Commonwealth aims to bolster Zanzibar reconciliation plan

The Commonwealth of Nations' Special Envoy to Zanzibar, Moses Anafu, is in Tanzania to set up a timeline for implementation of the reconciliation agreement reached in May to resolve a four-year-old political crisis in Zanzibar, a spokesman at the Commonwealth Secretariat confirmed to IRIN on Wednesday. The Pan-African News Agency (PANA) reported at the weekend that, with Anafu's support, a 14-member Inter-Party Committee due to implement the accord would soon begin operations. The committee has been largely non-operational due to lack of funding. The crisis stemmed from the widely-disputed 1995 general election victory of Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM). The May agreement outlined measures to restore normal political life in Zanzibar. However, apart from the return of Civic United Front (CUF) members to parliament, few other terms of the agreement have been implemented.