DATE=1/28/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ZANZIBAR TREASON (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-258520
BYLINE=SCOTT STEARNS
DATELINE=NAIROBI
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: In Zanzibar, the government appears to have
avoided a showdown with opposition activists. As V-O-
A's Scott Stearns reports, the island's controversial
treason trial has been adjourned.
TEXT: The court hearing the treason case decided to
delay hearings for another month after Zanzibari
President Salmin Amour fired his attorney general.
Eighteen opposition leaders are charged with plotting
to overthrow President Amour. The opening of their
trial last week led to rioting and 40 arrests.
Opposition supporters promised more trouble when
Attorney General Ali Mohamed Omar this week announced
plans to arrest more party officials. Instead, Mr.
Omar lost his job and the trial is adjourned. The
judge, Gariba Tumaka, says he will consider a request
to release the defendants on bail when the case
resumes on February 28th.
On trial are members of the opposition Civic United
Front, including four legislators from the House of
Representatives, a former vice presidential candidate,
and the director of a human rights committee. They
were arrested in November 1997 after the party won a
by-election. The government says they were importing
guns and uniforms. The human rights group Amnesty
International calls the 18 defendants "political
prisoners."
Civic United Front leaders say President Amour rigged
the 1995 presidential election in Zanzibar, a vote he
won with 50-point-two percent of the ballots. When
the opposition party boycotted parliament, most
international aid to Zanzibar was suspended. The
European Union is urging the government to resolve
this treason issue quickly.
The islands of Zanzibar and Pemba are part of
Tanzania, but together they have their own president,
their own ministries, and their own parliament. This
administration governs Zanzibar in cooperation with a
broader union government based on the mainland. It is
a unique arrangement founded 36 years ago by
Tanzania's first president, Julius Nyerere.
Mr. Nyerere's death last year re-opened the union
debate with Zanzibari opposition leaders increasingly
pushing for independence. It has even become an issue
in the treason trial. Defense attorneys argued the
charges should be thrown out because President Amour
is not the Tanzanian president, but only the head of
a semi-autonomous region and, they argued, not covered
by existing sedition laws.
Zanzibar's future is sure to be a campaign issue in
this year's nationwide elections. Tanzania's ruling
party has made it clear it has no intention of
letting the island become independent. At Mr.
Nyerere's funeral, President Benjamin Mkapa said those
who dare to break the union will be dealt with
severely.
While the ruling party remains strong on the mainland,
it must be concerned about how October's vote will go
in Zanzibar. The party is trying to change the
island's constitution to allow President Amour to run
for a third term. (Signed)
NEB/SKS/JWH
28-Jan-2000 05:43 AM EDT (28-Jan-2000 1043 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
