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Zanzibar Revolution

January 12, 2023

The Zanzibar Revolution (Arabic: ثورة زنجبار, romanized: Thawrat Zanjibār) occurred in January 1964 and led to the overthrow of the Sultan of Zanzibar and his mainly Arab government by the island's majority Black African population.

Zanzibar Revolution
Part of the Cold War

Unguja and Pemba, the two main islands of Zanzibar
Date12 January 1964
Location
Zanzibar
6°8′0″S 39°19′0″E / 6.13333°S 39.31667°E / -6.13333; 39.31667
Result

Revolutionary victory

Belligerents

Revolutionaries

Zanzibar Sultanate
Commanders and leaders
John Okello Sultan Jamshid bin Abdullah
Muhammad Shamte Hamadi
Strength
600–800 men[1][2] Zanzibar Police Force
Casualties and losses

At least 80 killed and 200 injured during revolution (the majority were Arabs)[3]

2,000–4,000 (up to 20,000) civilians killed in the aftermath[4][5]
Zanzibar Revolution
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Location within Tanzania

Zanzibar was an ethnically diverse state consisting of a number of islands off the east coast of Tanganyika, which had been granted independence by Britain in 1963. In a series of parliamentary elections preceding independence, the Arab minority succeeded in retaining the hold on power it had inherited from Zanzibar's former existence as an overseas territory of Oman.

Frustrated by under-representation in Parliament despite winning 54 per cent of the vote in the July 1963 election, the African Afro-Shirazi Party (ASP) early in the morning of 12 January 1964, led by John Okello, the (ASP) youth leader of the Pemba branch, mobilised around 600–800 men on the main island of Unguja (Zanzibar Island). Having overrun the country's police force and appropriated their weaponry, the insurgents proceeded to Zanzibar Town, where they overthrew the Sultan and his government. They then proceeded to loot Arab and South Asian-owned properties and businesses and the systematic rape of murder of Arab and Indian civilians on the island. The death toll is disputed, with estimates ranging from several hundred to 20,000. The moderate ASP leader Abeid Karume became the country's new president and head of state.

The new government's apparent communist ties concerned Western governments. As Zanzibar lay within the British sphere of influence, the British government drew up a number of intervention plans. However, the feared communist government never materialised, and because British and American citizens were successfully evacuated, these plans were not put into effect. The Communist Bloc powers of East Germany and the Soviet Union, along with the anti-Soviet People's Republic of China, immediately recognised the country and sent advisors.

Karume succeeded in negotiating a merger of Zanzibar with Tanganyika to form the new nation of Tanzania, an act judged by contemporary media to be an attempt to prevent communist subversion of Zanzibar. The revolution ended 200 years of Arab dominance in Zanzibar, and is commemorated on the island each year with anniversary celebrations and a public holiday.

Background

The Zanzibar Archipelago, now part of the Southeast African republic of Tanzania, is a group of islands lying in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Tanganyika. It comprises the main southern island of Unguja (also known as Zanzibar), the smaller northern island of Pemba, and numerous surrounding islets. With a long history of Arab rule dating back to 1698, Zanzibar was an overseas territory of Oman until it achieved independence in 1858 under its own Sultanate.[6] In 1890 during Ali ibn Sa'id's reign, Zanzibar became a British protectorate,[7] and although never formally under direct rule was considered part of the British Empire.[8]

By 1964, the country was a constitutional monarchy ruled by Sultan Jamshid bin Abdullah.[9] Zanzibar had a population of around 230,000 Africans—some of whom claimed Persian ancestry and were known locally as Shirazis[10]—and also contained significant minorities in the 50,000 Arabs and 20,000 South Asians, who were prominent in business and trade.[10] The various ethnic groups were becoming mixed and the distinctions between them had blurred;[9] according to one historian, an important reason for the general support for Sultan Jamshid was his family's ethnic diversity.[9] However, the island's Arab inhabitants, as the major landowners, were generally wealthier than the Africans[11] and enjoyed access to higher quality social services, such as health and education, than Africans. Apart from that, British authority considered Zanzibar as an Arab country and always held a position of supporting the Arab minority to stay in power.[12] As a result, during decolonization process the major political parties were organised largely along ethnic lines, with Arabs dominating the Zanzibar Nationalist Party (ZNP) and Africans the Afro-Shirazi Party (ASP).[9] The ZNP looked towards Egypt as its model, which caused some tensions with the British colonial officials, but Zanzibar had been for centuries dominated by its Arab elite, and the Colonial Office could not imagine a Zanzibar ruled by black Africans.[13]

In January 1961, as part of the process of decolonisation, the island's British authorities drew up constituencies and held democratic elections.[11] Both the ASP and the ZNP won 11 of the available 22 seats in Zanzibar's Parliament,[9] so further elections were held in June with the number of seats increased to 23. The ZNP entered into a coalition with the Zanzibar and Pemba People's Party (ZPPP) and this time took 13 seats, while the ASP, despite receiving the most votes, won just 10.[9] Electoral fraud was suspected by the ASP and civil disorder broke out, resulting in 68 deaths.[9] To maintain control, the coalition government banned the more radical opposition parties, filled the civil service with its own appointees, and politicised the police.[11]

In 1963, with the number of parliamentary seats increased to 31, another election saw a repeat of the 1961 votes. Due to the layout of the constituencies, which were gerrymandered by the ZNP, the ASP, led by Abeid Amani Karume, won 54 percent of the popular vote but only 13 seats,[14] while the ZNP/ZPPP won the rest and set about strengthening its hold on power.[11] The Umma Party, formed that year by disaffected radical Arab socialist supporters of the ZNP,[15] was banned, and all policemen of African mainland origin were dismissed.[14][16] This removed a large portion of the only security force on the island, and created an angry group of paramilitary-trained men with knowledge of police buildings, equipment and procedures.[17] Furthermore, the new Arab-dominated government made it clear that in foreign policy, the Sultanate of Zanzibar would be seeking close links with the Arab world, especially Egypt and had no interest in forging relationships with the nations on the African mainland as the black majority wished.[18] Slavery had been abolished in Zanzibar in 1897, but much of the Arab elite who dominated the island's politics made little effort to hide their racist views of the black majority as their inferiors, a people fit only for slavery.[18] In Parliament, the Minister of Finance Juma Aley responded to questions from Karume by insultingly saying he need not answer questions from a mere "boatman".[19] Aley further explained in another speech in Parliament that if Arabs were over-represented in the Cabinet, it was not because of racism, but rather it was only because the mental abilities of blacks were so abysmally low and the mental abilities of Arabs like himself were so high, a remark that enraged the black majority.[19] Memories of Arab slave-trading in the past (some of the older black people had been slaves in their youth) together with a distinctly patronizing view of the Arab elite towards the black majority in the present meant that much of the black population of Zanzibar had a ferocious hatred of the Arabs, viewing the new Arab-dominated government as illegitimate.[18] The government did not help broaden its appeal to the black majority by drastically cutting spending in schools in areas with high concentrations of black people.[20] The government's budget with its draconian spending cuts in schools in black areas was widely seen as a sign that the Arab-dominated government was planning to lock the black people in a permanent second-class status.[20]

Complete independence from British rule was granted on 10 December 1963, with the ZNP/ZPPP coalition as the governing body. The government requested a defence agreement from the United Kingdom, asking for a battalion of British troops to be stationed on the island for internal security duties,[2] but this was rejected as it was deemed inappropriate for British troops to be involved in the maintenance of law and order so soon after independence.[2] Much of the cabinet, which was seeking closer ties with Egypt (ruled by the radical, anti-Western nationalist Nasser), did not want British troops in Zanzibar anyway.[20] British intelligence reports predicted that a civil disturbance, accompanied by increasing communist activity, was likely in the near future and that the arrival of British troops might cause the situation to deteriorate further.[2] However, many foreign nationals remained on the island, including 130 Britons who were direct employees of the Zanzibar government.[21]

In 1959, a charismatic Ugandan named John Okello arrived in Pemba, working as a bricklayer, and in February 1963 moved to Zanzibar.[22] Working as an official in the Zanzibar and Pemba Paint Workers' Union and as an activist in the ASP, Okello had built himself a following and almost from the moment when he arrived on Zanzibar had been organizing a revolution that he planned to take place shortly after independence.[23]

Revolution

Around 3:00 am on 12 January 1964, 600–800 poorly armed, mainly African insurgents, aided by some of the recently dismissed ex-policemen, attacked Unguja's police stations to seize weapons, and then the radio station.[1][2] The attackers had no guns, being equipped only with spears, knives, machetes, and tire irons, having only the advantage of numbers and surprise.[24] The Arab police replacements had received almost no training and, despite responding with a mobile force, were soon overcome.[1][25] Okello himself led the attack on the Ziwani police HQ, which also happened to be the largest armory on the island.[24] Several of the rebels were shot down, but the police were overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Okello personally attacked a police sentry, wrestled his rifle from him, and used it to bayonet the policeman to death.[24] Arming themselves with hundreds of captured automatic rifles, submachine guns and Bren guns, the insurgents took control of strategic buildings in the capital, Zanzibar Town.[26][27] At about 7:00 am, Okello made his first radio broadcast from a local radio station his followers had captured two hours earlier, calling upon the Africans to rise up and overthrow the "imperialists".[28] At the time, Okello only referred to himself as "the field marshal", which prompted much speculation on Zanzibar about the identity of this mysterious figure leading the revolution, who spoke his Swahili with a thick Acholi accent that was unfamiliar on Zanzibar.[28]

Within six hours of the outbreak of hostilities, the town's telegraph office and main government buildings were under revolutionary control, and the island's only airstrip was captured at 2:18 pm.[26][27] In the countryside, fighting had erupted between the Manga, as the rural Arabs were called, and the Africans.[29] The Manga were armed mainly with hunting rifles, and once the arms seized from the police stations reached the rebels in the countryside, the Manga were doomed.[29] In Stone Town, the fiercest resistance was at the Malindi police station, where under the command of Police Commissioner J. M. Sullivan (a British policeman who stayed on until a local replacement could be hired), all of the rebel attacks were repulsed, not least because the insurgents tended to retreat whenever they came under fire.[29] Sullivan only surrendered the Melindi station late in the afternoon after running out of ammunition, and marched his entire force (not one policeman had been killed or wounded) down to the Stonetown wharf to board some boats that took them out to a ship, the Salama, to take them away from Zanzibar.[30] Throughout Stone Town, shops and homes owned by Arabs and South Asians had been looted while numerous Arab and South Asian women were gang-raped.[30] The Sultan, together with Prime Minister Muhammad Shamte Hamadi and members of the cabinet, fled the island on the royal yacht Seyyid Khalifa,[27][31] and the Sultan's palace and other property were seized by the revolutionary government.[3] At least 80 people were killed and 200 injured, the majority of whom were Arabs, during the 12 hours of street fighting that followed.[3] Sixty-one American citizens, including 16 men staffing a NASA satellite tracking station, sought sanctuary in the English Club in Zanzibar Town, and four US journalists were detained by the island's new government.[27][4]

Not knowing that Okello had given orders to kill no whites, the Americans living in Stone Town fled to the English Club, where the point for evacuation was.[32] Those travelling in the car convoy to the English Club were shocked to see the battered bodies of Arab men lying out on the streets of Stone Town with their severed penises and testicles shoved into their mouths.[33] As part of Okello's carefully laid out plans, all over the island, gangs of Africans armed with knives, spears and pangas (machetes) went about systematically killing all the Arabs and South Asians they could find.[34] The American diplomat Don Petterson described his horror as he watched from his house as he saw a gang of African men storm the house of an Arab, behead him in public with a panga, followed by screams from within his house as his wife and three children were raped and killed, followed by the same scene being repeated at the next house of an Arab, followed by yet another and another.[34] After taking control of Stone Town on the first day, the revolutionaries continued to fight the Manga for control of the countryside for at least two days afterwards with whole families of Arabs being massacred after their homes had been stormed.[35]

According to the official Zanzibari history, the revolution was planned and headed by the ASP leader Abeid Amani Karume.[2] However, at the time Karume was on the African mainland as was the leader of the banned Umma Party, Abdulrahman Muhammad Babu.[31] Okello, in his capacity as the ASP youth branch secretary for Pemba, had sent Karume to the mainland to ensure his safety.[1][31] Okello had arrived in Zanzibar from Kenya in 1959,[9] claiming to have been a field marshal for the Kenyan rebels during the Mau Mau uprising, although he actually had no military experience.[1] He maintained that he heard a voice commanding him, as a Christian, to free the Zanzibari people from the Muslim Arabs, though Zanzibaris themselves were predominantly Muslim[9] and it was Okello who led the revolutionaries—mainly unemployed members of the Afro-Shirazi Youth League—on 12 January.[2][16] One commentator has further speculated that it was probably Okello, with the Youth League, who planned the revolution.[2] There appears to have been three different plots to overthrow the government, led by Karume, Babu and Okello, but it was Okello's plan that was furthest advanced and it was he who struck the blow that brought down the Sultan's regime.[36] Okello was not widely known in Zanzibar, and the government was more concerned with monitoring the ASP and Umma rather than a little-known and barely literate house painter and minor union official.[37] Okello was a complete mystery to the world at the time of the revolution, and MI5 reported to Whitehall that he was an ex-policeman who fought with the Mau Mau in Kenya and had been trained in Cuba in the art of revolutionary violence.[38] Okello himself at a press conference several days later angrily denied having ever been to Cuba or China, stating that he was a Christian whose motto was "Everything can be learned from the Bible".[39]

During the revolution, there was an orgy of violence committed against the South Asian and Arab communities with thousands of women being raped by Okello's followers, and much looting and massacres of Arabs all over the island.[30] The American diplomat Don Petterson described the killings of Arabs by the African majority as an act of genocide.[40] Petterson wrote "Genocide was not a term that was as much in vogue then, as it came to be later, but it is fair to say that in parts of Zanzibar, the killing of Arabs was genocide, pure and simple".[40] Okello frequently went on the radio to urge his followers in thunderous Old Testament language to kill as many Arabs as possible, with the maximum of brutality.[41] As a Pan-African nationalist who made his followers sing "God Bless Africa" whenever he marched through the streets, Okello appealed to the black majority, but at the same time, as a militant Christian who claimed to hear the voice of God in his head, Okello's appeal on an island whose population was 95 per cent Muslim was limited.[41]

Aftermath

 
The bodies of Arabs killed in the post-revolution violence as photographed by the Africa Addio film crew
 
Paper shows photos of ex-government officials defaced after the revolution

A Revolutionary Council was established by the ASP and Umma parties to act as an interim government, with Karume heading the council as President and Babu serving as the Minister of External Affairs.[31] The country was renamed the People's Republic of Zanzibar and Pemba;[1] the new government's first acts were to permanently banish the Sultan and to ban the ZNP and ZPPP.[3] Seeking to distance himself from the volatile Okello, Karume quietly sidelined him from the political scene, although he was allowed to retain his self-bestowed title of field marshal.[1][31] However, Okello's revolutionaries soon began reprisals against the Arab and Asian population of Unguja, carrying out beatings, rapes, murders, and attacks on property.[1][31] He claimed in radio speeches to have killed or imprisoned tens of thousands of his "enemies and stooges",[1] but actual estimates of the number of deaths vary greatly, from "hundreds" to 20,000. Some Western newspapers give figures of 2,000–4,000;[4][5] but the higher numbers may be inflated by Okello's own broadcasts and exaggerated reports in some Western and Arab news media.[1][42][43] The killing of Arab prisoners and their burial in mass graves was documented by an Italian film crew, filming from a helicopter, for Africa Addio and this sequence of film comprises the only known visual document of the killings.[44] Many Arabs fled to safety in Oman,[42] although by Okello's order no Europeans were harmed.[31] The post-revolution violence did not spread to Pemba.[43]

By 3 February Zanzibar was finally returning to normality, and Karume had been widely accepted by the people as their president.[45] A police presence was back on the streets, looted shops were re-opening, and unlicensed arms were being surrendered by the civilian populace.[45] The revolutionary government announced that its political prisoners, numbering 500, would be tried by special courts. Okello formed the Freedom Military Force (FMF), a paramilitary unit made up of his own supporters, which patrolled the streets and looted Arab property.[46][47] The behaviour of Okello's supporters, his violent rhetoric, Ugandan accent, and Christian beliefs were alienating many in the largely moderate Zanzibari and Muslim ASP,[48] and by March many members of his FMF had been disarmed by Karume's supporters and the Umma Party militia. On 11 March Okello was officially stripped of his rank of Field Marshal,[47][48][49] and was denied entry when trying to return to Zanzibar from a trip to the mainland. He was deported to Tanganyika and then to Kenya, before returning destitute to his native Uganda.[48]

In April the government formed the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and completed the disarmament of Okello's remaining FMF militia.[48] On 26 April Karume announced that a union had been negotiated with Tanganyika to form the new country of Tanzania.[50] The merger was seen by contemporary media as a means of preventing communist subversion of Zanzibar; at least one historian states that it may have been an attempt by Karume, a moderate socialist, to limit the influence of the radically left-wing Umma Party.[46][50][51] Babu had become close to Chinese diplomats who had arranged for several shipments of arms to be sent to Zanzibar to allow the Umma Party to have a paramilitary wing.[52] Both Karume and President Nyerere of Tanganyika were concerned that Zanzibar was starting to become a hot-spot of Cold War tensions as American and British diplomats competed for influence with Soviet, Chinese and East German diplomats, and having a union with the non-aligned Tanganyika was considered the best way of removing Zanzibar from the world spotlight.[52] However, many of the Umma Party's socialist policies on health, education and social welfare were adopted by the government.[43]

Foreign reaction

British military forces in Kenya were made aware of the revolution at 4:45 am on 12 January, and following a request from the Sultan were put on 15 minutes' standby to conduct an assault on Zanzibar's airfield.[1][53] However, the British High Commissioner in Zanzibar, Timothy Crosthwait, reported no instances of British nationals being attacked and advised against intervention. As a result, the British troops in Kenya were reduced to four hours' standby later that evening. Crosthwait decided not to approve an immediate evacuation of British citizens, as many held key government positions and their sudden removal would further disrupt the country's economy and government.[53]

Within hours of the revolution, the American ambassador had authorised the withdrawal of US citizens on the island, and a US Navy destroyer, the USS Manley, arrived on 13 January.[54] The Manley docked at Zanzibar Town harbour, but the US had not sought the Revolutionary Council's permission for the evacuation, and the ship was met by a group of armed men.[54] Permission was eventually granted on 15 January, but the British considered this confrontation to be the cause of much subsequent ill will against the Western powers in Zanzibar.[55]

Western intelligence agencies believed that the revolution had been organised by communists supplied with weapons by the Warsaw Pact countries. This suspicion was strengthened by the appointment of Babu as Minister for External Affairs and Abdullah Kassim Hanga as Prime Minister, both known leftists with possible communist ties.[1] Britain believed that these two were close associates of Oscar Kambona, the Foreign Affairs Minister of Tanganyika, and that former members of the Tanganyika Rifles had been made available to assist with the revolution.[1] Some members of the Umma Party wore Cuban military fatigues and beards in the style of Fidel Castro, which was taken as an indication of Cuban support for the revolution.[36] However this practice was started by those members who had staffed a ZNP branch office in Cuba and it became a common means of dress amongst opposition party members in the months leading up to the revolution.[36] The new Zanzibar government's recognition of the German Democratic Republic (the first African government to do so) and of North Korea was further evidence to the Western powers that Zanzibar was aligning itself closely with the communist bloc.[47] Just six days after the revolution, The New York Times stated that Zanzibar was "on the verge of becoming the Cuba of Africa", but on 26 January denied that there was active communist involvement.[4][56] Zanzibar continued to receive support from communist countries and by February was known to be receiving advisers from the Soviet Union, the GDR and China.[57] Cuba also lent its support with Che Guevara stating on 15 August that "Zanzibar is our friend and we gave them our small bit of assistance, our fraternal assistance, our revolutionary assistance at the moment when it was necessary" but denying there were Cuban troops present during the revolution.[58] At the same time, western influence was diminishing and by July 1964 just one Briton, a dentist, remained in the employ of the Zanzibari government.[21] It has been alleged that Israeli spymaster David Kimche was a backer of the revolution[59] with Kimche in Zanzibar on the day of the Revolution.[60]

The deposed Sultan made an unsuccessful appeal to Kenya and Tanganyika for military assistance,[53] although Tanganyika sent 100 paramilitary police officers to Zanzibar to contain rioting.[1] Other than the Tanganyika Rifles (formerly the colonial King's African Rifles), the police were the only armed force in Tanganyika, and on 20 January the police absence led the entire Rifles regiment to mutiny.[1] Dissatisfied with their low pay rates and with the slow progress of the replacement of their British officers with Africans,[61] the soldiers' mutiny sparked similar uprisings in both Uganda and Kenya. However, order on the African mainland was rapidly restored without serious incident by the British Army and Royal Marines.[62]

The possible emergence of an African communist state remained a source of disquiet in the West. In February, the British Defence and Overseas Policy Committee said that, while British commercial interests in Zanzibar were "minute" and the revolution by itself was "not important", the possibility of intervention must be maintained.[63] The committee was concerned that Zanzibar could become a centre for the promotion of communism in Africa, much like Cuba had in the Americas.[63] Britain, most of the Commonwealth, and the USA withheld recognition of the new regime until 23 February, by which time it had already been recognised by much of the communist bloc.[64] In Crosthwait's opinion, this contributed to Zanzibar aligning itself with the Soviet Union; Crosthwait and his staff were expelled from the country on 20 February and were only allowed to return once recognition had been agreed.[64]

British military response

 
RFA Hebe

Following the evacuation of its citizens on 13 January, the US government stated that it recognised that Zanzibar lay within Britain's sphere of influence, and would not intervene.[65] The US did, however, urge that Britain cooperate with other Southeast African countries to restore order.[65] The first British military vessel on the scene was the survey ship HMS Owen, which was diverted from the Kenyan coast and arrived on the evening of 12 January.[55] Owen was joined on 15 January by the frigate Rhyl and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship Hebe. While the lightly armed Owen had been able to provide the revolutionaries with an unobtrusive reminder of Britain's military power, the Hebe and Rhyl were different matters.[55] Due to inaccurate reports that the situation in Zanzibar was deteriorating, the Rhyl was carrying a company of troops of the first battalion of the Staffordshire Regiment from Kenya, the embarkation of which was widely reported in the Kenyan media, and would hinder British negotiations with Zanzibar.[55] The Hebe had just finished removing stores from the naval depot at Mombasa and was loaded with weapons and explosives. Although the Revolutionary Council was unaware of the nature of Hebe's cargo, the Royal Navy's refusal to allow a search of the ship created suspicion ashore and rumours circulated that she was an amphibious assault ship.[55]

 
HMS Centaur

A partial evacuation of British citizens was completed by 17 January,[66] when the army riots in Southeast Africa prompted Rhyl's diversion to Tanganyika so that the troops she was carrying could assist in quelling the mutiny. In replacement, a company of the Gordon Highlanders was loaded aboard Owen so an intervention could still be made if necessary.[67] The aircraft carriers Centaur and Victorious were also transferred to the region as part of Operation Parthenon.[64] Although never enacted, Parthenon was intended as a precaution should Okello or the Umma party radicals attempt to seize power from the more moderate ASP.[48] In addition to the two carriers, the plan involved three destroyers, Owen, 13 helicopters, 21 transport and reconnaissance aircraft, the second battalion of the Scots Guards, 45 Commando of the Royal Marines and one company of the second battalion of the Parachute Regiment. The island of Unguja, and its airport, were to be seized by parachute and helicopter assault, followed up by the occupation of Pemba. Parthenon would have been the largest British airborne and amphibious operation since the Suez Crisis.[48]

Following the revelation that the revolutionaries may have received communist bloc training, Operation Parthenon was replaced by Operation Boris. This called for a parachute assault on Unguja from Kenya, but was later abandoned due to poor security in Kenya and the Kenyan government's opposition to the use of its airfields.[68] Instead Operation Finery was drawn up, which would involve a helicopter assault by Royal Marines from HMS Bulwark, a commando carrier then stationed in the Middle East.[51] As Bulwark was outside the region, Finery's launch would require 14 days' notice, so in the event that a more immediate response was necessary, suitable forces were placed on 24 hours' notice to launch a smaller scale operation to protect British citizens.[51]

With the merger of Tanganyika and Zanzibar on 23 April, there were concerns that the Umma Party would stage a coup; Operation Shed was designed to provide for intervention should this happen.[51] Shed would have required a battalion of troops, with scout cars, to be airlifted to the island to seize the airfield and protect Karume's government.[69] However, the danger of a revolt over unification soon passed, and on 29 April the troops earmarked for Shed were reduced to 24 hours' notice. Operation Finery was cancelled the same day.[69] Concern over a possible coup remained though, and around 23 September Shed was replaced with Plan Giralda, involving the use of British troops from Aden and the Far East, to be enacted if the Umma Party attempted to overthrow President Julius Nyerere of Tanzania.[70] An infantry battalion, tactical headquarters unit and elements of the Royal Marines would have been shipped to Zanzibar to launch an amphibious assault, supported by follow-on troops from British bases in Kenya or Aden to maintain law and order.[71] Giralda was scrapped in December, ending British plans for military intervention in the country.[72]

Legacy

 
President Amani Abeid Karume participating in a military parade to mark the 40th anniversary of the revolution
 
A kanga celebrating ten years since the revolution (mapinduzi), with references to the ASP and TANU (museum of the House of Wonders, Stone Town)

One of the main results of the revolution in Zanzibar was to break the power of the Arab/Asian ruling class, who had held it for around 200 years.[73][74] Despite the merger with Tanganyika, Zanzibar retained a Revolutionary Council and House of Representatives which was, until 1992, run on a one-party system and has power over domestic matters.[75] The domestic government is led by the President of Zanzibar, Karume being the first holder of this office. This government used the success of the revolution to implement reforms across the island. Many of these involved the removal of power from Arabs. The Zanzibar civil service, for example, became an almost entirely African organisation, and land was redistributed from Arabs to Africans.[73] The revolutionary government also instituted social reforms such as free healthcare and opening up the education system to African students (who had occupied only 12 per cent of secondary school places before the revolution).[73]

The government sought help from the Soviet Union, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and People's Republic of China for funding for several projects and military advice.[73] The failure of several GDR-led projects including the New Zanzibar Project, a 1968 urban redevelopment scheme to provide new apartments for all Zanzibaris, led to Zanzibar focusing on Chinese aid.[76][77] The post-revolution Zanzibar government was accused of draconian controls on personal freedoms and travel and exercised nepotism in appointments to political and industrial offices, the new Tanzanian government being powerless to intervene.[78][79] Dissatisfaction with the government came to a head with the assassination of Karume on 7 April 1972, which was followed by weeks of fighting between pro- and anti-government forces.[80] A multi-party system was eventually established in 1992, but Zanzibar remains dogged by allegations of corruption and vote-rigging, though the 2010 general election was seen to be a considerable improvement.[75][81][82]

The revolution itself remains an event of interest for Zanzibaris and academics. Historians have analysed the revolution as having a racial and a social basis, with some stating that the African revolutionaries represent the proletariat rebelling against the ruling and trading classes, represented by the Arabs and South Asians.[83] Others discount this theory and present it as a racial revolution that was exacerbated by economic disparity between races.[84]

Within Zanzibar, the revolution is a key cultural event, marked by the release of 545 prisoners on its tenth anniversary and by a military parade on its 40th.[85] Zanzibar Revolution Day has been designated as a public holiday by the government of Tanzania; it is celebrated on 12 January each year.[86]

The Mapinduzi Cup (Revolution Cup), an association football knockout competition is organized by the Zanzibar Football Association in early January between 6–13 January to mark the revolution day (12 January).[87]

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Parsons 2003, p. 107.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Speller 2007, p. 6.
  3. ^ a b c d Conley, Robert (14 January 1964). "Regime Banishes Sultan". The New York Times. p. 4. Retrieved 16 November 2008..
  4. ^ a b c d Conley, Robert (19 January 1964). "Nationalism Is Viewed as Camouflage for Reds". The New York Times. p. 1. Retrieved 16 November 2008..
  5. ^ a b Los Angeles Times (20 January 1964). "Slaughter in Zanzibar of Asians, Arabs Told". Los Angeles Times. p. 4. Retrieved 16 April 2009.
  6. ^ Hernon 2003, p. 397.
  7. ^ Ingrams 1967, pp. 172–173.
  8. ^ Shillington 2005, p. 1710.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shillington 2005, p. 1716.
  10. ^ a b Speller 2007, p. 4.
  11. ^ a b c d Parsons 2003, p. 106.
  12. ^ Mapuri, Omar (1996). Zanzibar the 1964 Revolution: Achievements and Prospects (Revised ed.). Dar es Salaam: TEMA Publishers Company Ltd. p. 8. ISBN 9987250114.
  13. ^ Petterson 2004, p. 11.
  14. ^ a b Speller 2007, p. 5
  15. ^ Bakari 2001, p. 204.
  16. ^ a b Sheriff & Ferguson 1991, p. 239.
  17. ^ Speller 2007, pp. 5–6.
  18. ^ a b c Petterson 2004, p. 12.
  19. ^ a b Petterson 2004, p. 41.
  20. ^ a b c Petterson 2004, p. 40.
  21. ^ a b Speller 2007, pp. 27–28.
  22. ^ Petterson 2004, pp. 25–26.
  23. ^ Petterson 2004, pp. 26–27.
  24. ^ a b c Petterson 2004, p. 49.
  25. ^ Clayton 1999, p. 109.
  26. ^ a b Speller 2007, pp. 6–7.
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Sources

  • Bakari, Mohammed Ali (2001), The Democratisation Process in Zanzibar, GIGA-Hamburg, ISBN 978-3-928049-71-9.
  • Clayton, Anthony (1999), Frontiersmen: Warfare in Africa Since 1950, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 978-1-85728-525-3.
  • Daly, Samuel Fury Childs (2009), (PDF), New York: Columbia University, archived from the original (PDF) on 14 December 2011.
  • Guevara, Ernesto (1968), Venceremos!:The speeches and writings of Ernesto Che Guevara, Macmillan, ISBN 978-0-297-76438-0.
  • Hernon, Ian (2003), Britain's Forgotten Wars: Colonial Campaigns of the 19th century, Stroud, Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing, ISBN 978-0-7509-3162-5.
  • Ingrams, William H. (1967), Zanzibar: Its History and Its People, Abingdon: Routledge, ISBN 978-0-7146-1102-0, OCLC 186237036.
  • Kalley, Jacqueline Audrey; Schoeman, Elna; Andor, Lydia Eve (1999), Southern African Political History, Greenwood Publishing Group, ISBN 978-0-313-30247-3.
  • Kuper, Leo (1971), "Theories of Revolution and Race Relations", Comparative Studies in Society and History, 13 (1): 87–107, doi:10.1017/S0010417500006125, JSTOR 178199, S2CID 145769109.
  • Lofchie, Michael F. (October–November 1967), "Was Okello's Revolution a Conspiracy?", Transition (33): 36–42, doi:10.2307/2934114, JSTOR 2934114.
  • Myers, Garth A. (1994), "Making the Socialist City of Zanzibar", Geographical Review, 84 (4): 451–464, doi:10.2307/215759, JSTOR 215759.
  • Parsons, Timothy (2003), The 1964 Army Mutinies and the Making of Modern East Africa, Greenwood Publishing Group, ISBN 978-0-325-07068-1.
  • Petterson, Don (22 September 2004), Revolution in Zanzibar: An American's Cold War Tale, New York: Basic Books, ISBN 9780813342689
  • Plekhanov, Sergey (2004), A Reformer on the Throne: Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Al Said, Trident Press Ltd, ISBN 978-1-900724-70-8.
  • Sheriff, Abdul; Ferguson, Ed (1991), Zanzibar Under Colonial Rule, James Currey Publishers, ISBN 978-0-85255-080-9.
  • Shillington, Kevin (2005), Encyclopedia of African History, CRC Press, ISBN 978-1-57958-245-6.
  • Speller, Ian (2007), "An African Cuba? Britain and the Zanzibar Revolution, 1964", Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 35 (2): 1–35, doi:10.1080/03086530701337666, S2CID 159656717.
  • Triplett, George W. (1971), "Zanzibar: The Politics of Revolutionary Inequality", The Journal of Modern African Studies, 9 (4): 612–617, doi:10.1017/S0022278X0005285X, JSTOR 160218, S2CID 153484206.

Further reading

  • Fouéré, Marie-Aude, and William C. Bissell (eds) (2018). Social Memory, Silenced Voices, and Political Struggle: Remembering the Revolution in Zanzibar. Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: Mkuki na Nyota. ISBN 978-9987-08-317-6.
  • Glassman, Jonathon (2011), War of Words, War of Stones: Racial Thought and Violence in Colonial Zanzibar, Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, ISBN 978-0-253-22280-0.
  • Mwakikagile, Godfrey. The Union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar: Formation of Tanzania and Its Challenges, ISBN 978-9987160464.
  • Mwakikagile, Godfrey. Why Tanganyika united with Zanzibar to form Tanzania, ISBN 978-9987-16-045-7.
  • Mwakikagile, Godfrey. The Union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar: Product of the Cold War?, ISBN 978-0981425856.

January 12, 2023
zanzibar, revolution, arabic, ثورة, زنجبار, romanized, thawrat, zanjibār, occurred, january, 1964, overthrow, sultan, zanzibar, mainly, arab, government, island, majority, black, african, population, part, cold, warunguja, pemba, main, islands, zanzibardate12,. The Zanzibar Revolution Arabic ثورة زنجبار romanized Thawrat Zanjibar occurred in January 1964 and led to the overthrow of the Sultan of Zanzibar and his mainly Arab government by the island s majority Black African population Zanzibar RevolutionPart of the Cold WarUnguja and Pemba the two main islands of ZanzibarDate12 January 1964LocationZanzibar6 8 0 S 39 19 0 E 6 13333 S 39 31667 E 6 13333 39 31667ResultRevolutionary victory Fall of the Sultanate of Zanzibar Establishment of the People s Republic of ZanzibarBelligerentsRevolutionaries Afro Shirazi Party Umma PartyZanzibar SultanateCommanders and leadersJohn OkelloSultan Jamshid bin Abdullah Muhammad Shamte HamadiStrength600 800 men 1 2 Zanzibar Police ForceCasualties and lossesAt least 80 killed and 200 injured during revolution the majority were Arabs 3 2 000 4 000 up to 20 000 civilians killed in the aftermath 4 5 Zanzibar Revolutionclass notpageimage Location within TanzaniaZanzibar was an ethnically diverse state consisting of a number of islands off the east coast of Tanganyika which had been granted independence by Britain in 1963 In a series of parliamentary elections preceding independence the Arab minority succeeded in retaining the hold on power it had inherited from Zanzibar s former existence as an overseas territory of Oman Frustrated by under representation in Parliament despite winning 54 per cent of the vote in the July 1963 election the African Afro Shirazi Party ASP early in the morning of 12 January 1964 led by John Okello the ASP youth leader of the Pemba branch mobilised around 600 800 men on the main island of Unguja Zanzibar Island Having overrun the country s police force and appropriated their weaponry the insurgents proceeded to Zanzibar Town where they overthrew the Sultan and his government They then proceeded to loot Arab and South Asian owned properties and businesses and the systematic rape of murder of Arab and Indian civilians on the island The death toll is disputed with estimates ranging from several hundred to 20 000 The moderate ASP leader Abeid Karume became the country s new president and head of state The new government s apparent communist ties concerned Western governments As Zanzibar lay within the British sphere of influence the British government drew up a number of intervention plans However the feared communist government never materialised and because British and American citizens were successfully evacuated these plans were not put into effect The Communist Bloc powers of East Germany and the Soviet Union along with the anti Soviet People s Republic of China immediately recognised the country and sent advisors Karume succeeded in negotiating a merger of Zanzibar with Tanganyika to form the new nation of Tanzania an act judged by contemporary media to be an attempt to prevent communist subversion of Zanzibar The revolution ended 200 years of Arab dominance in Zanzibar and is commemorated on the island each year with anniversary celebrations and a public holiday Contents 1 Background 2 Revolution 3 Aftermath 4 Foreign reaction 4 1 British military response 5 Legacy 6 References 6 1 Citations 6 2 Sources 7 Further readingBackground EditThe Zanzibar Archipelago now part of the Southeast African republic of Tanzania is a group of islands lying in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Tanganyika It comprises the main southern island of Unguja also known as Zanzibar the smaller northern island of Pemba and numerous surrounding islets With a long history of Arab rule dating back to 1698 Zanzibar was an overseas territory of Oman until it achieved independence in 1858 under its own Sultanate 6 In 1890 during Ali ibn Sa id s reign Zanzibar became a British protectorate 7 and although never formally under direct rule was considered part of the British Empire 8 By 1964 the country was a constitutional monarchy ruled by Sultan Jamshid bin Abdullah 9 Zanzibar had a population of around 230 000 Africans some of whom claimed Persian ancestry and were known locally as Shirazis 10 and also contained significant minorities in the 50 000 Arabs and 20 000 South Asians who were prominent in business and trade 10 The various ethnic groups were becoming mixed and the distinctions between them had blurred 9 according to one historian an important reason for the general support for Sultan Jamshid was his family s ethnic diversity 9 However the island s Arab inhabitants as the major landowners were generally wealthier than the Africans 11 and enjoyed access to higher quality social services such as health and education than Africans Apart from that British authority considered Zanzibar as an Arab country and always held a position of supporting the Arab minority to stay in power 12 As a result during decolonization process the major political parties were organised largely along ethnic lines with Arabs dominating the Zanzibar Nationalist Party ZNP and Africans the Afro Shirazi Party ASP 9 The ZNP looked towards Egypt as its model which caused some tensions with the British colonial officials but Zanzibar had been for centuries dominated by its Arab elite and the Colonial Office could not imagine a Zanzibar ruled by black Africans 13 In January 1961 as part of the process of decolonisation the island s British authorities drew up constituencies and held democratic elections 11 Both the ASP and the ZNP won 11 of the available 22 seats in Zanzibar s Parliament 9 so further elections were held in June with the number of seats increased to 23 The ZNP entered into a coalition with the Zanzibar and Pemba People s Party ZPPP and this time took 13 seats while the ASP despite receiving the most votes won just 10 9 Electoral fraud was suspected by the ASP and civil disorder broke out resulting in 68 deaths 9 To maintain control the coalition government banned the more radical opposition parties filled the civil service with its own appointees and politicised the police 11 In 1963 with the number of parliamentary seats increased to 31 another election saw a repeat of the 1961 votes Due to the layout of the constituencies which were gerrymandered by the ZNP the ASP led by Abeid Amani Karume won 54 percent of the popular vote but only 13 seats 14 while the ZNP ZPPP won the rest and set about strengthening its hold on power 11 The Umma Party formed that year by disaffected radical Arab socialist supporters of the ZNP 15 was banned and all policemen of African mainland origin were dismissed 14 16 This removed a large portion of the only security force on the island and created an angry group of paramilitary trained men with knowledge of police buildings equipment and procedures 17 Furthermore the new Arab dominated government made it clear that in foreign policy the Sultanate of Zanzibar would be seeking close links with the Arab world especially Egypt and had no interest in forging relationships with the nations on the African mainland as the black majority wished 18 Slavery had been abolished in Zanzibar in 1897 but much of the Arab elite who dominated the island s politics made little effort to hide their racist views of the black majority as their inferiors a people fit only for slavery 18 In Parliament the Minister of Finance Juma Aley responded to questions from Karume by insultingly saying he need not answer questions from a mere boatman 19 Aley further explained in another speech in Parliament that if Arabs were over represented in the Cabinet it was not because of racism but rather it was only because the mental abilities of blacks were so abysmally low and the mental abilities of Arabs like himself were so high a remark that enraged the black majority 19 Memories of Arab slave trading in the past some of the older black people had been slaves in their youth together with a distinctly patronizing view of the Arab elite towards the black majority in the present meant that much of the black population of Zanzibar had a ferocious hatred of the Arabs viewing the new Arab dominated government as illegitimate 18 The government did not help broaden its appeal to the black majority by drastically cutting spending in schools in areas with high concentrations of black people 20 The government s budget with its draconian spending cuts in schools in black areas was widely seen as a sign that the Arab dominated government was planning to lock the black people in a permanent second class status 20 Complete independence from British rule was granted on 10 December 1963 with the ZNP ZPPP coalition as the governing body The government requested a defence agreement from the United Kingdom asking for a battalion of British troops to be stationed on the island for internal security duties 2 but this was rejected as it was deemed inappropriate for British troops to be involved in the maintenance of law and order so soon after independence 2 Much of the cabinet which was seeking closer ties with Egypt ruled by the radical anti Western nationalist Nasser did not want British troops in Zanzibar anyway 20 British intelligence reports predicted that a civil disturbance accompanied by increasing communist activity was likely in the near future and that the arrival of British troops might cause the situation to deteriorate further 2 However many foreign nationals remained on the island including 130 Britons who were direct employees of the Zanzibar government 21 In 1959 a charismatic Ugandan named John Okello arrived in Pemba working as a bricklayer and in February 1963 moved to Zanzibar 22 Working as an official in the Zanzibar and Pemba Paint Workers Union and as an activist in the ASP Okello had built himself a following and almost from the moment when he arrived on Zanzibar had been organizing a revolution that he planned to take place shortly after independence 23 Revolution EditAround 3 00 am on 12 January 1964 600 800 poorly armed mainly African insurgents aided by some of the recently dismissed ex policemen attacked Unguja s police stations to seize weapons and then the radio station 1 2 The attackers had no guns being equipped only with spears knives machetes and tire irons having only the advantage of numbers and surprise 24 The Arab police replacements had received almost no training and despite responding with a mobile force were soon overcome 1 25 Okello himself led the attack on the Ziwani police HQ which also happened to be the largest armory on the island 24 Several of the rebels were shot down but the police were overwhelmed by sheer numbers Okello personally attacked a police sentry wrestled his rifle from him and used it to bayonet the policeman to death 24 Arming themselves with hundreds of captured automatic rifles submachine guns and Bren guns the insurgents took control of strategic buildings in the capital Zanzibar Town 26 27 At about 7 00 am Okello made his first radio broadcast from a local radio station his followers had captured two hours earlier calling upon the Africans to rise up and overthrow the imperialists 28 At the time Okello only referred to himself as the field marshal which prompted much speculation on Zanzibar about the identity of this mysterious figure leading the revolution who spoke his Swahili with a thick Acholi accent that was unfamiliar on Zanzibar 28 Within six hours of the outbreak of hostilities the town s telegraph office and main government buildings were under revolutionary control and the island s only airstrip was captured at 2 18 pm 26 27 In the countryside fighting had erupted between the Manga as the rural Arabs were called and the Africans 29 The Manga were armed mainly with hunting rifles and once the arms seized from the police stations reached the rebels in the countryside the Manga were doomed 29 In Stone Town the fiercest resistance was at the Malindi police station where under the command of Police Commissioner J M Sullivan a British policeman who stayed on until a local replacement could be hired all of the rebel attacks were repulsed not least because the insurgents tended to retreat whenever they came under fire 29 Sullivan only surrendered the Melindi station late in the afternoon after running out of ammunition and marched his entire force not one policeman had been killed or wounded down to the Stonetown wharf to board some boats that took them out to a ship the Salama to take them away from Zanzibar 30 Throughout Stone Town shops and homes owned by Arabs and South Asians had been looted while numerous Arab and South Asian women were gang raped 30 The Sultan together with Prime Minister Muhammad Shamte Hamadi and members of the cabinet fled the island on the royal yacht Seyyid Khalifa 27 31 and the Sultan s palace and other property were seized by the revolutionary government 3 At least 80 people were killed and 200 injured the majority of whom were Arabs during the 12 hours of street fighting that followed 3 Sixty one American citizens including 16 men staffing a NASA satellite tracking station sought sanctuary in the English Club in Zanzibar Town and four US journalists were detained by the island s new government 27 4 Not knowing that Okello had given orders to kill no whites the Americans living in Stone Town fled to the English Club where the point for evacuation was 32 Those travelling in the car convoy to the English Club were shocked to see the battered bodies of Arab men lying out on the streets of Stone Town with their severed penises and testicles shoved into their mouths 33 As part of Okello s carefully laid out plans all over the island gangs of Africans armed with knives spears and pangas machetes went about systematically killing all the Arabs and South Asians they could find 34 The American diplomat Don Petterson described his horror as he watched from his house as he saw a gang of African men storm the house of an Arab behead him in public with a panga followed by screams from within his house as his wife and three children were raped and killed followed by the same scene being repeated at the next house of an Arab followed by yet another and another 34 After taking control of Stone Town on the first day the revolutionaries continued to fight the Manga for control of the countryside for at least two days afterwards with whole families of Arabs being massacred after their homes had been stormed 35 According to the official Zanzibari history the revolution was planned and headed by the ASP leader Abeid Amani Karume 2 However at the time Karume was on the African mainland as was the leader of the banned Umma Party Abdulrahman Muhammad Babu 31 Okello in his capacity as the ASP youth branch secretary for Pemba had sent Karume to the mainland to ensure his safety 1 31 Okello had arrived in Zanzibar from Kenya in 1959 9 claiming to have been a field marshal for the Kenyan rebels during the Mau Mau uprising although he actually had no military experience 1 He maintained that he heard a voice commanding him as a Christian to free the Zanzibari people from the Muslim Arabs though Zanzibaris themselves were predominantly Muslim 9 and it was Okello who led the revolutionaries mainly unemployed members of the Afro Shirazi Youth League on 12 January 2 16 One commentator has further speculated that it was probably Okello with the Youth League who planned the revolution 2 There appears to have been three different plots to overthrow the government led by Karume Babu and Okello but it was Okello s plan that was furthest advanced and it was he who struck the blow that brought down the Sultan s regime 36 Okello was not widely known in Zanzibar and the government was more concerned with monitoring the ASP and Umma rather than a little known and barely literate house painter and minor union official 37 Okello was a complete mystery to the world at the time of the revolution and MI5 reported to Whitehall that he was an ex policeman who fought with the Mau Mau in Kenya and had been trained in Cuba in the art of revolutionary violence 38 Okello himself at a press conference several days later angrily denied having ever been to Cuba or China stating that he was a Christian whose motto was Everything can be learned from the Bible 39 During the revolution there was an orgy of violence committed against the South Asian and Arab communities with thousands of women being raped by Okello s followers and much looting and massacres of Arabs all over the island 30 The American diplomat Don Petterson described the killings of Arabs by the African majority as an act of genocide 40 Petterson wrote Genocide was not a term that was as much in vogue then as it came to be later but it is fair to say that in parts of Zanzibar the killing of Arabs was genocide pure and simple 40 Okello frequently went on the radio to urge his followers in thunderous Old Testament language to kill as many Arabs as possible with the maximum of brutality 41 As a Pan African nationalist who made his followers sing God Bless Africa whenever he marched through the streets Okello appealed to the black majority but at the same time as a militant Christian who claimed to hear the voice of God in his head Okello s appeal on an island whose population was 95 per cent Muslim was limited 41 Aftermath Edit The bodies of Arabs killed in the post revolution violence as photographed by the Africa Addio film crew Paper shows photos of ex government officials defaced after the revolution A Revolutionary Council was established by the ASP and Umma parties to act as an interim government with Karume heading the council as President and Babu serving as the Minister of External Affairs 31 The country was renamed the People s Republic of Zanzibar and Pemba 1 the new government s first acts were to permanently banish the Sultan and to ban the ZNP and ZPPP 3 Seeking to distance himself from the volatile Okello Karume quietly sidelined him from the political scene although he was allowed to retain his self bestowed title of field marshal 1 31 However Okello s revolutionaries soon began reprisals against the Arab and Asian population of Unguja carrying out beatings rapes murders and attacks on property 1 31 He claimed in radio speeches to have killed or imprisoned tens of thousands of his enemies and stooges 1 but actual estimates of the number of deaths vary greatly from hundreds to 20 000 Some Western newspapers give figures of 2 000 4 000 4 5 but the higher numbers may be inflated by Okello s own broadcasts and exaggerated reports in some Western and Arab news media 1 42 43 The killing of Arab prisoners and their burial in mass graves was documented by an Italian film crew filming from a helicopter for Africa Addio and this sequence of film comprises the only known visual document of the killings 44 Many Arabs fled to safety in Oman 42 although by Okello s order no Europeans were harmed 31 The post revolution violence did not spread to Pemba 43 By 3 February Zanzibar was finally returning to normality and Karume had been widely accepted by the people as their president 45 A police presence was back on the streets looted shops were re opening and unlicensed arms were being surrendered by the civilian populace 45 The revolutionary government announced that its political prisoners numbering 500 would be tried by special courts Okello formed the Freedom Military Force FMF a paramilitary unit made up of his own supporters which patrolled the streets and looted Arab property 46 47 The behaviour of Okello s supporters his violent rhetoric Ugandan accent and Christian beliefs were alienating many in the largely moderate Zanzibari and Muslim ASP 48 and by March many members of his FMF had been disarmed by Karume s supporters and the Umma Party militia On 11 March Okello was officially stripped of his rank of Field Marshal 47 48 49 and was denied entry when trying to return to Zanzibar from a trip to the mainland He was deported to Tanganyika and then to Kenya before returning destitute to his native Uganda 48 In April the government formed the People s Liberation Army PLA and completed the disarmament of Okello s remaining FMF militia 48 On 26 April Karume announced that a union had been negotiated with Tanganyika to form the new country of Tanzania 50 The merger was seen by contemporary media as a means of preventing communist subversion of Zanzibar at least one historian states that it may have been an attempt by Karume a moderate socialist to limit the influence of the radically left wing Umma Party 46 50 51 Babu had become close to Chinese diplomats who had arranged for several shipments of arms to be sent to Zanzibar to allow the Umma Party to have a paramilitary wing 52 Both Karume and President Nyerere of Tanganyika were concerned that Zanzibar was starting to become a hot spot of Cold War tensions as American and British diplomats competed for influence with Soviet Chinese and East German diplomats and having a union with the non aligned Tanganyika was considered the best way of removing Zanzibar from the world spotlight 52 However many of the Umma Party s socialist policies on health education and social welfare were adopted by the government 43 Foreign reaction EditBritish military forces in Kenya were made aware of the revolution at 4 45 am on 12 January and following a request from the Sultan were put on 15 minutes standby to conduct an assault on Zanzibar s airfield 1 53 However the British High Commissioner in Zanzibar Timothy Crosthwait reported no instances of British nationals being attacked and advised against intervention As a result the British troops in Kenya were reduced to four hours standby later that evening Crosthwait decided not to approve an immediate evacuation of British citizens as many held key government positions and their sudden removal would further disrupt the country s economy and government 53 Within hours of the revolution the American ambassador had authorised the withdrawal of US citizens on the island and a US Navy destroyer the USS Manley arrived on 13 January 54 The Manley docked at Zanzibar Town harbour but the US had not sought the Revolutionary Council s permission for the evacuation and the ship was met by a group of armed men 54 Permission was eventually granted on 15 January but the British considered this confrontation to be the cause of much subsequent ill will against the Western powers in Zanzibar 55 Western intelligence agencies believed that the revolution had been organised by communists supplied with weapons by the Warsaw Pact countries This suspicion was strengthened by the appointment of Babu as Minister for External Affairs and Abdullah Kassim Hanga as Prime Minister both known leftists with possible communist ties 1 Britain believed that these two were close associates of Oscar Kambona the Foreign Affairs Minister of Tanganyika and that former members of the Tanganyika Rifles had been made available to assist with the revolution 1 Some members of the Umma Party wore Cuban military fatigues and beards in the style of Fidel Castro which was taken as an indication of Cuban support for the revolution 36 However this practice was started by those members who had staffed a ZNP branch office in Cuba and it became a common means of dress amongst opposition party members in the months leading up to the revolution 36 The new Zanzibar government s recognition of the German Democratic Republic the first African government to do so and of North Korea was further evidence to the Western powers that Zanzibar was aligning itself closely with the communist bloc 47 Just six days after the revolution The New York Times stated that Zanzibar was on the verge of becoming the Cuba of Africa but on 26 January denied that there was active communist involvement 4 56 Zanzibar continued to receive support from communist countries and by February was known to be receiving advisers from the Soviet Union the GDR and China 57 Cuba also lent its support with Che Guevara stating on 15 August that Zanzibar is our friend and we gave them our small bit of assistance our fraternal assistance our revolutionary assistance at the moment when it was necessary but denying there were Cuban troops present during the revolution 58 At the same time western influence was diminishing and by July 1964 just one Briton a dentist remained in the employ of the Zanzibari government 21 It has been alleged that Israeli spymaster David Kimche was a backer of the revolution 59 with Kimche in Zanzibar on the day of the Revolution 60 The deposed Sultan made an unsuccessful appeal to Kenya and Tanganyika for military assistance 53 although Tanganyika sent 100 paramilitary police officers to Zanzibar to contain rioting 1 Other than the Tanganyika Rifles formerly the colonial King s African Rifles the police were the only armed force in Tanganyika and on 20 January the police absence led the entire Rifles regiment to mutiny 1 Dissatisfied with their low pay rates and with the slow progress of the replacement of their British officers with Africans 61 the soldiers mutiny sparked similar uprisings in both Uganda and Kenya However order on the African mainland was rapidly restored without serious incident by the British Army and Royal Marines 62 The possible emergence of an African communist state remained a source of disquiet in the West In February the British Defence and Overseas Policy Committee said that while British commercial interests in Zanzibar were minute and the revolution by itself was not important the possibility of intervention must be maintained 63 The committee was concerned that Zanzibar could become a centre for the promotion of communism in Africa much like Cuba had in the Americas 63 Britain most of the Commonwealth and the USA withheld recognition of the new regime until 23 February by which time it had already been recognised by much of the communist bloc 64 In Crosthwait s opinion this contributed to Zanzibar aligning itself with the Soviet Union Crosthwait and his staff were expelled from the country on 20 February and were only allowed to return once recognition had been agreed 64 British military response Edit RFA Hebe Following the evacuation of its citizens on 13 January the US government stated that it recognised that Zanzibar lay within Britain s sphere of influence and would not intervene 65 The US did however urge that Britain cooperate with other Southeast African countries to restore order 65 The first British military vessel on the scene was the survey ship HMS Owen which was diverted from the Kenyan coast and arrived on the evening of 12 January 55 Owen was joined on 15 January by the frigate Rhyl and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship Hebe While the lightly armed Owen had been able to provide the revolutionaries with an unobtrusive reminder of Britain s military power the Hebe and Rhyl were different matters 55 Due to inaccurate reports that the situation in Zanzibar was deteriorating the Rhyl was carrying a company of troops of the first battalion of the Staffordshire Regiment from Kenya the embarkation of which was widely reported in the Kenyan media and would hinder British negotiations with Zanzibar 55 The Hebe had just finished removing stores from the naval depot at Mombasa and was loaded with weapons and explosives Although the Revolutionary Council was unaware of the nature of Hebe s cargo the Royal Navy s refusal to allow a search of the ship created suspicion ashore and rumours circulated that she was an amphibious assault ship 55 HMS Centaur A partial evacuation of British citizens was completed by 17 January 66 when the army riots in Southeast Africa prompted Rhyl s diversion to Tanganyika so that the troops she was carrying could assist in quelling the mutiny In replacement a company of the Gordon Highlanders was loaded aboard Owen so an intervention could still be made if necessary 67 The aircraft carriers Centaur and Victorious were also transferred to the region as part of Operation Parthenon 64 Although never enacted Parthenon was intended as a precaution should Okello or the Umma party radicals attempt to seize power from the more moderate ASP 48 In addition to the two carriers the plan involved three destroyers Owen 13 helicopters 21 transport and reconnaissance aircraft the second battalion of the Scots Guards 45 Commando of the Royal Marines and one company of the second battalion of the Parachute Regiment The island of Unguja and its airport were to be seized by parachute and helicopter assault followed up by the occupation of Pemba Parthenon would have been the largest British airborne and amphibious operation since the Suez Crisis 48 Following the revelation that the revolutionaries may have received communist bloc training Operation Parthenon was replaced by Operation Boris This called for a parachute assault on Unguja from Kenya but was later abandoned due to poor security in Kenya and the Kenyan government s opposition to the use of its airfields 68 Instead Operation Finery was drawn up which would involve a helicopter assault by Royal Marines from HMS Bulwark a commando carrier then stationed in the Middle East 51 As Bulwark was outside the region Finery s launch would require 14 days notice so in the event that a more immediate response was necessary suitable forces were placed on 24 hours notice to launch a smaller scale operation to protect British citizens 51 With the merger of Tanganyika and Zanzibar on 23 April there were concerns that the Umma Party would stage a coup Operation Shed was designed to provide for intervention should this happen 51 Shed would have required a battalion of troops with scout cars to be airlifted to the island to seize the airfield and protect Karume s government 69 However the danger of a revolt over unification soon passed and on 29 April the troops earmarked for Shed were reduced to 24 hours notice Operation Finery was cancelled the same day 69 Concern over a possible coup remained though and around 23 September Shed was replaced with Plan Giralda involving the use of British troops from Aden and the Far East to be enacted if the Umma Party attempted to overthrow President Julius Nyerere of Tanzania 70 An infantry battalion tactical headquarters unit and elements of the Royal Marines would have been shipped to Zanzibar to launch an amphibious assault supported by follow on troops from British bases in Kenya or Aden to maintain law and order 71 Giralda was scrapped in December ending British plans for military intervention in the country 72 Legacy Edit President Amani Abeid Karume participating in a military parade to mark the 40th anniversary of the revolution A kanga celebrating ten years since the revolution mapinduzi with references to the ASP and TANU museum of the House of Wonders Stone Town One of the main results of the revolution in Zanzibar was to break the power of the Arab Asian ruling class who had held it for around 200 years 73 74 Despite the merger with Tanganyika Zanzibar retained a Revolutionary Council and House of Representatives which was until 1992 run on a one party system and has power over domestic matters 75 The domestic government is led by the President of Zanzibar Karume being the first holder of this office This government used the success of the revolution to implement reforms across the island Many of these involved the removal of power from Arabs The Zanzibar civil service for example became an almost entirely African organisation and land was redistributed from Arabs to Africans 73 The revolutionary government also instituted social reforms such as free healthcare and opening up the education system to African students who had occupied only 12 per cent of secondary school places before the revolution 73 The government sought help from the Soviet Union the German Democratic Republic GDR and People s Republic of China for funding for several projects and military advice 73 The failure of several GDR led projects including the New Zanzibar Project a 1968 urban redevelopment scheme to provide new apartments for all Zanzibaris led to Zanzibar focusing on Chinese aid 76 77 The post revolution Zanzibar government was accused of draconian controls on personal freedoms and travel and exercised nepotism in appointments to political and industrial offices the new Tanzanian government being powerless to intervene 78 79 Dissatisfaction with the government came to a head with the assassination of Karume on 7 April 1972 which was followed by weeks of fighting between pro and anti government forces 80 A multi party system was eventually established in 1992 but Zanzibar remains dogged by allegations of corruption and vote rigging though the 2010 general election was seen to be a considerable improvement 75 81 82 The revolution itself remains an event of interest for Zanzibaris and academics Historians have analysed the revolution as having a racial and a social basis with some stating that the African revolutionaries represent the proletariat rebelling against the ruling and trading classes represented by the Arabs and South Asians 83 Others discount this theory and present it as a racial revolution that was exacerbated by economic disparity between races 84 Within Zanzibar the revolution is a key cultural event marked by the release of 545 prisoners on its tenth anniversary and by a military parade on its 40th 85 Zanzibar Revolution Day has been designated as a public holiday by the government of Tanzania it is celebrated on 12 January each year 86 The Mapinduzi Cup Revolution Cup an association football knockout competition is organized by the Zanzibar Football Association in early January between 6 13 January to mark the revolution day 12 January 87 References EditCitations Edit a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Parsons 2003 p 107 a b c d e f g h Speller 2007 p 6 a b c d Conley Robert 14 January 1964 Regime Banishes Sultan The New York Times p 4 Retrieved 16 November 2008 a b c d Conley Robert 19 January 1964 Nationalism Is Viewed as Camouflage for Reds The New York Times p 1 Retrieved 16 November 2008 a b Los Angeles Times 20 January 1964 Slaughter in Zanzibar of Asians Arabs Told Los Angeles Times p 4 Retrieved 16 April 2009 Hernon 2003 p 397 Ingrams 1967 pp 172 173 Shillington 2005 p 1710 a b c d e f g h i Shillington 2005 p 1716 a b Speller 2007 p 4 a b c d Parsons 2003 p 106 Mapuri Omar 1996 Zanzibar the 1964 Revolution Achievements and Prospects Revised ed Dar es Salaam TEMA Publishers Company Ltd p 8 ISBN 9987250114 Petterson 2004 p 11 a b Speller 2007 p 5 Bakari 2001 p 204 a b Sheriff amp Ferguson 1991 p 239 Speller 2007 pp 5 6 a b c Petterson 2004 p 12 a b Petterson 2004 p 41 a b c Petterson 2004 p 40 a b Speller 2007 pp 27 28 Petterson 2004 pp 25 26 Petterson 2004 pp 26 27 a b c Petterson 2004 p 49 Clayton 1999 p 109 a b Speller 2007 pp 6 7 a b c d Conley Robert 13 January 1964 African Revolt Overturns Arab Regime in Zanzibar The New York Times p 1 Retrieved 16 November 2008 a b Petterson 2004 p 52 a b c Petterson 2004 p 64 a b c Petterson 2004 p 65 a b c d e f g Speller 2007 p 7 Petterson 2004 pp 66 67 Petterson 2004 p 68 a b Petterson 2004 pp 3 4 Petterson 2004 p 76 a b c Lofchie 1967 p 37 Lofchie 1967 p 38 Petterson Don 2002 Revolution in Zanzibar An American s Cold War Tale New York Basic Books pp 74 75 Petterson 2004 p 75 a b Petterson 2004 p 94 a b Petterson 2004 pp 94 95 a b Plekhanov 2004 p 91 a b c Sheriff amp Ferguson 1991 p 241 Daly 2009 p 42 a b Dispatch of The Times London 4 February 1964 Zanzibar Quiet With New Regime Firmly Seated The New York Times p 9 Retrieved 16 November 2008 a b Speller 2007 p 15 a b c Sheriff amp Ferguson 1991 p 242 a b c d e f Speller 2007 p 17 Conley Robert 12 March 1964 Zanzibar Regime Expels Okello The New York Times p 11 Retrieved 16 November 2008 a b Conley Robert 27 April 1964 Tanganyika gets new rule today The New York Times p 11 Retrieved 16 November 2008 a b c d Speller 2007 p 19 a b Petterson 2004 p 207 a b c Speller 2007 p 8 a b Speller 2007 pp 8 9 a b c d e Speller 2007 p 9 Franck Thomas M 26 January 1964 Zanzibar Reassessed The New York Times pp E10 Retrieved 16 November 2008 Speller 2007 p 18 Guevara 1968 p 347 Israeli spymaster found himself embroiled in Iran Contra The Sydney Morning Herald 16 March 2010 Retrieved 17 March 2010 Pateman Roy Residual Uncertainty Trying to Avoid Intelligence and Policy Mistakes in the Modern World 2003 University Press of Kentucky p 161 Speller 2007 p 10 Parsons 2003 pp 109 110 a b Speller 2007 p 12 a b c Speller 2007 p 13 a b Speller 2007 pp 13 14 Speller 2007 pp 9 10 Speller 2007 p 11 Speller 2007 pp 18 19 a b Speller 2007 p 20 Speller 2007 p 24 Speller 2007 p 25 Speller 2007 p 26 a b c d Triplett 1971 p 612 Speller 2007 p 1 a b Sadallah Mwinyi 23 January 2006 Revert to single party system CUF Reps say The Guardian Archived from the original on 2 August 2007 Retrieved 14 April 2009 Myers 1994 p 453 Triplett 1971 p 613 Triplett 1971 p 614 Triplett 1971 p 616 Said Salma 8 April 2009 Thousand attend Karume memorial events in Zanzibar The Citizen Tanzania Retrieved 14 April 2009 permanent dead link Freedom House 2008 Freedom in the World Tanzania Retrieved 5 April 2012 Freedom House 2011 Freedom in the World Tanzania Retrieved 5 April 2012 Kuper 1971 pp 87 88 Kuper 1971 p 104 Kalley Schoeman amp Andor 1999 p 611 Commonwealth Secretariat 2005 Tanzania Archived from the original on 1 December 2008 Retrieved 10 February 2009 Simba face Tusker in Mapinduzi Cup supersport com Retrieved 16 August 2021 Sources Edit Bakari Mohammed Ali 2001 The Democratisation Process in Zanzibar GIGA Hamburg ISBN 978 3 928049 71 9 Clayton Anthony 1999 Frontiersmen Warfare in Africa Since 1950 Taylor amp Francis ISBN 978 1 85728 525 3 Daly Samuel Fury Childs 2009 Our Mother is Afro Shirazi Our Father Is the Revolution PDF New York Columbia University archived from the original PDF on 14 December 2011 Guevara Ernesto 1968 Venceremos The speeches and writings of Ernesto Che Guevara Macmillan ISBN 978 0 297 76438 0 Hernon Ian 2003 Britain s Forgotten Wars Colonial Campaigns of the 19th century Stroud Gloucestershire Sutton Publishing ISBN 978 0 7509 3162 5 Ingrams William H 1967 Zanzibar Its History and Its People Abingdon Routledge ISBN 978 0 7146 1102 0 OCLC 186237036 Kalley Jacqueline Audrey Schoeman Elna Andor Lydia Eve 1999 Southern African Political History Greenwood Publishing Group ISBN 978 0 313 30247 3 Kuper Leo 1971 Theories of Revolution and Race Relations Comparative Studies in Society and History 13 1 87 107 doi 10 1017 S0010417500006125 JSTOR 178199 S2CID 145769109 Lofchie Michael F October November 1967 Was Okello s Revolution a Conspiracy Transition 33 36 42 doi 10 2307 2934114 JSTOR 2934114 Myers Garth A 1994 Making the Socialist City of Zanzibar Geographical Review 84 4 451 464 doi 10 2307 215759 JSTOR 215759 Parsons Timothy 2003 The 1964 Army Mutinies and the Making of Modern East Africa Greenwood Publishing Group ISBN 978 0 325 07068 1 Petterson Don 22 September 2004 Revolution in Zanzibar An American s Cold War Tale New York Basic Books ISBN 9780813342689 Plekhanov Sergey 2004 A Reformer on the Throne Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Al Said Trident Press Ltd ISBN 978 1 900724 70 8 Sheriff Abdul Ferguson Ed 1991 Zanzibar Under Colonial Rule James Currey Publishers ISBN 978 0 85255 080 9 Shillington Kevin 2005 Encyclopedia of African History CRC Press ISBN 978 1 57958 245 6 Speller Ian 2007 An African Cuba Britain and the Zanzibar Revolution 1964 Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 35 2 1 35 doi 10 1080 03086530701337666 S2CID 159656717 Triplett George W 1971 Zanzibar The Politics of Revolutionary Inequality The Journal of Modern African Studies 9 4 612 617 doi 10 1017 S0022278X0005285X JSTOR 160218 S2CID 153484206 Further reading EditFouere Marie Aude and William C Bissell eds 2018 Social Memory Silenced Voices and Political Struggle Remembering the Revolution in Zanzibar Dar es Salaam Tanzania Mkuki na Nyota ISBN 978 9987 08 317 6 Glassman Jonathon 2011 War of Words War of Stones Racial Thought and Violence in Colonial Zanzibar Bloomington Ind Indiana University Press ISBN 978 0 253 22280 0 Mwakikagile Godfrey The Union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar Formation of Tanzania and Its Challenges ISBN 978 9987160464 Mwakikagile Godfrey Why Tanganyika united with Zanzibar to form Tanzania ISBN 978 9987 16 045 7 Mwakikagile Godfrey The Union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar Product of the Cold War ISBN 978 0981425856 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Zanzibar Revolution amp oldid 1131530306, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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