Zanzibar independence movement

Zanzibari independenceis a political ambition of somepolitical parties,advocacy groups,and individuals ofZanzibar,asemi-autonomous regionterritory withinTanzania,to become an independentsovereign state.

Background

Main article:History of Zanzibar

Sultanate of Zanzibar

Main article:Sultanate of Zanzibar

The Portuguese arrived in East Africa in 1498, where they found a series of independent towns on the coast, with Muslim Arabic-speaking elites. While the Portuguese travelers describe them as 'black' they made a clear distinction between the Muslim and non-Muslim populations.Their relations with these leaders were mostly hostile, but during the sixteenth century they firmly established their power, and ruled with the aid of tributary sultans. The Portuguese presence was relatively limited, leaving administration in the hands of preexisting local leaders and power structures. This system lasted until 1631, when the Sultan of Mombasa massacred the Portuguese inhabitants. For the remainder of their rule, the Portuguese appointed European governors. The strangling of trade and diminished local power led the Swahili elites in Mombasa and Zanzibar to invite Omani aristocrats to assist them in driving the Europeans out.

In 1698, Zanzibar came under the influence of theSultanate of Oman.There was abrief revoltagainst Omani rule in 1784. Local elites invited Omani merchant princes to settle on Zanzibar in the first half of the nineteenth century, preferring them to the Portuguese. Many locals today continue to emphasize that indigenous Zanzibaris had invitedSeyyid Said,the first Busaidi sultan, to their island,claiming a patron-client relationship with powerful families was a strategy used by many Swahili coast towns since at least the fifteenth century.

British protectorate

Control of Zanzibar eventually came into the hands of theBritish Empire;part of the political impetus for this was the 19th century movement for theabolition of the slave trade.Zanzibar was the centre of theArab slave trade,and in 1822, the Britishconsulin Muscat put pressure on Sultan Said to end the slave trade. Said came under increasing pressure from the British to abolish slavery, and in 1842 the British government told the Zanzibari ruler it wished to abolish the slave trade to Arabia, Oman, Persia, and the Red Sea.

In 1890 Zanzibar became aprotectorate(not a colony) of Britain. This status meant it continued to be under the sovereignty of theSultan of Zanzibar.

Zanzibar revolution and merger with Tanganyika

Main article:Zanzibar Revolution

On 10 December 1963,the Protectorate that had existed over Zanzibar since 1890 was terminated by the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom did not grant Zanzibar independence, as such, because the UK had never had sovereignty over Zanzibar. Rather, by the Zanzibar Act 1963 of the United Kingdom, the UK ended the Protectorate and made provision for full self-government in Zanzibar as an independent country within the Commonwealth. Upon the Protectorate being abolished, Zanzibar became aconstitutional monarchyunder the Sultan.

However, just a month later, on 12 January 1964 SultanJamshid bin Abdullahwasdeposedduring theZanzibar Revolution.The Sultan fled into exile, and the Sultanate was replaced by thePeople's Republic of Zanzibar and Pemba,asocialist governmentled by theAfro-Shirazi Party(ASP). Over 20,000 people were killed and refugees, especially Arabs and Indians, escaped the island as a consequence of the revolution.

In April 1964, the republic merged with mainlandTanganyika.The newly-created United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar was soon renamed,blendingthe two names, as the United Republic ofTanzania,within which Zanzibar remains a semi-autonomous region.

Demographic and cultural differences

Ethnicity

The people of Zanzibar are of diverse ethnic origins.The first permanent residents of Zanzibar seem to have been the ancestors of theBantuHadimuandTumbatu,who began arriving from theAfrican Great Lakesmainland around AD 1000. They belonged to various mainland ethnic groups and on Zanzibar, generally lived in small villages. They did not coalesce to form larger political units.

During Zanzibar's brief period of independence in the early 1960s, the major political cleavage was between theShirazi(Zanzibar Africans), who made up approximately 56% of the population, and the Zanzibar Arabs, who made up approximately 17%.Today, Zanzibar is inhabited mostly by ethnicSwahili,aBantupopulation of sub-Saharan Africans.There are also a number ofArabs,as well as some ethnicPersianandIndianpeople.

Religion

See also:Islam in Zanzibar

Zanzibar Religions (2010 est.)
Islam			98.9%
Christianity			0.6%
Indigenous			0.5%
Source:CIA World Factbook.

Unlike mainland Tanzania, Zanzibar's population is almost entirely Muslim, with a small Christian minority containing around 22 000 Christians.Other religious groups that are represented includeHindus,JainsandSikhs.

Languages

Zanzibaris speakSwahili(Kiswahili), aBantu languagethat is extensively spoken in theAfrican Great Lakesregion and indeed most of Tanzania where it is the de factonationalandofficial language.However unlike the mainland, many local residents also speakArabic,Frenchand/orItalian,with Arabic a recognised minority language.

Cuisine

Given the multi-cultural background of the island,Zanzibari cuisineis very distinct, with a mixture of various culinary traditions, includingBantu,Arab,Portuguese,Indian,Britishand evenChinese cuisine.

Governance

Relationship with the mainland

As a semi-autonomous part ofTanzania,Zanzibar has its own government, known as theRevolutionary Government of Zanzibar.It is made up of theRevolutionary CouncilandHouse of Representatives. The House of Representatives has a similar composition to theNational Assembly of Tanzania.Fifty members are elected directly from constituencies to serve five-year terms; 10 members are appointed by thePresident of Zanzibar;15 special seats are for women members of political parties that have representation in the House of Representatives; six members serveex officio,including all regional commissioners and the attorney general.Five of these 81 members are then elected to represent Zanzibar in the National Assembly.

Unguja has three administrative regions:Zanzibar Central/South,Zanzibar NorthandZanzibar Urban/West.Pemba has two:Pemba NorthandPemba South.

Concerning the independence and sovereignty of Zanzibar, Tanzania Prime MinisterMizengo Pindasaid on 3 July 2008 that there was "nothing like the sovereignty of Zanzibar in the Union Government unless the Constitution is changed in future". Zanzibar House of Representatives members from both the ruling party,Chama Cha Mapinduzi,and the opposition party,Civic United Front,disagreed and stood firmly in recognizing Zanzibar as a fully autonomous state.

Zanzibari politics

Zanzibar has a government of national unity, with the president of Zanzibar beingHussein Mwinyi,since 3 November 2020. There are many political parties in Zanzibar, but the most popular parties are theChama Cha Mapinduzi(CCM) and theCivic United Front(CUF). Since the early 1990s, the politics of the archipelago have been marked by repeated clashes between these two parties.

Contested elections in October 2000 led to a massacre on 27 January 2001 when, according toHuman Rights Watch,the army and police shot into crowds of protestors, killing at least 35 and wounding more than 600. Those forces, accompanied by ruling party officials and militias, also went on a house-to-house rampage, indiscriminately arresting, beating, and sexually abusing residents. Approximately 2,000 temporarily fled to Kenya.

Violence erupted again afteranother contested electionon 31 October 2005, with the CUF claiming that its rightful victory had been stolen from it. Nine people were killed.

Following 2005, negotiations between the two parties aiming at the long-term resolution of the tensions and a power-sharing accord took place, but they suffered repeated setbacks. The most notable of these took place in April 2008, when the CUF walked away from the negotiating table following a CCM call for a referendum to approve of what had been presented as a done deal on the power-sharing agreement.

In November 2009, the then-president of Zanzibar,Amani Abeid Karume,met with CUF secretary-generalSeif Sharif Hamadat the State House to discuss how to save Zanzibar from future political turmoil and to end the animosity between them.This move was welcomed by many, including the United States.It was the first time since themulti-party systemwas introduced in Zanzibar that the CUF agreed to recognize Karume as the legitimate president of Zanzibar.

A proposal to amend Zanzibar's constitution to allow rival parties to form governments of national unity was adopted by 66.2 percent of voters on 31 July 2010.

The autonomous status of Zanzibar is viewed as comparable toHong Kongas suggested by some scholars, and being recognized as the "African Hong Kong".

Sport

Footballis the most popular sport in Zanzibar, overseen by theZanzibar Football Association.,which is separate from Zanzibar is an associate member of theConfederation of African Football(CAF), but not ofFIFA.This means that theZanzibar national football teamis not eligible to enter national CAF competitions, such as theAfrican Nations Cup,but Zanzibar's Football Clubs get representation at theCAF Confederation Cupand theCAF Champions League.

The national team participates innon-FIFA Footballtournaments such as theFIFI Wild Cup,and theELF Cup.Because Zanzibar is not a member ofFIFA,their team is not eligible for theFIFA World Cup.

The Zanzibar Football Association also has aPremier Leaguefor the top clubs, which was created in 1981, again, separate from theTanzanian Premier League.

Media

The media in Zanzibar come under a different set of regulations to their counterparts in mainland Tanzania.

Causes

Various reasons have been given for the on-going secessionist movement, including historical independence,socio-economic disparity, cultural differencesand ethnic tensions between Arab islanders and black African mainlanders.It has also been noted thatradical islamistgroups support independencecapitalising on the political turbulence related to electoral issues.

Organisations

Pro-independence political groups

• TheDemocratic Partyis a far-rightpolitical partyin mainland Tanzania, registered on 7 June 2002, calls for the dissolution of the Union Government of Tanzania and has openly campaigned for the separation of the islands ofZanzibarandPembafrom mainlandTanganyika.The DP supports the expulsion of minorities from the mainland.
• TheCivic United Frontis a Zanzibari autonomistliberal party.Although nationally based, most of the CUF's support comes from theZanzibarislands ofUngujaandPemba.The party is a member ofLiberal Internationaland theUnrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization.
• Uamsho,an abbreviation ofThe Association for Islamic Mobilisation and Propagationis anIslamistseparatist group legally registered inZanzibar.Led by Farid Hadi Ahmed, Uamsho seeks independence for Zanzibar fromTanzania.Analysts have said that Uamsho has been gaining popularity following the disenchantment of supporters of Zanzibar's main oppositionCivic United Front(CUF) party after its decision to form a government of national unity with the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) Party.There are suggestions that theZanzibar acid attackhas been linked to their supporters.

Anti-independence political groups

• Chama Cha Mapinduzi,translated asParty of the Revolution,is a unionist party created on February 5, 1977, under the leadership ofJulius Nyerere,through the merger of theTanganyika African National Union(TANU), the ruling party inTanganyika,and theAfro-Shirazi Party(ASP), the ruling party inZanzibar.

References

Bibliography

• Ayany, Samuel G. (1970),A History of Zanzibar: A Study in Constitutional Development, 1934–1964,Nairobi:East African Literature Bureau,OCLC201465
• United States Department of State(1975),Countries of the World and Their Leaders(2nd ed.), Detroit:Gale Research Company,OCLC1492755