Dar es Salaam. The son of first Zanzibar President Abeid Amani Karume, Mr Ali Abeid Karume, has revealed that his father believed in union, because he considered Africa as one.
Mr Ali Karume said this during a special prayer to commemorate 48 years anniversary of his father’s death in Zanzibar yesterday. “Without Abeid Karume, the union wouldn’t have happened, and that is the truth because the isles were ruled by sultans,” he said.
“To unite countries is not a simple task, I remember Mr Karume because he had a heart of sacrifice. I see a lot of countries failing to unite because many leaders are selfish.”
The special prayer was also attended by the President of Zanzibar, Mr Ali Mohammed Shein, Prime Minister of the United Republic of Tanzania Majaliwa Kassim Majaliwa, retired President of Zanzibar and elder son of the late Karume, Mr Aman Karume, wife of the late Karume Fatma Karume and other invited dignitaries. Mr Abeid Karume was assassinated on April 7, 1972 in Zanzibar Town, after four gunmen shot him when he
was playing Mancala, popularly known in Kiswahili as bao, at the headquarters of the Afro-Shirazi Party.
It was alleged that people who killed him were among those who were opposing his regime. Details obtained from different sources say the main gunman in the assassination was identified as Lieutenant Humud Mohammed Humud.
The sources said that Lieutenant Humud, who was 26 years old, was a member of the Arab ethnic minority that monopolised power in Zanzibar before the black majority seized it in a revolution on January 12, 1964. After his killing, the curfew was announced, followed by search of killers. It was later reported that Lieutenant Humud and four other assassins were later killed in gunfights with security forces, but many other men were picked up. Almost all of them were said to be members or adherents of the former Umma party, which merged with Karume’s Afro Shirazi party in 1964. Among those arrested in Mainland Tanzania was Prof Abdulrahman Mohammed Babu, founder of the Umma party and a onetime associate of Mr Karume in the Revolutionary Council. Dar es Salaam. Kigamboni District will soon start
