Zanzibar is very safe, police reassure

Dar es Salaam. Authorities in Zanzibar have assured residents that the security of the Isles faces no threat despite incidents of terror attacks that have taken place in neighbouring Kenyan coast of Lamu.

The police said they are still searching for perpetrators of Friday night grenade attack that left one person dead and several others injured in Zanzibar.

Speaking with The Citizen over the phone, police commander for Zanzibar’s Urban West Region Mkadam Khamis Mkadam said security in the Isles was fine but noted that they were closely monitoring events in Kenya.

“We share the same culture with coastal people of Kenya, and mark you: their problem started slowly like what we are experiencing now,” he warned, adding:

“People have to develop a culture of working with us, they should not be afraid of being blamed or being called traitors for repoting criminals or people they suspect of wrong doing or with ill motives and that way, we will all be safe.”

On Monday 15 people, including two police officers, were killed by al Shabaab militants in Mpeketoni town near the coastal town of Lamu. The previous day, the militants from Somalia, attacked the same town and butchered 49 people.

Earlier on Friday, a bomb explosion killed one person and wounded at least seven in front of a mosque in the busy Darajani Street, Zanzibar.

This was the second explosion this year, on February homemade bombs went off near an Anglican Cathedral and a restaurant both in Zanzibar’s tourist hub of Stone Town.

Last year, a Roman Catholic priest was attacked with acid and two men threw a corrosive liquid at two British teenagers and in all accounts no one has been arrested.

THere hasn’t been any arrests so far, but the police are saying they haven’t failed in their investigation and they are still in control.

“We haven’t failed; we are determined to solve all the past cases…The trouble is, Tanzanians want to see the culprits arrested in just a day or two but this type of criminals are exceptional, they are too sophisticated,” said Mkadam.

He told The Citizen that even if it takes 10 years, they will get the criminals. “The important thing though is to stop attacks from happening again, with people’s support we can achieve that.”