E-mail from Anonymous Feb.19

DAR ES SALAAM (Feb. 18) XINHUA
Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa on Saturday said that only the Zanzibar House of Representatives (Parliament) had the mandate to settle the Zanzibar political conflict. The Zanzibar House of Representatives was the organ enacting the law and other related electoral rules for Zanzibar, the president stated on the issue arising out of the contraversial election results in Zanzibar. He made clear that neither the courts of law, nor himself as President of the United Republic of Tanzania, had legal powers to nullify election results announced on October 26 last year. The president was making the statement at Morogoro, west of Dar es Salaam, while addressing local officials and political party leaders. Mkapa urged all the opposition Civic United Front (CUF) members of the House of Representatives to attend instead of boycotting the sessions on the thorny election issue. President Mkapa's speech follows the present political misunderstandings which have led to rejection by the CUF members to Dr. Salmin Amour's Presidency in Zanzibar and CUF's boycott to the House sessions.
DAR ES SALAAM (Feb. 14) XINHUA
The Union Government of Tanzania has pledged to distribute food the the people affected by food shortages in Pemba Island following a protracted dry spell, according to a report from Pemba. The Vice-President, Dr. Omar Ali Juma, made the pledge on Tuesday while addressing villagers in Mkoani district in the region on a four-day tour to determine the extent of damage caused by the drought. About two thousand acres of crops have been destroyed in the south region of this clove rich Indian Ocean island. Dr. Juma told the villagers that the government would also supply them with seed and other extension services.
DAR ES SALAAM (Feb. 11) XINHUA
The Zanzibar government has hailed the move by the main opposition Civic United Front (CUF) to rush relief food to starving people on the Twin-island of Pemba. Deputy Chief Minister Omar Ramadhan Mapuri told a press conference in the town of Zanzibar on Saturday that the food haulage, which begins today, would greatly alleviate the suffering of the islanders, who had been facing food scarcity for more than a month. He said he was heartened by CUF's move to ship food to Pemba. The move was a good example of co-operation in the new multiparty system, he added. Mapuri dismissed claims that CUF's action would erode the grovernment's credibility, saying it was the responsibility of opposition parties to assist the government of the day to resolve the population's problems. He reiterated that no one had died since food scarcity struck the island, adding that the situation was not as grave as to force the government to panic and start seeking food assistance. He attributed food scarcity in Pemba to drought. The fact that some people abandoned agriculture to involve themselves in politics also caused the decline in agricultural production, he addeed. About 3,800 U.S. Dollars, 100 bags of rice and 10 bags of beans were promised at a meeting here Friday at which CUF mobilized food assistance for PEMBA islanders.
Radio Tanzania, Dar es Salaam, in Swahili 0330 gmt 8 Feb 96
The Zanzibar Revolutionary Government has denied reports that the food situation in Pemba island is bad and added that the situation is being provoked by the political situation. Speaking to reporters in Zanzibar, the minister of agriculture, livestock and natural resources, Mr Adam Mwakanjuki, said there was sufficient food for the citizens of Pemba island. Minister Mwakanjuki Press to continue. denied reports in the mass media that the citizens were eating roots. He said food such as rice, wheat flour, maize flour and sugar were available in abundance in the shops, but some citizens could not afford to buy these goods. Mr Mwakanjuki said the main problem afflicting Pemba island was drought. The Pijini, Kicheo both names phonetic and Mwambe areas had lacked rain for more than four months. He also emphasized that the food shortage in Pemba was not bad enough to need aid from outside the country and he added that at present the government was assessing the situation so as to be able to offer aid to those most affected.
(c) BBC Monitoring Summary of World Broadcasts.
DAR ES SALAAM, (Feb. 8) IPS
A political storm is brewing in the Indian Ocean archipelago of Zanzibar, where the opposition has vowed to keep up a campaign to have elections held in October declared invalid. The opposition Civic United Front (CUF) has stayed away from parliament and refuses to recognize Zanzibari President Salmin Amor, pointing out that even international observers had judged the election "chaotic." The official result was nail-bitingly close. Amor, leader of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), scraped through with just 1,565 more votes than his rival, CUF's Sief Sharriff Hamad, while the CCM won 26 of the 50 seats in the islands' parliament, the other 24 going to the CUF. Hamad says the results are invalid due to rigging. Zanzibar's two main islands, Unguja and Pemba are now split along party lines, with tension running high. There have been reports of arson attacks in Unguja, including the setting on fire of CUF branch offices on the island, which is a CCM stronghold. Three people were arrested last month in Pemba for throwing petrol bombs at a government building. Young men have reportedly been fleeing to Britain and the Gulf States and applying for refugee status. Britain recently announced that it was considering the deportation of 900 asylum seekers believed to be from Pemba, which is controlled by CUF. A former sultanate, Zanzibar became a republic after a bloody revolution in 1964, when the archipelago's last Arab sultan was overthrown by its black majority. It then joined Tanganyika, located on the East African mainland, to form the United Republic of Tanzania, retaining a government of its own, but participating in the union government and parliament. The CUF's campaign has been supported in the Tanzanian parliament by opposition parties from the mainland. However, CCM's vice chair for the Tanzanian mainland, John Malecela, said late last month that the party would defend Hamad's victory. He lashed out at opposition leaders who questioned the validity of the poll. "We shall never keep our mouths shut. We have no culture that will accept injustice," retorted opposition member of the union parliament Mabere Marando. Marando, the secretary general of the NCCR-Mageuzi party, said the opposition had an obligation to inform external funders of the elections that their money was misappropriated by government. Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa has stood firmly behind his Zanzibari counterpart. He wants the CUF to recognize Amor as president of Zanzibar in order to enable the two sides to sit down and iron out their differences. His position is in line with the electoral laws of both Zanzibar and Tanzania, which stipulate that once the electoral commissioner announces the results of presidential elections, the contestants are bound to accept the announcement without question. But Mkapa has also been talking tough, saying over the weekend in Dodoma, central Tanzania, that if opposition parties wanted confrontation, the CCM was prepared to face them, although he did not elaborate. Prince Bagenda, a political analyst argues that, as president of the united republic, Mkapa's first obligation is to safeguard the fundamental rights of every citizen of Tanzania and that he should therefore spearhead efforts to find a solution to the political crisis in Zanzibar. In the meantime, the 750,000 Zanzibaris are worried that their country might again be plunged into turmoil, as in 1964, as a result of the current political crisis which is bringing old rivalries to the surface. Socially, Unguja residents despise those of Pemba, whom they consider less educated and advanced, while Pembans counter that they are hard workers with a business acumen that has made them famous in east African coastal towns. Politically, relations between the two islands have been tense ever since the 1964 uprising in Unguja, which most Pembans did not support. Pembans also complain of having less than their fair share of political power in the archipelago: all five presidents who have ruled Zanzibar since 1964 have been from Unguja and very few Pembans have held ministerial posts in successive Zanzibari governments. The political impasse is likely to have economic repercussions. Like the Tanzanian mainland, Zanzibar is in dire need of foreign capital to revamp its economy. Since the prices of cloves -- its main export earner -- fell on the world market in the late 1970s, the islands' government has failed to balance its accounts. This is a challenging problem because few foreign investors are likely to risk their money in an country without stability.
COPYRIGHT 1996 IPS/GIN
DAR ES SALAAM, Feb 6 (Reuter)
Zanzibar's main opposition party boycotted the opening session of its new parliament on Tuesday, saying it was denied victory through electoral fraud in the Indian Ocean archipelago which is part of Tanzania.
The Civic United Front (CUF) did not say how long the boycott would last. It claims it won last October's landmark but chaotic polls in which the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM-Party for the Revolution) was declared winner.
"Yes, it (boycott) has happened. They (CUF MPs) went to the swearing-in ceremony and then walked out of parliament," a CUF spokesman told Reuters by telephone from Zanzibar. Zanzibar is part of Tanzania, with mainland Tanganyika, but has its own president and parliament.
Zanzibar's incumbent president, Salmin Amour, was declared winner in October with 165,271 votes against 163,706 for CUF's Seif Shariff Hamad.
Foreign observers said the election results were suspect. CUF insists counting was rigged by Amour's CCM and has warned of chaos if the result is not reversed.
The CUF has 24 seats while CCM holds 42 seats, including 16 presidential nominees, in the islands' parliament.
Earlier on Tuesday, Hamad told a news conference that the boycott was intended to show the world that Zanzibaris did not recognise Amour's government.
"They (MPs) will not participate to show the world that they do not recognise the government of Salmin Amour," said Hamad, a fiery politician and a former member of CCM.
"We do not intend to have a violent conflict. But we are not going to give in and force will be answered with force," Hamad warned.
Amour has consolidated his controversial election victory by selecting ministers exclusively from CCM despite pressure to form a coalition government, proposed by Tanzania's founding father Julius Nyrere, as a way of cooling down the tension.
He has also clamped down on opposition activity by arresting several CUF activists for treason. A leading opposition newspaper was recently banned from Zanzibar and more than 10,000 CUF supporters living on Zanzibar's main island have fled back to the northern island of Pemba.
Western donors who keep Tanzania solvent have so far failed to force the government to listen to opposition grievances.
But internal pressure is mounting on Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa to take action and address the Zanzibar crisis before it blows into a full-scale conflict.
Mkapa has declined to intervene, saying the constitution does not allow him to do so. Earlier this week he said his government was ready to deal with the Zanzibari opposition if they caused trouble.
Tanzania's leading newspapers have criticised Mkapa's stand and challenged him to act boldly to end the crisis.
(c) Reuters Limited 1996
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  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
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  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
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  15. Zanzibar election Diary Oct.19-27,1995
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