Tanzania 
Tanzania calls for international intervention in Zanzibar

afrol.com / AENS, 10 January - Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa called on the international community for the first time on today to help restore peace in the troubled Zanzibar islands. The collection of semi-autonomous islands off Tanzania's coast have been rocked by seven bomb explosions since contested elections in October 2000 after almost six years of sporadic violence since disputed multi-party elections in 1995.

Mkapa told foreign diplomats in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday that the country was finally prepared to accept external help in solving the Zanzibari political crisis. "Help us to heal our wounds and not open fresh ones," said Mkapa.

He stressed that the mainland administration, Zanzibar President Amani Karume and the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) had all indicated their enthusiasm for a lasting peace settlement and were prepared to negotiate with the opposition Civic United Front (CUF). 

- [We] all want to be part of the healing process, said Mkapa. Karume's election to the presidency in October heightened tensions in Zanzibar, sparking public riots and allegations of ballot rigging.

The CUF warned this week that government only had until February 8 to stage new elections or, the party said, it would launch an international campaign against the Tanzanian regime and would embark on a public defiance campaign within the country.

The CUF stressed that February 8 was the deadline given the Zanzibar Electoral Commission in October. The threat follows the discovery of 112 detonators and a large quantity of commercial explosives on the island of Pemba, near Zanzibar.

Police spokesman Aden Mwamunyange confirmed at the time that the explosives appeared linked to seven reported bomb attacks on government or ZEC buildings on the Pemba, Unguja and Zanzibar islands. Police have since arrested 56 people for the bombings and linked public unrest but have declined to release their names or charges. 

No one was killed in the bomb explosions, but various people were injured when a government hotel in Wete and the ZEC's Zanzibar offices were bombed. Mkapa appealed for peace today, calling on opposition members to take up their seats in the Zanzibar legislature and the national House of Representatives. 

Mkapa also appealed to the international community to assist with renewed AIDS/HIV prevention programmes, the country's growing refugee problem and its attempts to save the regions' ailing cashew nut industry. Tanzania currently hosts roughly one million war refugees, half of whom are housed in UNHCR camps. Just over 172 000 live in Tanzanian government or impromptu camps while another 300 000 are scattered in border squatter camps, villages and slumps in the country's larger cities.

By Ongeri John, African Eye News Service (AENS)

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