Voter registration resumes in Zanzibar

Voter registration resumed on Thursday in Tanzania's semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar after a two-day suspension following violence between supporters of the two main political parties, the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) and the opposition Civic United Front (CUF). "Registration of voters resumed today. But there are more horrible acts of violence designed to intimidate us," Salum Bimani, a CUF spokesman, told IRIN on Thursday. "We have resumed registration and we are going on well," Masauni Yusuf Masau, the chairman of the Zanzibar Electoral Commission, said on Friday. Bimani said unknown people set fire to two houses on Thursday in the Kianga area, on the outskirts of Zanzibar town. "Many people were also beaten," he said. "Some are now so scared to stay in their homes at night they go to the bush to spend the night." The Zanzibar Urban West regional police commander, George Kizuguto, said the police were aware of the reports and were carrying out investigations. The electoral commission suspended voter registration on Tuesday to "avoid unnecessary friction". Tensions remain high between CCM and CUF supporters ahead of general elections, scheduled for October. CUF representatives have complained that CCM was taking hundreds of people from mainland Tanzania to Zanzibar, and that the party was illegally registering them as voters on the island. On Monday, hundreds of people attempted to break into a voter registration centre. Unofficially, Zanzibari police said these people were CUF supporters disgruntled over what they claimed to be voter registration fraud. CCM has denied the allegations: "It is CUF which is causing chaos," Vuai Ali Vuai, the deputy publicity secretary of CCM, said.