that divided the people on the basis of ethnicity and religion. President Mkapa alos assured Zanzibaris that the Union Government would do all possible to safeguard the 1964 Zanzibar Revolution. The ruling CCM won the general elections last October in the Isles, but the opposition CUF refused to recognise the results of the elections, accusing the poll as "having been rigged.
"ZANZIBAR-POLITICS: ANARCHY GRIPS INDIAN OCEAN ISLANDS
NAIROBI, (Apr. 17) IPS -

The Indian Ocean islands of Zanzibar have been in political turmoil for the past six months over the contested result of multi-party elections. The opposition Civic Union Forum (CUF), under its charismatic leader Seif Shariff Hamad, claims it won the October 1995 poll in the twin islands of Pemba and Ungunja, which together form Zanzibar, were rigged by the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM). The election results, declared free and fair by international monitoring groups despite misgivings over the organization of the poll, gave incumbent Salmin Amor the narrowest of victories, 50.8 per cent of the vote as opposed to Hamad's 49.3 per cent. "But the CUF refused categorically to concede defeat and instead resorted to implementing what they call a campaign of civil disobedience which entails, among other things, CUF's elected representatives boycotting the House sessions and its failure to recognize the new administration sworn-in after the elections," the Chief Minister of Zanzibar, Mohamed Gharib Bilal, told a press conference here this week. "As if this is not enough, the CUF is now resorting to acts of terrorism instead of assuming its legally recognized role of an opposition party which is supposed to put to task the ruling party and its government by acting as a watch-dog in the pursuit of good governance, democracy and the respect for human rights," he said. The Chief Minister claimed that CUF activists in Pemba, the richer of the two islands where the opposition won all 21 seats had set fire to schools and ordered children to boycott classes. "In cases where children refused to adhere to such an order, CUF activists resorted to paint the school walls with human (excrement), and putting human (excrement) in the wells so that people could not use the water. All these dirty activities are being systematically undertaken by CUF zealots," he said. The government was particularly shaken by the recent bombing of a transformer at the Mtoni power station, which kept the whole of Zanzibar in the dark for four consecutive days. Forty people have been arrested as a result of the incident which cost the government $1 million to repair, according to Bilal. "Those arrested will be charged with various crimes. Some were arrested in the home of Hamad," he said. Reacting to Bilal's charges, Khoti Kamanga, a law professor at Tanzania's University of Dar es Salaam told IPS that in the widening political crisis the security forces are also guilty of harassing CUF supporters. Kamanga, who monitored Zanzibar's election, accused the Tanzanian central government under the CCM of refusing to intervene in the conflict. "President (Benjamin) Mkapa argues that the constitution does not allow him to interfere in the internal affairs of Zanzibar. Yet the situation on the island is very grave, demanding urgent attention." Zanzibar, a former colony of the Sultanate of Oman, merged with mainland Tanganyika to form the Republic of Tanzania in 1964. Bilal claims that Oman is plotting to reassert its influence in Zanzibar through Hamad who traces his family roots back to the sultanate. Bilal says the one million Zanzibaris, particularly those on Ungunja, peopled mainly by mainlanders, have not forgotten their subjugation under the sultanate which led to an armed revolt in 1964 that unseated the monarchy. CUF meanwhile seems to be tapping into mounting Muslim fervor, which also echoes on the mainland, and is supporting the introduction of Islamic sharia (law) on Zanzibar. Tanzania is a secular state. Its constitution, drafted by the former socialist government of ex-president Julius Nyerere, has managed to hold together a country of 120 ethnic groups divided almost equally between Muslims and Christians. Bilal alleges that Zanzibar's problems are being compounded by political interference by donor nations. "Western diplomats meet regularly with Hamad. We have a record of their meetings," he said. The Chief Minister warned that his government would not allow individuals or any group to take the law into their own hands. "We are going to enforce the rule of law and order in Zanzibar," he said. To resolve the political crisis, Kamanga urges dialogue between CCM and CUF. "That's the only way to avoid unrest in Zanzibar." The idea has, however, been rejected by the Zanzibari government. "I think CUF would be better off strengthening the democratic process in Zanzibar than continuing with the boycott of parliament," Ando Pandu Kaficho, Speaker of the House, told IPS.
150 Houses Demolished in Zanzibar
DAR ES SALAAM (April 13) XINHUA

The Zanzibar government has demolished 150 houses around the Mtoni Power Station after expiry of a one-week deadline given to occupants to pull the buildings down, according to reports reaching here today. The government maintained that the houses had been built without the permission of relevant authority, noting that the houses built close to high tension electricity transmission lines would be demolished as they had contravened building regulations. The regulations say residential houses should be built 30 meters away from live power lines and water sources. Before Wednesday this week, no resident had demolished their houses following the ultimatum, claiming they did not have alternative settlement for the time being. "Let us die under the roof of our house. We will not leave," shouted one man, clutching his children and wife around him in one of the houses, according to reports. A government special team demolished 150 houses on Thursday and Friday. The isles government last week issued a one-week ultimatum .
  1. E-mail from whom knows Zanzibar condition well.Oct.29.'95
  2. E-mail from Tanzanian overseas Oct.30.'95
  3. E-mail from Anonymous Oct.31-Nov.3
  4. E-mail from Tanzanian overseas Nov.16.'95
  5. E-mail from Tanzanian overseas Nov.19.'95
  6. E-mail from Anonymous Nov.25
  7. E-mail from Anonymous Nov.26
  8. E-mail from Anonymous Dec.22
  9. E-mail from Anonymous Jan.16,1996
  10. E-mail from Anonymous Jan.29,1996
  11. E-mail from Anonymous Feb.1,1996(in Swahili)
  12. E-mail from Anonymous Feb.2,1996
  13. E-mail from Anonymous Feb.9,1996
  14. E-mail from Anonymous Feb.12,1996
  15. E-mail from Anonymous March.27,1996
  16. Zanzibar election Diary Oct.19-27,1995
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