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Misanet.com / IPS, 19 January - Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa's decision to appoint a commission to investigate last year's killings of opposition demonstrators in the Indian Ocean Islands of Zanzibar, has been described as attempts by the government to cover up rights violations by police. The Tanzania Labour Party (TLP) described the formation of the commission this week as a "cover up for those involved in the killings." TLP chairperson, Augustine Mrema said in a statement that it was "ironic" for Mkapa, who initially "commended the police for gunning down the demonstrators should be the one to form a commission of inquiry a year later." He claimed that some of the police officers, involved in the killings, were promoted. The government, he said, justified the killings by saying that the demonstrators were armed and wanted to seize police stations. Mkapa this week named an eight-member commission to probe the circumstances under which up to 27 supporters of the opposition Civic United Front (CUF) were shot and killed on the semiautonomous Indian Ocean islands of Zanzibar and Pemba, allegedly by the police, on 26-27 January last year. The demonstrators were demanding a re-run of the October 2000 elections, which the international observers said were flawed, when police violently dispersed them. More than 2,000 refugees fled to Kenya as a result of the violence but most have since returned home. The killings sparked outrage from international rights organisations, which said the police had used excessive force. The commission, to be chaired by retired Brigadier Hashim Mbita, will probe the "causes and effects" of the violence, and present its findings by 31 July, according to a presidential statement issued this week. Other members of the commission include Masauni Yusuf Masauni, Ali Abdallah Suleiman, Salama Kombo Ahmed, Hassan Mlawa, Bruno Mpangala, Kasim Ali and Philip Mcamanga. The commission, among other things, will establish the number of people affected by the violence and propose ways of providing compensation or humanitarian aid to those affected, and further proposes measures that could pave way for reconciliation on the island. CUF leader Ibrahim Lipumba said he welcomed the commission but regretted that it was composed of people close to the ruling party. "The only problem I have is the composition of the commission. This is a legal matter, and should have involved legal people. But this is not the case with the commission, so I am upset about that," he was quoted as saying by a newspaper in Tanzania. - It is very unfortunate to note that many of the commission members are known to have affiliation with the government in power or the ruling party, said Lipumba. - To tell the commission today that it should advise the government on possible means of avoiding similar incidents in future, amounts to saying that the government has no clear code of conduct, said James Mbatia of the opposition NCCR-Mageuzi. Amnesty International also has welcomed the commission but said it would be waiting to see if the inquiry would be "truly independent". - Obviously, we are happy that a commission has been set up, but we are waiting to find out more about how it will carry out its work and whether the findings will be made public, Sharon Critops, a researcher with Amnesty International, told the Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN). Amnesty, which has since early last year been calling for the formation of an independent inquiry into the violence, to ascertain the extent of rights violations during the bloody riots, said it had presented its preliminary findings to the Tanzanian government but had not received any reply so far. The London-based rights watchdog also wants the commission to establish the actual number of deaths, which the government has placed at 27 but which, according to CUF, exceeded 70. "We see the formation of the commission as a sign of their goodwill but we are waiting to see what happens," said Critops. Amnesty International, outlining key recommendations for the establishment of the inquiry, calls for compensation to be provided to the victims of the violence or their families, and for anyone found responsible for rights violations to be brought to justice. To break the political deadlock on the islands, the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) last year in October signed an agreement with the CUF, which, among other things, sought the setting up of an independent team to probe the Zanzibar killings. But the agreement ran into trouble after the government of Zanzibar amended its content without the consent of CUF. The two parties, however, signed another agreement last week, to iron their differences and implement the October agreement. Meanwhile, Zanzibar president Amani Abeid Karume has urged CUF to cooperate with him in "influencing the European Union" (EU) to resume aid to Zanzibar since the conflict that caused donors to suspend aid to Zanzibar "has been resolved," Tanzania's Swahili newspaper Nipashe, reported this week. - In the past, our CUF friends were calling on the EU to suspend aid to Zanzibar, the paper quoted Karume as saying. "But since we agreed to solve our political differences, I appeal to our CUF friends to join us in going to the EU to request them to resume aid to Zanzibar." By Judith Achieng' - IPS
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