AN INCIDENT ON PEMBA: 2010 ZANZIBAR ELECTION

UNCLAS DAR ES SALAAM 000505 SENSITIVE SIPDIS AF/E FOR TREADWELL, INR FOR EHRENREICH E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KDEM PHUM PGOV SOCI TZ SUBJECT: AN INCIDENT ON PEMBA: 2010 ZANZIBAR ELECTION REGISTRATION CONFLICT ESCALATES REF: DAR ES SALAAM 486 ¶1. (U) Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) suspended its Pemba voter registration activities August 4, following a boycott organized by opposition CUF and an incident in which Zanzibar government special forces fired weapons into the air and beat and arrested CUF supporters. ¶2. (SBU) Zanzibar Affairs Specialist (ZAS),on Pemba to observe voter registration, witnessed the violence. On August 3, alleging irregularities in registration (reftel), CUF began a boycott. On the morning of August 4, CUF supporters gathered near a school serving as the registration center in the village of Mchanga Mdogo, Wete, Pemba. The CUF supporters maintained a distance of several hundred feet from the center. By mid-day, with no business (the boycott was successful),officials closed the center and the CUF crowd began to disperse. Shortly thereafter, possibly in response to booing of CCM vehicles by CUF supporters, special forces began to fire their weapons in the air and to chase the CUF supporters into the village. Two CUF supporters were arrested; one apparently received a beating severe enough to require hospitalization. ZAS observed that the violent actions were limited to the special forces; police in the area did not participate. ¶3. (SBU) CUF officials notified the Embassy as well as the UK and Sweden. CUF Wete District Secretary (and MP) Riziki Omar told Poloff that the special forces fired in the air with the intent to intimidate and said there were no injuries from the gunfire (Note: Mainland English-language daily The Citizen reported August 5 that two people were wounded by gunfire, but we believe this information is incorrect). ¶4. (SBU) ZEC suspended its Pemba voter registration campaign for August 5. A date to resume has not been announced. There has been no report of further incidents on Pemba. However, media reported August 5 that police discovered and removed "landmines" from bridges on Pemba. (Comment: We consider the presence of landmines highly unlikely. Our senior police contacts are unaware of the alleged landlines, but are investigating the media reports. ¶5. (SBU) The "Friends of 2010" group of like-minded diplomatic missions will meet August 7 to discuss these developments. We will propose a statement, seeking wide support from the group (and Department approval),calling for the observance of international standards and democratic processes for the entire 2010 election process, with a specific focus on Zanzibar. ANDRE