Zanzibar violence flares
2005-04-01 18:28
Zanzibar - At least three people and as many as seven were wounded in Tanzania's semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar on Friday as political violence flared the day before voter registration was to start for upcoming elections, police and witnesses said.
Rampaging armed youths set ablaze an opposition-owned factory and burned a trailer on the property in what witnesses said was an attempt to frighten opposition supporters from registering to vote in the October 30 polls.
Several dozen young supporters of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM -Revolutionary Party) set ablaze the Sanaa Carpentry Factory which is owned by a member of the opposition Civic United Front (CUF), they said.
"Armed CCM youth have been going around to intimidate opposition voters to prevent us from going to register tomorrow," Hamadi Salim said from his bed at Zanzibar's Al-Rahma hospital where he was being treated for head injuries.
"They attacked us," he said.
Witnesses said seven people were injured, one of them seriously, in the violence in Zanzibar's Changombe area, an opposition stronghold, but Zanzibar police spokesperson George Githugoto said only three people had been wounded.
Opposition leaders charged that the youth - known as "Janjaweed," the same name given to Khartoum's proxy militia in Sudan's western Darfur region - were working alongside police officers deployed from mainland Tanzania to disrupt the registration process.
"The Tanzanian inspector general of police has brought many policemen to Zanzibar to work closer with the Janjaweed, not to keep peace, but to harrass the opposition in favour of the ruling party," said CUF chief Seif Sharrif Hamad who is a candidate for the Zanzibar presidency.
CCM officials were unavailable for comment.
Tension between CCM and CUF supporters has escalated in recent weeks in the run-up to the campaign for the elections.
Last month, at least 25 people were injured in clashes between CCM and CUF supporters and the Tanzanian government responded by deploying more police to the island which is prone to electoral violence.
Police blamed that rioting - which appeared similar to violence on the island in the run-up to elections in 2000 - on political leaders inciting their supporters to extremes to boost support ahead of the polls.
The CCM and CUF have blamed each other for the unrest with each alleging the other was intent on sabotaging the so-called "Muafaka Accord" they signed in 2001 to prevent a recurrence of the earlier troubles.