arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

Tanzanian Government Worried Unrest May Hurt Reputation With Global Donors
The last month has been tense and violent on the semi-autonomous Tanzanian island, Zanzibar, as thousands of Zanzibaris have taken to the streets to question the legitimacy of the nation's October 29, 2000, elections. On February 11, ten thousand supporters of the Civic United Front, opposition to Tanzania's ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party, which holds power on the mainland and in the islands of Zanzibar, rallied on Unguja, Zanzibar's largest island, to call for a new constitution. The rally followed a bloody January 27 protest on the island during which government troops massacred over sixty participants in an "illegal" demonstration. Most recently, on February 19, machete-wielding assailants killed Rashid Omar Ali, local secretary of the Chama Cha Mapinduzi party.

President Benjamin Mkapa, who was attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, supporting a proposal by several African leaders to work in equal partnership with international lending institutions in order to economically develop the African continent, at the time of the January 27 massacre, has expressed public concern that the actions of his government will arouse the attention of human rights organizations, which in turn may threaten Tanzania's chance of obtaining international loans. He is especially concerned with the country's reputation because on February 23, he and several other African heads of state will begin a three day summit in Dar Es Salaam with Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Horst Köhler, and World Bank President, James Wolfensohn. According to the International Monetary Fund, Tanzania has been a successful example of its ability to increase economic growth (up to a rate of 4.7 percent in 1999) while eliminating poverty through "Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility" plans and debt reduction. Critics accuse the IMF's loans and Structural Adjustment Programs of turning the East African nation into a country that must reduce public expenditures to its 32 million citizens, nearly sixty percent of whom live on less than two US dollars a day, in order to maintain a business environment that continues to attract multi-million dollar loans and international investment.

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