Opposition accuses ruling party of using religion to undermine it

Tanzania's main opposition Civic United Front (CUF) has accused the country's ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) of "conspiring to make sure the party was deregistered",'The Guardian' newspaper reported. The party's vice-chairman Seif Shariff Hamad on Saturday said the CCM was "using sheikhs in mosques to campaign for deregistration" of the main opposition party in Zanzibar. He claimed that so-called "secret letters" recently circulated in Dodoma and allegations that the opposition party had sent its members for "military training" abroad were among the "covert missions" being carried out by CCM to "undermine" CUF. "We have managed to identify all the sheikhs who are being used by CCM. All of them are CCM members," the paper quoted Hamad as saying. He assured CUF members and supporters that the party would remain "afloat", regardless of the "malicious moves to frustrate its existence".