Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08DARESSALAAM740
2008-10-28 09:56:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Dar Es Salaam
Cable title:  

ZANZIBAR TOURIST SHOOTING REVEALS ISLAND RIFTS

Tags:  ASEC PGOV PINR SOCI TZ 
pdf how-to read a cable
P 280956Z OCT 08
FM AMEMBASSY DAR ES SALAAM
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7995
INFO SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 
AMEMBASSY KIGALI 
AMEMBASSY KAMPALA 
AMEMBASSY BUJUMBURA 
CIA WASHINGTON DC
USMISSION USAU ADDIS ABABA
CJTF HOA//J3
CDR USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
C O N F I D E N T I A L DAR ES SALAAM 000740 


DEPT FOR DS/IP/AF, DS/ITA/AF, AF/E, INR/AF

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/16/2018
TAGS: ASEC PGOV PINR SOCI TZ
SUBJECT: ZANZIBAR TOURIST SHOOTING REVEALS ISLAND RIFTS

REFS: (A) Dar es Salaam 648 (B) Dar es Salaam 444


Classified By: RSO Paul Avallone, reasons 1.4 (b) and
(d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAR ES SALAAM 000740


DEPT FOR DS/IP/AF, DS/ITA/AF, AF/E, INR/AF

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/16/2018
TAGS: ASEC PGOV PINR SOCI TZ
SUBJECT: ZANZIBAR TOURIST SHOOTING REVEALS ISLAND RIFTS

REFS: (A) Dar es Salaam 648 (B) Dar es Salaam 444


Classified By: RSO Paul Avallone, reasons 1.4 (b) and
(d)


1. (C) Summary: After a vacationing French national
was shot and critically wounded at a Zanzibar resort on
September 17th, extensive follow up inquiries yielded
insight into the inner workings of Zanzibar and its
police. The lack of initial police response and severe
deficiencies in the Zanzibari force's internal
investigation and review process may indicate that the
senior officer's corps, largely comprised of mainland
Tanzanians, are not fully in control of their 5000
rank-and-file native Zanzibari members. Tourism is the
top earner for Zanzibar, and the Embassy warned local
officials that a U.S. Travel Warning would be issued if
it appeared that crime against visitors was not
seriously addressed. End summary.

THE CRIME


2. (SBU) According to police accounts, on the evening
of September 17th 2008, six men, two of whom were armed
with Kalashnikov rifles, entered the compound of the Crystal
Resort, located some six kilometers south of the town
of Paje on Zanzibar's southeast coast. Most of the
resort's patrons were eating dinner at the al-fresco restaurant
when the robbers struck demanding money, passports,
cell phones, jewelry, laptops, and other items of
value. The robbers calmly escorted guests to their
bungalows for their belongings over a considerable
period of time (one account suggests the robbery took
place over a thirty-minute period). One of the
victims, a French national, resisted by shoving a
robber as he was rifling his pockets. One suspect
fired a single round at the victim's feet; the bullet
struck the tiled concrete floor and ricocheted into the
victim's abdomen. At that moment, the robbers hastily
finished gathering the stolen items and fled the
compound in at least one vehicle. The gunshot victim
was severely wounded.


3. (SBU) As the crime was in progress, an unidentified
male foreigner (whose identity is known to
investigators) escaped from the resort and drove to the Paje
police station, which is situated at the entrance to the town
on the main east-west road between Paje and Zanzibar's

main city of Stone Town. The foreigner entered the police
station and told the two officers on duty that the
robbery was taking place. He beseeched the police to
get their firearms and offered to drive them to the
resort. The police refused, saying that they were
unable to respond as they were "out of ammunition."
The foreigner pleaded for a few minutes before leaving
in disgust and returning to the resort. By that time,
the incident was over; the wounded Frenchmen was driven
by private car to the Zanzibar airport and flown to Dar
es Salaam to be stabilized before returning to France
for further treatment.

EMBASSY ACTION


4. (C) Despite regular Embassy contact with security
and government officials on Zanzibar, first word of the
incident only came to the Embassy weeks later, via a
lawyer for the resort who sent a letter of complaint to
Ambassador Green and five European Ambassadors.
Afterward, RSO met with local and national security
officials, Consul liaised with relevant counterparts,
and Consul and Zanzibar Affairs Officer (ZAO) demarched
the Zanzibar Government Ministry of Trade and Tourism
as well as the Ministry of Good Government, and both
ministries were well-briefed on the incident and both
claimed to be pushing for reforms. (Comment: Although
Zanzibar conducts many of its own affairs, law
enforcement is a national competency, not a Zanzibari
regional one. Nonetheless, the local "Ministries" of
Good Government, and, to a lesser extent, Tourism are
considered to be the Regional Government's back-channel
on Union Security issues. Riding herd over all is
"Chief Minister" Shamsi Nahodha, who declined to be
demarched on the incident, claiming that ZAO first
needed to send a diplomatic note to the MFA prior to
seeking an appointment with him. End Comment)


5. (U) In the demarche to the Ministry of Tourism,
Consul made the point that if we recognized a pattern
wherein crime against foreigners was increasing and
moreover that U.S. travelers could not expect police
response, we were legally and morally obligated to warn
our citizens. Consul noted that a travel warning about
Zanzibar/Tanzania would have a significant, negative
impact on tourism, the key industry of the island.


6. (C) Zanzibari officials said that even before the
incident, barracks were planned and the number of
officers increased for the Paje police station as part
of island-wide improvement of police presence in
tourist areas. New posts were already completed in the
north (home to the most upscale resorts). Resorts were
also encouraged to offer vacant rooms for on-duty
policemen. Additionally, one official claimed that
military intelligence officers were used in the follow-
up investigation, something rarely done and "perhaps
against the rules." Along the coast in the area of the
crime, police and soldiers swept house-to-house from
Makunduchi to Paje, and tourism officials claimed that
those found to be not from the area and without a job
were arrested for vagrancy. Hoteliers were also
encouraged to maintain on premises security guards.


7. (C) The French Embassy sent a note verbale to the
MFA but was not expecting a response given that it was
still awaiting a response to a similar note on a
different incident several months ago. French
Ambassador de Labriolle also made a demarche to the
Zanzibari Ministry of Tourism, coordinated with our
own. The Ambassador said he asked Paris to include
more forceful language in its information on Tanzania
saying that police and medical services are not
comparable to European standards.

POLICE FOLLOW-UP


8. (C) RSO met with a senior Zanzibari police official
responsible for the investigation of this incident to
press for details. According to the official, a team
of inspectors was dispatched to the Paje police station
to determine why the officers had failed to act. The
inspectors took testimony from the officers on duty at
the time, who stated that they refused to respond
because they had not been issued ammunition. The
inspectors then conducted a search of the premises and
found the standard issue number of loaded rifle and
pistol magazines hidden separately from the station's
assigned firearms. The inspectors referred their
findings in a formal report to the Zanzibar Police
"court martial" (note: the official explained that the
body is more of an administrative punishment
"committee" than a military court martial; hereinafter
"the committee").


9. (C) After the RSO asked the official what the
expected punishment would be, he was careful to first
explain that the officers' lack of action was "entirely
unacceptable and embarrassing." He added that the
officers had received "military training" to deal with
this sort of crime "very harshly" and that the only
possible explanation as to why they refused to act was
that they were afraid. The RSO posited that corruption
could be a factor, which the official dismissed as
highly unlikely, as the investigators looked into that
possibility and found no supporting evidence.


10. (C) Turning to the prospect of punishment for the
officers involved, the RSO asked what the committee
might recommend. The official stated flatly "nothing, or
very little anyway," explaining that the committee's members
are drawn entirely from the Zanzibari majority of the
force (note: to provide the RSO context, the official
explained that ninety percent of the Zanzibari police
force is comprised of officers born there, the
remaining ten percent are from Tanzania's mainland and
comprise the bulk of the command and investigative
staff above the rank of major),and are therefore
traditionally lenient in making admonishment
recommendations to the Zanzibar Police Commissioner.

The official further stated that the Commissioner, for
his part, is very reluctant to overturn the committee's
findings for fear of inciting the Zanzibari cohort of
the rank and file police. "The officers under
investigation are Zanzibari Muslims, so we don't expect
much, but we'll see."


11. (C) The official provided background into the
investigation's progress. After handing a worn mugshot
photograph (in which the person in the image is holding
a placard with "Abdullah Hassan" handwritten on it),the
official explained that the photo was taken when the
"main suspect" had been arrested a few weeks prior for
another armed robbery. In that case, a man armed with
Kalashnikov rifle stole a substantial number of pre-
paid cell phone cards from "an Arab" in Stone Town. A
few days later, an informant provided an address where
someone had been selling cards at a discount. The
police conducted a raid, and found the suspect with a
number of the cards and 5 million Tanzanian shillings
in his possession. The serial numbers on the cards
matched those that had been stolen, and later the
victim identified "Abdullah Hassan" as the robber. The
suspect was remanded to the Zanzibari prison, the money
and evidence impounded, and the case referred to the
criminal court. According to the official "our case
was closed."


12. (C) A few weeks later, the Zanzibar Criminal Court
threw out the case for "lack of evidence." According
to the official, the suspect's accomplices had
successfully intimidated the victim to the point where he
would not testify in a preliminary hearing. (Source comment:
"The criminal court here (in Zanzibar) is weak and corrupt.
It is very hard for us to get convictions here for
anything, so we were not really surprised.") After his
release, "Abdullah Hassan" successfully petitioned the
court to order the return of the impounded 5 million
shillings, and had scheduled an appointment with the
police to sign for it the day after the Crystal Resort
shooting. When he failed to show up at the appointed
hour, he became a stronger suspect. Investigators
showed a photograph to the first victim of the night,
the Crystal Resort gate security guard, who identified
"Abdullah Hassan" as his assailant; other victims did
likewise. Based on that evidence, the police issued an
arrest warrant. (Note: just hours after this meeting,
the official called the RSO to report that the suspect
had been apprehended in Bagamoyo, on mainland Tanzania,
and was under interrogation).

RSO COMMENT


13. (C) RSO comment: Crimes against tourists,
especially in the southeast part of Zanzibar and in the
capital Stonetown are not infrequent, but rarely
involve firearms. The Crystal Resort shooting is
especially worrying in that police clearly failed to
respond as the robbery occurred, were negligent in
failing to provide assistance to the victims, and
failed to inform us in the first instance, even when
asked point-blank about recent crimes against
foreigners. In fact, only the investigative follow up
seems to have been reasonably well-executed. If the
Zanzibari police tolerate such nonchalance, or worse --
cowardice -- among their first-responders, more
incidents of this sort can be expected.


14. (C) RSO comment continued: Judging by the
Commissioner's deference to the Zanzibari-controlled
review committee's apparently lenient findings, it
seems there could be a significant rift between the
Zanzibari officers and their mainlander commanders,
quite possibly with political undertones. At a
minimum, one gets the impression that there is a good
deal of unease between the two factions, and that the
police commanders might not have the full loyalty of
their officers when it counts. This bears careful
monitoring in the run-up to the 2010 general election.

GREEN