Kakke
JF-Expert Member
- Dec 4, 2010
- 1,883
- 1,482
Ali Mohamed Shein is sworn in as Zanzibar as president at Aman Stadium yesterday. Dr Shein began a second five-year term after winning last Sunday’s presidential election.
By Athuman Mtulya
Zanzibar — The United States and the European Union did not send representatives in yesterday’s swearing-in ceremony of Zanzibar President Ali Mohammed Shein.
The director of Zanzibar Department at the Foreign Affairs ministry, Mr Silima Kombo Haji, told journalists here yesterday that they had written to invite officials from the two diplomatic missions, but they wrote back to express regret that they would not send their representatives to the ceremony.
Mr Haji did not say what led to the move by the two missions, but from the very beginning they expressed their opposition to the annulment of the October General Election in Zanzibar and subsequent Sunday’s repeat polls in which Dr Shein garnered a landslide victory of 91.4 per cent.
Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) chairman Jecha Salim Jecha annulled the elections on October 28, citing “massive irregularities.”
However, the US embassy and EU election observer missions, among other members of the international community, criticised the decision, noting that the October 25 polls were conducted in a free and fair environment, with no irregularities worth annulling the entire exercise.
U.S., EU Snub Zanzibar President’s Inauguration
Zanzibar President Vows Five Years of Progress
Zanzibar President – My Priorities for the Next 5 Years
Tanzania: Zanzibar Electoral Body Declares Winner
Zanzibar Government of National Unity Hangs in Balance
Polls Rerun Outcome Not an End to Zanzibar Problems
On Monday, a total of 15 high commissioners and ambassadors to Tanzania from the donor community, US and EU included, issued a joint statement calling for peaceful negotiations between disputing parties in the Isles as a way of guaranteeing democracy and peace in Zanzibar.
They also expressed concern over the decision by ZEC to conduct a rerun of the polls despite their appeals not to do so. None of the 15 diplomatic missions sent representatives in yesterday’s ceremony.
“We commend once again the population of Zanzibar for having exercised calm and restraint throughout this process, and call on all parties and their supporters to re-start the national reconciliation process to find an inclusive, sustainable and peaceful resolution,” they remarked.
“We regret the Zanzibar Electoral Commission’s decision to hold a rerun of the 25 October 2015 election, without a mutually acceptable and negotiated solution to the current political impasse,” they further pointed out in the statement.
The full list included Belgium, Canada, Denmark, the European Union, Finland, and France. Others are Germany, US, UK, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and Sweden.
According to Mr Haji, 21 countries sent their representatives to yesterday’s ceremony.
These included: Algeria, Angola, Burundi, Cuba, DRC, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Kenya and Kuwait.
Others were Libya, Malawi, Mozambique, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Russia, Rwanda, Turkey, UAE, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
There was also a UN representative to the event.
The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
