'In a span of two weeks we were plunged into turmoil'

Hassan Ali Reza's father remained a political prisoner until 1972 when Amnesty International intervened


When Hassan Ali Reza saw a group of visiting diplomats boarding a dhow on January 1, 1964, he believed his country had already crossed the brink of a new era.

Zanzibar had been independent for barely four weeks following the end of its status as a British protectorate.

With a history of tolerance, a burgeoning democracy and its unique cocktail of cultures, the island nation was destined to stand on its own. Many thought the islands, located 40 km off the east coast of Africa, had a bright future and could even act as a democratic beacon for Africa. Indeed, its representatives had just been feted at the UN headquarters in New York.

And here was a group of foreign dignitaries enjoying a boat trip around the island, keen to establish links and share in Zanzibar's success.

Ali Reza was a teenager at the time but it wasn't just his youth that made him optimistic about the sight, it was an outlook held by his compatriots, too. Exactly 40 years later, the memory of that day is eclipsed by the turmoil of the three weeks that followed.

Political forces

Opposition political forces, who favoured a union with mainland Tanganyika, suddenly turned to violent means and carried out a bloody revolution to topple the government in power.

More than 13,000 people were killed by mobs in the ensuing unrest - many of them while trying to stop armed gangs pillaging property. Hundreds of others, including the leaders of the ruling Zanzibar Nationalist Party, ZNP, were taken away from their homes and either killed or imprisoned.

It all happened in a span of two weeks – random slaughter of anyone from children to the elderly. This was followed by further destruction and vengeance, until former political leaders surrendered themselves in an effort to stop the killing. Less then four months later, Zanzibar had been subsumed into a union with Tanganyika and present-day Tanzania was formed.

It was only some years later that the mercenary leader of the revolutionaries, a Ugandan named "Field Marshall" John Okello, estimated that 13,000 people had died out of a population of 350,000. "It was more of an invasion that a revolution," Ali Reza said. "We went from being a land of plenty to a burnt out shell in a matter of weeks."

Thousands of people fled and hundreds of teenage girls were married off so that they could not be taken away by the revolutionary leaders – a fate that greeted a handful of young women. Ali Reza's father had escaped by throwing money on the ground while being chased by two gunmen. He later handed himself over to the revolutionary authorities as a close confidant of the Sultan of Zanzibar and was imprisoned.

Links with Oman, Persia, mainland Africa and India were followed by European trading nations over the years. But despite the rich influences from as far away as China, Zanzibar's leaders felt they had few friends when they were suddenly deposed in the revolution of 1964. The Gulf countries intervened where they could but there was no hope of a resurgence or a campaign to re-assert Zanzibari nationalist control.

Thousands of people left the islands and fled to the UK and the Gulf states, especially Oman and the UAE. More than 6,000 people sought refuge in a specially built town, financed by the late Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the former ruler of Dubai, along with backing from the UN High Commission for Refugees, UNHCR.

"We remain very grateful to the leadership of Dubai and the UAE for giving us homes and livelihoods. Many people lost relatives in the revolution, but those who lost all their property and livelihoods have at least been able to re-establish their lives here."

But was there any clue to the impending chaos once independence had been announced? "We knew we were living in dangerous times, but no one expected events to unfold as quickly as they did," he said.

The Zanzibar government had attempted to establish a mutual defence treaty with the withdrawing British to head off any unwelcome foreign attention, but it was rejected. In April 1964, Julius Nyerere was able to establish overlordship over Zanzibar as president of Tanzania.

Ali Reza's father remained in jail until 1972, when his release was assisted by Amnesty International. It was another 20 years after he assisted his father's release that Ali Reza returned to Zanzibar.

He has fond memories of the country he left behind. "It is still my home, but I have a different view of it. We used to call it the land of plenty, but visiting it in 1992 was a very different experience. It was like I was returning to a land that had been burnt out."

Stone Town is now a World Heritage Site for its ancient and beautiful buildings with their ornate doorways.

Today, the 40th anniversary of Zanzibar's revolution may evoke a rather muted response in the island itself and the thousands of exiled Zanzibaris around the world will think about the friends they lost.