Tanzania commemorates 46th year of Karume death

Dar es Salaam. Tanzanians today mark the 46th anniversary of the assassination of the first President of Zanzibar, Abeid Amani Karume. It is a public holiday today, in accordance with the Holidays Ordinance (Amended) Act, 1966 and is observed throughout the nation. No public events have been scheduled, however, to observe the day.

Official records show that it was Karume who led the Zanzibar Revolution that ousted Sultan Jamshid bin Abdullah and established the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar in January 1964. Three months later Mzee Karume agreed with Tanzania’s first President Julius Nyerere to unite Tanganyika and Zanzibar to form the United Republic of Tanzania.

Praised by many and denounced by some, Mzee Karume steered Zanzibar through the first eight years of prosperity for Zanzibarians, which were, however, marked by gross accusations of human rights abuse. His first son, Amani Abeid Karume, succeeded him as President serving for two terms from 2000 to 2010.

According to popular accounts four gunmen shot Mzee Karume dead as he played dhumna (a tradiational chess) at the headquarters of the Afro-Shirazi party in Zanzibar Town. While the attackers were killed immediately scored of other people, including the former Union Cabinet minister Abdulrahman Babu were arrested and held in custody, accused of being part of a large conspiracy to assassinate Karume. Babu wa eventually released and went into exile in Europe.