[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 18]
[Senate]
[Page 24596]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    THE RECENT ELECTIONS IN ZANZIBAR

  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I am deeply concerned about the 
situation in Zanzibar, Tanzania.
  Just last month, Zanzibaris went to the polls in Presidential and 
parliamentary elections. I commend the strong voter turnout and the 
understandable desire of Zanzibaris that their votes be counted. 
Unfortunately, the people of Zanzibar have so far been denied the 
accountable and transparent election process they deserve. This is a 
cruel repeat of the Presidential and parliamentary elections held in 
1995 and 2000, which were widely considered to have been mismanaged, 
resulting in serious irregularities. Credible allegations were made 
after the 2000 elections that votes were manipulated to deny the 
opposition Civic United Front, CUF, victory in Zanzibar.
  Even more disturbing was the violent aftermath of the 2000 elections. 
In 2001, demonstrators protesting election abuses in Zanzibar and Pemba 
met with a brutal police response in which 32 people died, hundreds 
were arrested, and countless others fled to neighboring countries for 
asylum. These events were deeply troubling and underscored the need for 
real reform to ensure that violence and serious irregularities in the 
electoral process were not repeated. I traveled to Pemba in the 
aftermath of these troubling events, and in my conversations with local 
residents and leaders, I sensed real frustration with the failure of 
the Tanzanian authorities and the international community to speak out 
on behalf of the civil and political rights of the people of Zanzibar.
  The Mukata II agreement established in 2002 gave rise to hope for 
change. Reforms under this agreement, agreed to by all parties and 
implemented in the 2003 local elections in Pemba, gave further reason 
to believe that the rights of the Zanzibari people would now be 
respected. Unfortunately, while the Mukata II agreement set out to 
improve transparency and ensure that election results are credible to 
parties, it appears today that Zanzibari voters' rights are again being 
ignored.
  Once again, serious allegations of voting irregularities and unfair 
preelection conditions have surfaced, including double voting, 
inaccurate voter lists which prevented eligible voters from casting 
ballots, and media bias. Once again, reports speak to the use of 
excessive force against civilians protesting these injustices.
  The Government of Tanzania and the Government of Zanzibar have a 
responsibility to pursue accountability for past abuses and 
transparency in the political process. The U.S. Government has a 
responsibility, too. To turn a blind eye to the abuses that have taken 
and are taking place in Zanzibar is inconsistent with our principles, 
and it is, frankly, inconsistent with our interests. Zanzibar's 
population is nearly entirely Muslim. Given all the hostility, all of 
the suspicion, and all of the resentment of American foreign policy 
that exists in the Muslim world, we cannot afford to be indifferent to 
this kind of injustice. I call on the administration to provide 
Congress with a plan to work with the rest of the donor community to 
send strong, unmistakable signals to the Tanzanian Government that the 
disenfranchisement of the people of Zanzibar is simply unacceptable.

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