Tanzania: US awards Martin Luther King Award to Zanzibar peace architectures
Our Correspondent, Dar es Salaam – The Zanzibar ‘Committee of Six’ which is mentioned as the main architecture of the Zanzibar political accord that ended years of political turmoils in the Isles, has been awarded this year’s Martin Luther King Drum Award, by the US embassy in Dar es Salaam for their efforts which resulted into the Government of National Unit (GNU).
The award which aims at identifying courageous people in the Society was awarded yesterday in Dar es Salaam to six different individuals from CUF and CCM political parties, by the US ambassador to Tanzania, Alfonso Lenhardt.
In his pre award speech the ambassador reiterated that the awardees did a commendable job in the formation of the national government in Zanzibar. “We congratulate them for architecting the accord that ended up in the Government of National Unit,” said the ambassador. The current GNU in Zanzibar is a result of prolonged political fiasco in the Indian ocean Isles.
The first violence took off in 1995 after a disputed presidential election and the same was noted in the 2000 election where the worse came in 2001 when police fired and killed several supporters of the opposition, The Civic United Front (CUF), following demonstrations held in Zanzibar to demand freedom and independent electroral council.
