Juma,
I have noted that commentators, writers and analysts about the Union of
Tanganyika and Zanzibar tend to 'crowd' the reasons that led to its formation
in the very year of 1964.Usually the fear of Babu and his followers within the
context of the Cold War geopolitics of the time or the concerns of the Vatican
about the isles becoming an Islamic theocracy etc. etc. would be mentioned. The
fact that way back in June 1959 ASP and TANU under the coordination of PAFMECA
had reached an Agreement which stipulated in one of its clauses "That eventually,
on the achievement of independence of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, the two
territories would be joined together in one AFRICAN REPUBLIC" is
constantly overlooked or at best ignored. That TANU document which is in the
archives of the British Colonial Public Record Office 1959:6-7 and which bears
the signature of Mwalimu Nyerere was kept a close secret.It can be compared
with the famous Sykes-Picot Agreement which partitioned the Ottoman occupied
Arabia in 1916 for its secrecy.
The important point here is to emphasize that the Union of Tanganyika and Zbar
was conceived by the fraternal TANU/ASP alliance based on a Marcus Garvey type
anti-Arab (Sultan) nationalism of the late 1950s which dominated the mindsets
of the leaders of the two political parties.
Salim
(Salim Msoma writing to Juma Mwapachu)
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