Zanzibar violence demands prompt inquiry - Amnesty

The human rights body Amnesty International on Tuesday welcomed the recent agreement to establish an independent commission of inquiry to investigate alleged human rights violations during political demonstrations in Zanzibar in January, part of a broader political agreement between the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party and the opposition Civic United Front (CUF).

The advocacy group welcomed the decision as "an important step for the future of human rights in Tanzania" and said it was important that it should be "prompt, independent and impartial".

Amnesty said it had set out details, in a memorandum sent to the governments of Tanzania and the semi-autonomous island chain of Zanzibar, of human rights violations by the security forces during political clashes in Zanzibar in January, including killings, mass arrests, torture and rape. [http://www.amnesty.org]

At least 22 people were shot dead by armed police on the Zanzibari island of Pemba in circumstances suggesting unlawful use of lethal force during demonstrations by the opposition CUF against the outcome of October 2000 elections, according to Amnesty. There were also mass arrests, and some of those arrested were subjected to torture and ill-treatment, it stated.

More than 2,000 refugees fled Zanzibar for neighbouring Kenya following the clashes, with the last of those in the main body of refugees having been repatriated by the UN Refugee agency only in early November.

Most of the refugees had returned to Zanzibar by the end of May, but a number of the remainder left Dadaab refugee camp, northeastern Kenya, for Somalia in October, while others, who were not officially repatriated by the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), returned by their own means. [see Tanzania stories at http://www.irinnews.org/]

The government of Tanzania gave assurances that, on their return to Zanzibar, the refugees would not be prosecuted as a group for any involvement in the January unrest.

UNHCR protection staff on Unguja and Pemba monitoring the refugees' repatriation from May to October reported no serious problems with their return or reintegration, regional spokesman Paul Stromberg told IRIN on Thursday.

"There have been no reports of harassment or arrests, nothing of that nature [from returnees, the government or CUF], and really no undue attention paid to the returnees," he said. UNHCR would be sending protection officers in December to follow up on the returnees who had returned earlier this month, but was not expecting any undue problems, he added.

Hopes for a lasting solution to the Zanzibar crisis improved on 10 October when the CCM party [Party of the Revolution] and CUF signed an agreement to end a year of political turmoil on the islands, and a spell of unrest that dates back to what CUF terms "the stolen elections" of 1995.

The agreement included a number of human rights issues, including establishing an independent commission of inquiry and providing those affected by the January violence with compensation.

Afterwards, 109 criminal cases related to January's unrest were dropped by the state, including murder charges against CUF Deputy Secretary-General Juma Duni Haji and the party's security director, Machano Khamis, who had been detained for months after the violence.

However, hopes of smooth political progress after the CUF-CCM agreement appear to have dimmed as a result of changes reportedly made to the agreement, without CUF's consultation, in preparing its legal implementation.

In a separate but related development, Zanzibar's High Court on Monday gave the government and police until 27 January 2002 to file their defence in a suit brought against them by 18 former treason suspects, all CUF members, and including four former members of the Isles legislature.

The 18 have alleged that they were "unlawfully detained" on trumped-up treason charges for protesting against the outcome of the 1995 elections. Arrested in 1997 for alleged incitement to violence, they were later accused of high treason for allegedly plotting to overthrow the Zanzibari government of President Salmin Amour.

Tanzania's Inspector-General of Police Omari Mahita, Zanzibar Police Commissioner Khalid Nuizani and Zanzibar Attorney-General Iddi Pandu Hassan have been named as respondents in the case, in which the petitioners are seeking some US $6.55 million compensation for degrading incarceration, denial of freedom and the opportunity to earn a living, and being barred from contesting elections, AFP news agency reported on Tuesday.

"For too long human rights violations have gone unpunished in Zanzibar. The authorities now have the opportunity to correct this culture of impunity and to provide justice and compensation for those whose rights were violated," Amnesty stated on Tuesday.

The organisation also called for compensation to be provided to the victims of the violence or their families, and for anyone found responsible for human rights violations to be brought to justice.

"It is our hope that the report on the violations and the recommendations set out in the memorandum will be a starting point for the commission of inquiry when it begins its work," Amnesty added.