CUF Blames Government for Delayed Peace Deal

Tanzania’s main opposition party in Zanzibar, the Civic United Front (CUF) meets soon to discuss the "slow implementation" of the peace treaty between it and the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party. CUF is casting doubts on the honesty of the Zanzibar government to implement the accord and accuses CCM of using delaying tactics in the exercise.

The fate of the accord, reached between the two rival parties on October 10, 2001, will be decided by a general CUF meeting scheduled for September 20 in Tabora in western Tanzania. CUF director for Information and Publicity Tambwe Hiza told The East African in the beginning of September that the meeting would decide whether to uphold the accord. "The Tabora meeting will give our stand on whether to celebrate the one-year-old peace accord or bury it for ever," he said, adding that the general council will meet after the executive committee meeting to ratify the latter's decision. „The Zanzibar government should blame for the consequences of the decision taken at next week's meetings," he said.

The main issue at stake is the formation of an independent Zanzibar electoral commission in which two commissioners must come from the opposition. Although CUF last month submitted the names it proposes for the commission to Zanzibar President Amani Abeid Karume, the appointments have not been made. President Karume has to nominate two Commissioners from names submitted by the 14 opposition political parties. Most parties are small, but have the right to be considered. "This is the main area of contention. We in CUF consider this silence to be a delaying tactic by CCM in the implementation of the peace accord, an exercise that is supposed to have been completed by now," he said. (THE EAST AFRICAN)