Crackdowns and Coincidences - Tension High As East Africa Confronts Muslim Groups

A spiritual leader disappears in Zanzibar. Riots shut down central Dar es Salaam. In Mombasa, a would-be rebel is badly beaten by police. All over East Africa, tensions between governments and a number of Muslim groups are running at an all-time high, and no one is in the mood for compromise. SIMON ALLISON wonders if the latest crackdowns will have the opposite of the intended effect.

As each day passes, the mystery around the disappearance of Sheikh Farid Hadi grows deeper. The Zanzibari cleric went missing on Tuesday last week, and even though he reappeared on Friday, no one?s quite sure where he was or what happened to him in the intervening four days.

His supporters have one story. They claim that the cleric, the spiritual leader of Zanzibar?s Uamsho (?awakening?) movement was kidnapped by police in apparent retaliation for Uamsho?s demand that Zanzibar be given full autonomy from mainland Tanzania. Venting their frustration with this perceived persecution, the cleric?s supporters caused havoc on the island last week: blocking roads with chopped-down trees, burning tyres, throwing stones at police. Police responded in kind, with batons and tear gas. The unrest forced shops in Zanzibar?s capital Stone Town to close, and one policeman was killed ? stabbed multiple times and left to die in a drainage ditch.

When he emerged on Friday, Sheikh Farid supported this version of events. ?Four men who had their faces covered seized me on Tuesday. They were interested in getting information on our activities, my trips to Oman and Saudi Arabia.? They inquired about messages I received in my mobile phone and as we speak they have not returned my handsets,? Sheikh Farid told reporters, adding that the men had introduced themselves as security officers. ?At one time they shot on the floor to scare me into telling them what they wanted to hear.?

Tanzania?s security services vehemently deny this, saying they had absolutely no idea where Sheikh Farid spent those four days ? they couldn?t find him either, apparently, although not everyone bought this denial. ?Zanzibar is literally a village where everybody knows everyone else; it beats the wits out of everyone that one Sheikh Farid Hadi Ahmed? could disappear into oblivion just like that. The Zanzibar police owe the public some explaining,? wrote the Tanzanian Guardian.

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Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201210231051.html

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