As Britain slowly lost control of the last of its colonies in the early 1960s, political unrest grew exponentially. Zanzibar was no exception. With American and Soviet forces competing for influence in former British colonies, conflict and violence became an inevitable aspect of third world politics. The death of Sultan Khalifa in 1960, triggered a period of such conflict in Zanzibar. Khalifa had reigned in Zanzibar for almost 50 years. Three years later, British rule ended when the last Governor departed for Britain on December 12, 1963. As a result of these events, Zanzibar was left without leadership and a government evenly split between two political parties, the ZNP (the Zanzibar Nationalist Party) and the ZPPP (the Zanzibar and Pemba Peoples Party). Independent Zanzibar, a full member of the British Commonwealth, and a newly enrolled member of the United Nations was destined to last only 33 days.
On the night of January 12, 1964 a band of some 300 people violently seized the Island of Unguja. They were led by a little known Ugandan Radical named John Okello, who had been trained in Soviet-controlled Cuba.
Okello’s Revolution unleashed a period of extreme violence and instability. Law and order disappeared from the streets of Zanzibar. Landowners and merchants were dragged from their houses and shops, looting and killing spread throughout Stone Town. Approximately 20,000 Arabs and Asians, who had opposed Okello, were killed in a single night, while they waited for boats to rescue them. The next day thousands who had survived the massacres fled the Islands with only what they could carry.
John Okello established for himself the rank of "Field Marshal" and, with his Soviet-funded army, established a reign of terror on the Islands. He broadcast bizarre threats and promises of death to all who might oppose him. Okello believed that mystical forces were guiding him and demonstrated an eccentric attachment to symbolic numbers. For example on January 13, 1964, he broadcast the following messages: "The government is now run by us....should you be stubborn and disobey orders I will take measures 88 times stronger than at present." and, "If anyone fails to comply... and locks himself in a house, as others have done...I have no alternative but to use heavy weapons. We, the army have the strength of 99,099,000."
His threats and his ability to act on them, panicked citizens, especially minority groups of all types. On January 14, 1964 he broadcast these chilling words. "Here is the Field Marshal of Zanzibar and Pemba....I am thinking of going to Mtendeni village to destroy it if the people there do not obey orders. After 40 minutes I am coming to finish you off, especially the Comorians". And "To all Arab youths living in Malindi; I will pass through Malindi armed with weapons of which I alone know. I want to see everyone stripped to his underpants and laying down. I want to hear them singing...father of Africans. God bless him in his task and that of the Field Marshal."
When the dust settled the multi-cultural diversity of the Islands was radically altered. A One Party State was decreed. Still nervous regarding the possibility of resurgent opposition from their now exiled opponents, the "revolutionaries" further secured their positions by signing an agreement of confederation with mainland Tanganyika. This would allow thousands of mainland political allies to intervene in any future struggle. The police forces on the Isles were virtually replaced by mainland police loyal to the Party and an isolationist curtain fell over the Isles which was destined to persist for more than 20 years.
No comments:
Post a Comment