Poll violence kills teen

2004-12-03 16:37

Dar Es Salaam - The electoral commission in Tanzania's semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar has temporarily shut down seven voter registration centres on Pemba Island after a schoolboy was shot dead at one of them, an official said on Friday.

"The centres closed down included one at Ng'ombeni, where a 16-year-old primary school pupil was shot dead and three others wounded on Wednesday," Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) commissioner Halima Tawakal Hairalla told AFP by telephone from Pemba, the twin Indian Ocean island with Zanzibar.

Sixteen-year-old Juma Omar Juma was shot dead on Wednesday at Ng'ombeni Primary School, which also serves as a voters' registration centre, an opposition official said.

Elections in October 2005

Juma was reportedly shot in the chest as members of Zanzibar para-military units tried to force their way in to register, but were barred from doing so by supporters of the opposition Civic United Front (CUF).

Three other people at the centre were wounded, according to officials and the police.

The voter registration exercise is in preparation for presidential and parliamentary elections throughout Tanzania scheduled for October 2005.

Tension in Zanzibar and Pemba has increased since voter registration began on Monday, with the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM - Revolutionary Party) and CUF trading accusations of importing ineligible voters from mainland Tanzania.

- AFP