(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) – The following is an ARTICLE 19 press release: ZANZIBAR ELECTION FARCE LOOMS As five years of international efforts to resolve Zanzibar’s political crisis founder, ARTICLE 19 today called on the Commonwealth Secretary-General to lead a high-level tripartite mission to Tanzania within the next two weeks to seek progress on issues which, unless […]
(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) – The following is an ARTICLE 19 press release:
ZANZIBAR ELECTION FARCE LOOMS
As five years of international efforts to resolve Zanzibar’s political crisis founder, ARTICLE 19 today called on the Commonwealth Secretary-General to lead a high-level tripartite mission to Tanzania within the next two weeks to seek progress on issues which, unless they are addressed urgently, will ensure that elections due in October 2000 are a farce.
ARTICLE 19, an international human rights group, is urging formation of a delegation of representatives from the Commonwealth, the UN and the OAU to address the need for action on three urgent issues:
– Reform of the Zanzibar Electoral Commission, which remains an instrument of government (1);
– The continuing harassment of opposition leaders, including ongoing trials on trumped-up treason charges (2); and
– The abuse by government of the publicly-funded media, which continues to pump out pro-government propaganda. It should be completely overhauled to ensure balanced and impartial reporting.
Jon Lunn of ARTICLE 19’s Africa Programme said:
“The time has come for a high-level international diplomatic initiative focused on the Union and Zanzibar governments’ refusal to date to guarantee a fair electoral process. If there is no progress on these issues by the end of August, the international community must state that the process on Zanzibar fails essential credibility tests.”
Until June 2000, a Commonwealth special envoy was deployed to attempt to implement the June 1999 Commonwealth-brokered agreement aimed at improving respect for human rights and levelling the electoral playing field. Since the resignation of the envoy last month (3), the Commonwealth appears to have abandoned hope of implementing the agreement which it, with UN and OAU sponsorship, helped to bring into being.
Notes to Editors
1. There have been reports that the Zanzibar Electoral Commission is altering constituency boundaries to the disadvantage of the opposition.
2. 18 leaders of the main opposition party, the Civic United Front (CUF), have now been in prison for over two years on charges of treason, and the government has been dragging out the trial. The CUF’s leader, Sheikh Sherif Hamad, faces equally dubious charges of assault and illegal possession of weapons, following disturbances in April outside the court room, during the last hearing of the treason case.
3. The Commonwealth special envoy, Moses Anafu, resigned unexpectedly in June 2000 following allegations regarding his business interests in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
4. View ARTICLE 19’s reports of April 2000 on our website (www.article19.org) – Zanzibar: Democracy on Shaky Foundations
and Media Law and Practice in Southern Africa: Tanzania Mainland or contact the Africa Programme
on tel. +44 20 7278 9292 for a hard copy.
