Salam za Rambirambi kutoka kwa Umoja wa Watanzania Ujerumani (UTU)

Watanzania tunaoishi ujerumani tumesikitishwa sana na habari mbaya ya ajali ya meli iliyotokea 10.09.11 katika bahari ya hindi katikati ya visiwa vya Pemba na Unguja nchini Tanzania. Ajali hii ni pigo na msiba mkubwa kwa Taifa letu. Salam za rambirambi ziwafikie Familia za wafiwa, Viongozi wa Tanzania, na watanzania wote kwa ujumla.

Umoja wa watanzania ujerumani (UTU) kwa masikitiko makubwa tunaungana na wanafamilia, na taifa zima katika kipindi hichi kigumu cha maombolezo.
Tunatanguliza shukrani zetu za dhati kwa vyombo mbali mbali kwa jitihada zake za kuokoa maisha na kusaidia kwa namna moja au nyingine katka janga hili kubwa kwa Taifa
Tunaomba kwa mwenyezimungu aziweke roho za marehemu mahali pema peponi amen

-- kny ya UTU

Mfundo Peter Mfundo
Mwenyekiti

Meli yazama huko Nungwi...

Picha kwa hisani kubwa ya George Kazi


Hadi muda huu zaidi ya maiti 50 zimeopolewa, kutoka kwenye ajali hiyo kwa juhudi za Waakazi na Wavuvi wa Nungwi.

Headington schoolgirls teach English in Zanzibar

SCHOOLGIRLS from Oxford helped teach African villagers English during a charity trip to Zanzibar.

The 12 Headington School pupils visited Zanzibar for two weeks to help the Zanzibar Action Project (ZAP), which provides support for a rural fishing community.

During their trip they helped villagers with extra IT and English lessons and taught at several nursery schools.

Seventeen-year-old Jessie Tucker, one of Headington’s International Baccalaureate students, said: “It has been an incredible experience and extremely eye-opening.

“Working with ZAP has been a rewarding and inspiring experience and I truly believe their cause is a worthwhile one.

“It was wonderful to meet students who have been sponsored by ZAP and get to know them. They all have such high hopes.”

Over the past three years Headington pupils have managed to raise nearly £10,000 for ZAP.

The IB and A-Level students spent nearly two weeks of July in Jambiani, a fishing community with a population of around 8,000 in south-east Zanzibar, an archipelago off the coast of Tanzania in the Indian Ocean.

Vanessa Sinclair, the school’s community liaison officer, said: “The girls’ voluntary work in UK nursery schools before they left enabled them to teach some very creative and imaginative lessons in the village nurseries.

“During their visit the girls meet the students they have sponsored, who introduce them to their families and village life as well as supporting them to teach in the nursery schools.”


Oxford Mail

From heaven to hell: refugees flee Zanzibar for Mogadishu

MOGADISHU, Sep 1 – It seems an unlikely choice: fleeing the palm-fringed beaches of tourist paradise Zanzibar for the bombed-out buildings of war-torn capital Mogadishu, one of the most dangerous cities in the world.

And yet opposition supporters from the Tanzanian archipelago did just that when they fled post-election violence in 2000; they recount their epic journey into a violent city most people are desperate to leave.

“We feared prison and violence, being arrested if we stayed home,” said Hamis Mohammed, one of about a hundred Zanzibaris living in Mogadishu, where gunmen cruise the ruined city in heavily armed pickup trucks.

“First we ran to Kenya, but we did not feel safe there and could not make a living, so after many years, we are now here living in Mogadishu,” Mohammed added, a supporter of Zanzibar’s Civic United Front (CUF) party.

The refugees said police cracked down on supporters during post-election violence in which some 30 people died, forcing several to leave by boat to Kenya.

Over a decade since they left, many of the Zanzibari community here now cohabit in one crumbling and bullet-scarred building, a former government ministry abandoned during the two-decades of war in the city.

“The situation here in Somalia is not good, but we survive,” said Salim Ahmed, one of the leaders of Mogadishu’s Zanzibari community, as the crackle of rifle fire echoes in the distance.

“We get no support from aid agencies, so we find small jobs – barbers, beggars, fishermen, or as labourers,” he added.

The Zanzibari’s journey is the opposite of tens of thousands of Somalis, who have fled to neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopia from drought, famine and conflict, while others have braved the dangerous sea-crossing to troubled Yemen.

The UN has described Somalia, where a civil war has been going on since 1991, as facing the most severe humanitarian crisis in the world, with several regions including Mogadishu declared to be in famine.

“God willing, we will go back home someday,” said Masud Rashid, who left the white-sand beaches of the Zanzibari island of Pemba in 2001.

A dream to go home
He spent over a year in Kenya’s giant Dadaab refugee camp, before leaving in frustration as refugees are barred from work and travelling to Mogadishu during a period of relative calm because he heard jobs were available.

“We have many problems here, but we are still fearful of going home,” added Rashid, who works as a barber, and is now married to a Somali woman.

“Coming to Mogadishu was not a choice, it was the only place we could a find a place to be left alone, and where we could work,” said Abdul Abdallah, a Zanzibari fisherman, wearing a T-shirt with the slogan “make love, not war.”

“The Somalis treat us ok, we go to the mosque together, it is only that you can never tell when there will be fighting here.”

In the crowded market outside, sacks of grain from the UN World Food Programme are illegally sold, alongside a stall selling empty ammunition boxes.

Zanzibar and Mogadishu do share historical links: sea-faring Zanzibari sultans once ruled the Somali capital in the 19th century.

But modern similarities are few: tourism is the main foreign currency earner for Zanzibar, famed for its lush spice plantations and historical buildings, listed as a world heritage site by the United Nations cultural organization.

Mogadishu, meanwhile, has been at war ever since the toppling of Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, with battles between rival warlords and militia groups devastating the once elegant city.

Battles break out almost daily, and visitors to Mogadishu are warned to wear flak jackets and hire armed guards to prevent kidnap.

Yet slogans daubed on walls around the refugees’ homes provide messages of hope amidst the violent city.

“Everyman got a right to decide his own destiny,” the graffiti reads, a line from reggae legend Bob Marley. “We will fight the little struggle.”

But Zanzibari leaders said the situation had changed since the refugees fled.
The semi-autonomous archipelago has since elected a new president and local legislature, and the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party has formed a coalition with their former fierce rivals, the CUF.

“We welcome them back if they are still citizens of Tanzania – they should not be afraid of arrest if they did not commit any big offence,” said Mohamed Aboud Mohamed, a state minister.

“We have a new Zanzibari Government of National Unity comprising leaders from the main political parties,” he added.

The CUF leader also called for them to return.
“We need them back home to join hands in building our country after several years of political hatred and division,” said Seif Sharif Hamad in a statement, who is also Zanzibar’s vice president. “We are now working together.”

But the return remains a slim possibility at present, the refugees say, citing both security concerns and lack of funds.

“It would be a dream to go home if it is true that we can be safe there,” said Mohamed Said, another refugee. “But I don’t know how we would get back from our exile without help.”


Capital News

Rock Restaurant

Perched on a rock in the middle of the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Zanzibar, Tanzania, is a tiny seafood restaurant simply named The Rock Restaurant. Depending on the tides that day, you can either swim, walk, or boat over for a fresh caught meal!

Kitabu Kipya: "Sub-State Governance through Territorial Autonomy"

This study focuses on territorial autonomy, which is often used in different conflict-resolution and minority situations. Four typical elements are identified on the basis of the historical example of the Memel Territory and the so-called Memel case of the PCIJ; distribution of powers, participation through elections and referendums, executive power of territorial autonomy, and international relations.

These elements are used for a comparative analysis of the constitutional law that regulates the position of six currently existing special jurisdictions, the Åland Islands in Finalnd, Scotland in the United Kingdom, Puerto Rico in the United States of America, Hong Kong in China, Aceh in Indonesia and Zanzibar in Tanzania.

The current sub-state entities examined can be arranged in relation to Memel in a manner that indicates that Hong Kong and the Åland conform to the typical territorial autonomy, while Puerto Rico and Aceh should probably not be understood as territorial autonomies proper. At the same time, the territorial autonomies can be distinguished from federally organized sub-state entities.

Price:169,95 €

More info: Springer

Isles May Welcome Alcohol Sponsorship in Sports

Zanzibar — ALCOHOL manufacturing and distributing companies may be allowed to sponsor sports in Zanzibar, if they accept to abide to conditions of advertising non-alcoholic products, the Deputy Minister for sports Bihindi Hamad Khamis said in the Zanzibar House.

The deputy minister was responding to questions from Nassor Salim Ali (CCM-Rahaleo) and Hija Hassan Hija (CUF- Kiwani) who wondered why the government should not woo the companies to sponsor sports in Zanzibar like it is done in the mainland.

However, the deputy minister said alcohol advertisements were still prohibited in Zanzibar sports grounds. Meanwhile the legislators have also shown concern over bar businesses at the Gymkhana netball ground premises. They want the government to restrict bar business at all sports grounds.

Bihindi promised to look into the matter. In another development, as the dust from the Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF) settles down, fans keen on experiencing cultural diversity were from yesterday enjoying this year's Oman Cultural Festival taking place at the Zanzibar stone town.

"The event is held to strengthen the cultural ties," the Oman consular in Zanzibar Sheikh Majid bin Abdallah Al-bad said at the press to announce the festival on Tuesday. The five days festivities expected to come to an end next Sunday include fashion show, food preparation (mainly sweets), dancing, body painting, exhibition, and screening of films made in Oman.

According to the consular 45 Oman citizen are already in Zanzibar to perform in the festival to be officially opened by the Deputy Minister of Culture and Heritage Sheikh Hamid bin Hilali Al Maamar.

Flanked by the Director of Information Omar Yussuf Chunda, and the Commissioner of Culture and Sports Bakar Hamad Mshindo, the Oman official said Zanzibar was picked for the festival because of the cultural relationships, and bilateral relation agreement signed last year.

"The festival to be held at House of wonders and Old-fort at Forodhani Street will demonstrate the message of peace and friendship with Oman commitment to support Zanzibar's development," he said.

We tend to go up slowly, but down fast..

by Suppiluliuma

No Explosive Change, Please, This is Tanzania, Bwana

Nairobi — After Tanesco subjected large swathes of Dar es Salaam to power cuts lasting anywhere from 48 to 72 hours a couple of weeks ago, rumours emerged of a protest march. Because there wasn't any real organisation behind the march, the day it was planned for came and went. Things fizzled out quietly.

These days, the most intense dialogue about the power crisis is found on Twitter feeds where people can get quite creative about insulting Tanesco and the government for ruining their day. In other words, business as usual in Dar-es-Salaam.

Every so often I stumble onto a massive debate about governance and whether Tanzania can consider itself a true democracy, or even a multiparty democracy for that matter. Sceptics tend to say that Tanzania doesn't qualify as a multiparty democracy, or even as a democracy for that matter, because we are still being ruled by the same party that came into power after independence. I hear time and time again that in order for Tanzania to really become democratic we have to witness a change in the political party in power.


More and more lately, the idea seems to be that this change should come about explosively. On the one side are the opposition parties that are pushing harder and harder for a chance to govern. On the other side are the masses of us who are frustrated and can't imagine change coming from within the system we are saddled with, so we call for radical change.

In these circumstances, arguing against the idea of explosive change seems like a fool's errand at best. At worst, you come across as an apologist for the state and for the party in power. But this is Tanzania, bwana. We march to the beat of a drummer only we seem to hear. For the past five or so years, the calls for "change" have been accelerating as we are continually impressed with how dismal our situation is by the opposition parties and other concerned friends of development. To be sure, they are right -- there are real and terrible consequences to our surprisingly ineffectual government. The difficult admission is that we have chosen this system mostly because it "works" for us.

It seems we are ambivalent patriots. In the build-up to the last election, I was surprised by how much voter apathy emerged in general, but particularly in the Blackberry class. Being Tanzanian, we are experts and very eloquent about what is wrong with the country, not to mention all of the things that we would do exactly right if we were actually in charge. However, actually voting is still seen as a futile exercise and a waste of time. Instead the ideal solution centres around putting an opposition party in power, or finding a benevolent despot who will guide us with a firm and steady hand into the bright and shining future.

This is a measure of how good we have it -- we think that we can afford our complacency. Tanzanians know that we don't have to take to the streets in order to effect change. We can and regularly do talk ourselves into it, however incremental it is.Multiparty politics have done us a world of good in the past decade: The political competition in Bunge is starting to weed out the weak, Zanzibar is coming along quietly as an experiment in power-sharing. We need not fear that Jay Kay will do anything ridiculous to try to stay in power indefinitely, like pretending not to know how old he really is. We can afford to anticipate a change in administration, and we can afford to let complaint be our main method of political action. But we shouldn't end there.

Since we are so full of latent opportunities and we can afford to do things the easy way, why don't we? It doesn't take that much effort to go from disparaging Tanesco on social media, to checking up on your MP's performance. We can afford to ignore those political parties that are trying to play a game of brinkmanship with the government since all they will do is drag us backwards into low-grade civil strife. We can afford to skip merrily past the potential benevolent despots who are waving at us from the sidelines, hoping we'll succumb to their reasoned arguments and their charm.

We can even get away with ignoring those who want a party change in the next three years because let's just admit it: This isn't a simple matter of picking between republicans and democrats the way that more mature democracies tweak policies around the edges while leaving their systems stable. If we're not even capable of getting ourselves organised around a national interest -- like unacceptable power rationing policies -- then perhaps we should simply embrace what we can do well. Such as talk and think and vote our way, mostly through parliament, into a better government. We're all informed dissenters, we can get somewhere on the strength of that.


East African

Shaggy awasili Zenj...

Tanzania's art deco ruin, the Majestic cinema, inspires restoration campaign

Every Friday they gather there, seven or eight elderly men in a ramshackle auditorium of cobwebs and broken chairs. Sitting under an open sky (the roof fell in long ago) they watch the flickering images of old films projected on to the wall.

"It's the Cinema Paradiso of Zanzibar," said Martin Mhando, director of the annual Zanzibar International Film Festival (Ziff), which takes place on the Tanzanian island next month. "Cinema Paradiso was heavenly compared to what's there."

This is the Majestic, one of Africa's first cinemas, an art deco gem from the 1920s that lost its lustre. Mhando is leading a campaign to restore the ruin to its former glory – vital, he says, because where Tanzania and its islands once had 53 cinemas, now there are only two.

The effort in Zanzibar's Stone Town is backed by the award-winning British film-maker Nick Broomfield, known for documentaries such as Biggie and Tupac, Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer, and Battle For Haditha.

Broomfield said he has been inspired by the diehards who keep the Majestic alive despite its decline.

Speaking from Los Angeles, he added: "Even though the cinema doesn't have a roof, people are using it and setting up their own projector. It probably has a lot of memories for them. It was the place where people went on dates and met their first girlfriends.

"Cinema is a shared experience. As a film-maker, the most wonderful thing about watching with a group of people is that you can tell which parts of the film are working and which aren't.

"It's a bonding thing, a way of holding a group or locality together. When I was growing up, everyone went to the cinema on Saturday morning to see the cartoons. It was social cohesion, and that's one of the exciting things that could happen with the Majestic in Zanzibar."

Broomfield will be running workshops at the Ziff and is set to shoot his next feature film in Tanzania.

"East African film-making is going to grow and become more important," he said. "The Majestic is a wonderful piece of architecture … In terms of the east African film-making community, the relevance of Zanzibar would be enshrined in the Majestic. It would be an encouragement for people to take cinema seriously. It would also be a fantastic venue for the Zanzibar International film festival."

The Royal Cinema Theatre, as it was originally known, was designed by Scottish architect John Sinclair, mixing Moroccan and Oriental-inspired styles. Renamed the Majestic a few years later it was destroyed by a fire in 1953. An art deco-themed replacement opened two years later, showing Indian and Hollywood releases such as The Ten Commandments starring Charlton Heston. Gone with the Wind, Jaws and Love Story were all big hits on Zanzibar.

The economic slump of the 1980s closed cinemas all over the country. The last of three on Zanzibar, Cine Afrique, recently closed and was converted into a supermarket. The Majestic itself is said to be under threat of being turned into an office block.

Mhando said the Ziff uses a cinema on nearby Pemba island but it does not run full-time. That leaves Tanzania with two multiplexes in the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam.

"The economy got bad in the 1980s," Mhando said. "Tickets had cost $1-2, but we knew if it got to $3 the cinema economy would collapse and that's what happened. People could no longer afford to watch movies. Videos came along and they stayed inside. By 1996, all the cinemas were closed."

Despite this gloomy backdrop, the Ziff claims to be east Africa's biggest arts and film festival since launching 14 years ago. "At Ziff we have full houses of 1,500 people every night. So we started thinking about rebuilding the Majestic.

"I think if it was refurbished properly, people could go to movies there on a regular basis. It still has beautiful art deco."

Mhando hopes to make a cost assessment and raise funds so the Majestic can become a 200-seat multipurpose venue with space for corporate events, seminars and workshops along with a cafe.

Then, he hopes, the faithful who gather there each Friday will be joined by a new generation. "The old men still have their dreams of watching movies every week. They remember the old splendour of the Majestic and the moment of their youth. That's the relevance of cinema culture to them. Once you've been bitten by the bug, there's no escaping it."

• This article was amended on 3 June 2011. The original said: "That leaves Tanzania with two multiplexes in the capital, Dar es Salaam". This has been corrected.



Guardian.