TANZANIA: Activists tell Zanzibar police to respect human rights

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

DAR ES SALAAM, 23 Mar 2005 (IRIN) - Human rights activists have called on the Zanzibari police to adhere to professional ethics and respect human rights after the Tanzanian government deployed extra policemen to the semi-autonomous island on Monday.

"We are asking the police to be careful in the execution of the operation," said Jilde Mambo, a legal adviser with the Zanzibar Legal Services Centre, a human rights NGO.

Tanzanian Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Omari Mahita ordered increased police presence onto Zanzibar's streets from Monday, in an operation that has been code-named "Operation Dondola".

"Street patrols have been enhanced to ensure [that] those disrupting the peace on the island are apprehended," Ramadhani Kinyogo, the deputy director of Zanzibar’s Police Criminal Investigations Department, said. "Additional police were brought from the mainland on the orders of the IGP."

The deployment follows recent clashes between supporters of Zanzibar's main rival political parties - the opposition Civic United Front and the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi.

Kinyogo said police had received reports that some people had blocked voters from registering. "The patrols are aimed at protecting the public from the troublemakers," he said.

An official at the Legal and Human Rights Centre, Hellen Kijo-Bisimba, said her organisation had no objection to police intervening in a situation where the breakdown of law and order was imminent.

"After all, the duty of police is to protect people and their property," she said. "But this must be done on merit and transparently. In the case of Zanzibar, we are yet to be told whether or not the situation deserves such [a] show of state power."

She added, "What is now going on in Zanzibar smacks of deliberate intimidation of would-be voters and people who are ready to express their feelings."

She also criticised the name of the police operation saying "dondola" was Kiswahili for a bee-like insect that stings but does not produce honey. She said it seemed the police were "threatening the very people they [were] supposed to protect."

General elections in Tanzania are scheduled for 30 October and voter registration is under way. Political parties have begun the process of nominating presidential candidates.

[ENDS]