Clashes flare in Zanzibar
2005-03-08 10:32
Zanzibar - Political violence flared with mobs attacking political opposition members' offices and homes in Zanzibar, leaving at least 17 people injured, as the island prepares for elections this year, police and opposition leaders said.
Four branch offices belonging to the opposition Civic United Front were burned to the ground late on Sunday night and another mob attacked the home of the party's leader, setting two vehicles on fire, party spokesperson Salim Bimani said on Monday.
Two of the injured were admitted to the Mnazi Mmoja National Hospital's intensive care unit in critical condition, he said. The destroyed vehicles belonged to two bodyguards who fought off the mob that attacked front leader Seif Shariff Hamad's home.
The attacks were in the western section of the town of Zanzibar, where members of both the opposition and the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party live. The Zanzibar Electoral Commission plans to begin registering voters in the area next month.
General elections are scheduled for October 23 in Zanzibar, a semiautonomous archipelago off the coast of Tanzania. The last elections, in 2000, were marred by violence and irregularities.
Politics in Zanzibar also have a religious dimension. The ruling party is based on the largely Christian mainland Tanzania, while the Zanzibar-based Civic United Front is largely Muslim. More than 90% of Zanzibaris are Muslim.
Political and religious tensions on Zanzibar, home to about one million people, have only grown since the 2000 election.
The recent trouble started on Sunday night when both parties held rallies less than one kilometre from one another. When the two rallies ended, supporters from both sides provoked one another, and soon stones, knives and spears were hurled through the air, witnesses said.
Before dawn on Monday, 200 members of a newly formed, pro-government civilian militia attacked Hamad's home, Bimani said. The government began recruiting civilians to join self-defence units two years ago.
Regional police commander George Kizuguto confirmed the violence and said investigations were underway, but that no arrests had been made.
No ruling party members were immediately available for comment.
Hamad Massoud, the opposition's director of planning and elections, told the rally on Sunday that the Civic United Front needed to start forming their own "self-defence" militias because of the pro-government groups.
- AP