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LHRC condemns human rights violations in Pemba
2005-11-09 09:29:01
By Pacifique Nkeshimana
The Executive Director of Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC), Helen Kijo-Bisimba, has condemned the detention and imprisonment of some people in Pemba during campaign rallies and on the polling day, saying that this was a gross violation of human rights.
She told reporters in Dar es Salaam yesterday that even though several election observers from abroad have said that the election in the Isles was free and fair there have been some irregularities, some rather serious.
’According to the information we got from Zanzibar there were some people in Pemba who could not vote as they were afraid of soldiers from the national army (JWTZ) who were doing the job of the police,’ she said, adding that the members of the national army were not supposed to deal with the security during the polls…it was the work of the police.
She urged the government to also look into the accusations that members of security corps caused the residents of Piki village in Pemba to flee after which they robbed their property.
She said these should be brought before the court of law to answer the charges.
Meanwhile, the LHRC Director has reminded political parties to adhere to the electoral code of conduct that they signed with the government and the National electoral Commission (NEC) on July 18 this year as a ’guarantee’ that the Union polls set for December 14 would be held in a peaceful atmosphere.
She told reporters that even though the signatories to the code of conduct agreed on the need for the maintenance of peace during voters registration, campaign rallies and the elections themselves, all this has not been respected so far.
She noted that during the campaign rallies there have been many acts of violence reported from almost all corners of the Mainland and the Isles and if this continues, there is a danger for a breach of peace.
Said she: ’It has been reported many times that in many places on the Mainland and in Isles the political campaign rallies were marred by violence…there is a need to respect the electoral code of conduct so as to maintain the peace that we in this country always boast about.’
She said that in order to allow the Union polls to take place in a peaceful climate, parties involved in the Zanzibar polls, especially those, which were not satisfied by the results of polls in the Isles, should follow legal procedures rather than trying to solve the problem with other acts of violence.
’Only peaceful dialogue among parties would lead to a sustainable peace in Tanzania…if there is misunderstandings, legal appeals would be relied upon so that the peace that we are singing could last for ever,’ she said, adding that in countries such as Burundi and Rwanda the civil wars and insecurity started slowly, and since at a certain point there was no peaceful approaches to solve the issues, they ended up in bloody civil conflicts.
Kijo-Bisimba urged the political parties to rethink of respecting the agreement that they signed at the Golden Tulip hotel last July.
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