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Commonwealth Secretariat press release

Commonwealth Secretary-General adjourns Zanzibar Talks

14 September 1998

Commonwealth has been facilitating since January 1998. Chief Anyaoku has called this adjournment to enable the ruling party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), to complete its deliberations on the package of proposals which he submitted to the Government of Zanzibar and the opposition Civic United Front (CUF) in March 1998.

In a statement issued today in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where the Commonwealth Games have just commenced, the Secretary-General said:

"At the beginning of August, I received a communication from the opposition party, the CUF, officially informing me that the CUF Central Committee and its special party congress, had unanimously accepted the proposals which I submitted to the parties in March 1998 in a bid to end the political impasse which has fuelled tension in Zanzibar since November 1995.

I have now been informed by the ruling CCM that it has appointed a special committee of seven members to consider the package of proposals and thereafter to make appropriate recommendations to the CCM's Central Committee not later than 10 October 1998. In view of the evident need to ensure that these proposals have the wholehearted support of the two parties, I am adjourning the talks to give CCM an opportunity to consider the package fully. Once the party has completed its deliberations I will consider - in consultation with all concerned - the next steps to be taken.

In the meantime, I have asked my special envoy, Dr Moses Anafu, to return to the Secretariat in London and I would like again to appeal to the parties to continue to exercise maximum restraint and to avoid all confrontational statements or acts which undermine progress towards reconciliation."

 

98/62 14 September, 1998

 

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