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CUF demos signify political maturity
2006-11-13 08:39:38
By Editor
The Civic United Front (CUF), the main opposition party staged peaceful demonstrations in Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar over the weekend to press for fresh elections on the Isles.
Addressing CUF supporters at Karume Grounds in Dar es Salaam on Saturday, Secretary General Seif Sharif Hamad said the party was demanding another election, supervised by the United Nations.
He denied ever proposing for a government of national unity, that could mean sharing of power between CCM and CUF.
We are pleased to note that political party leaders who addressed the rally concurred that President Jakaya Kikwete had acknowledged that there was a serious political problem in Zanzibar that threatened national unity.
On his party however, Zanzibar President Amani Abeid Karume is convinced that there is no need for fresh elections, citing satisfaction of the international community over the conduct of last year’s elections which gave CCM a victory over CUF.
We wish to commend the government, particularly the police, for ensuring that CUF members demonstrated peacefully.
This is a sign of political maturity whose obvious message is that there is freedom of speech in Tanzania.
In the past, opposition parties’ demos were marred by clashes and running battles with the police. Property was destroyed and people were injured as tempers flared.
We hope that the Isles political problem will be resolved amicably and the interests of the nation will be the underlying factor during future deliberations
Accept Congo’s election results
All eyes and ears are now turned to the Democratic Republic of Congo( DRC) in anticipation of official declaration of election results.
Incumbent President Joseph Kabila and his arch-rival, Jean-Pierre Bemba, were forced into the second round of elections after none of over a dozen presidential candidates secured enough votes.
Apart from knowing who will be the DRC’s first elected president in over four decades, the world is even more eager to see whether the loser of the election is going to accept the results without staging a military fight.
Already, the signs are not so good. According to the DRC’s election commission, and as the vote counting continued, President Kabila was leading by 60 percent by last Friday.
Sadly enough, the announcement was greeted by street fighting in Kinshasa, as Bemba’s security forces clashed with government soldiers.
We call upon Congolese politicians to learn from the past. They should realise that their people suffered gravely under Belgian colonialism and also after independence.
It has been reported that over three million people have perished in Eastern Congo alone during the civil war, which ended with the Sun-City agreement that instituted the current transitional government.
It was this agreement that incorporated Jean-Pierre Bemba as Vice-President under Joseph Kabila.
The pact provided for the integration of rebel soldiers into the national army.
However, it is rather worrying when the picture comes out that Jean-Pierre Bemba still has a sizeable force which is able to clash with the national army in the capital city.
The best thing for whoever loses this election is to accept the results. This can be done if the person has got the country’s interests at heart.
The winner is expected to manifest a high degree of statesmanship so that past wounds are healed and the people of DRC are able to live peacefully with their families as they build their beloved country.
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