Abeid Karume
Encyclopedia
Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume (1905 – April 7, 1972), was the first President of Zanzibar
Zanzibar
Zanzibar ,Persian: زنگبار, from suffix bār: "coast" and Zangi: "bruin" ; is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, in East Africa. It comprises the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja , and Pemba...

. He obtained this title as a result of a popular revolution which lead to the deposing of the last Sultan in Zanzibar during . Three months later, the United Republic of Tanzania was founded as Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...

, prompting Karume to become the first Vice President of the United Republic
Vice President of Tanzania
Vice President of Tanzania is the second highest political position in Tanzania.History of the office holders follows...

 along with Julius Nyerere
Julius Nyerere
Julius Kambarage Nyerere was a Tanzanian politician who served as the first President of Tanzania and previously Tanganyika, from the country's founding in 1961 until his retirement in 1985....

 of Tanganyika
Tanganyika
Tanganyika , later formally the Republic of Tanganyika, was a sovereign state in East Africa from 1961 to 1964. It was situated between the Indian Ocean and the African Great Lakes of Lake Victoria, Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika...

 as president. He was the father of Zanzibar's former president – Amani Abeid Karume
Amani Abeid Karume
Amani Abeid Karume is a former president of Zanzibar. He held the office from 8 November 2000 to 3 November 2010. He is the son of Zanzibar's first president, Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume and a member of the Chama Cha Mapinduzi party....

.

Early career

Allegedly born at the village of Mwera
Mwera, Zanzibar
Mwera is a village in Zanzibar east of Zanzibar City on the road to the western coast of the island. This was the birthplace of Abeid Karume, the first President after the 1964 revolution....

 in 1905, Karume had little formal education and worked as a seaman before entering politics. He left Zanzibar in the early years of his life, traveling among other places to London, where he gained an understanding of geopolitics and international affairs through exposure to African thinkers such as Kamuzu Banda of Malawi
Malawi
The Republic of Malawi is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique on the east, south and west. The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by Lake Malawi. Its size...

. Karume developed an apparatus of control through the expansion of the Afro-Shirazi Party
Afro-Shirazi Party
The Afro-Shirazi Party was the union between the mostly Shiraz Party and the mostly African Afro Party in the island of Zanzibar. The formation of ASP led to the ouster of the Arabs from power with the Zanzibar Revolution in 1964. The party joined with the Tanganyika African National Union to...

 and its relations with Tanganyika's TANU
Tanu
Tanu may refer to:*Tanu, a Samoan prince who was allied with American and British forces during the Second Samoan Civil War*Tanu , an important historical village of the Haida people on the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia, Canada...

 party.

Revolution in Zanzibar

On December 10, 1963, the United Kingdom granted full independence to Zanzibar after the ZNP/ZPPP parties won the elections. The Sultan was a constitutional monarch. Initial elections gave government control to the Zanzibar National Party, despite Karume's Afro Shirazi Party having won a slight majority of the popular vote. Karume was willing to work within the electoral framework of the new government, and actually informed a British police officer of the revolutionary plot set to take place in January.

Karume was not in Zanzibar on January 12, 1964 – the night of the revolution – and was instead on the African mainland. The instigator of the rebellion was a previously unknown Ugandan, John Okello
John Okello
John Gideon Okello was an East African revolutionary and the leader of the Zanzibar Revolution in 1964. This revolution overthrew Sultan Jamshid bin Abdullah and led to the proclamation of Zanzibar as a republic.-Youth:...

. The revolution was violent, short, and the revolutionaries prevailed. Thousands of Zanzibaris, mostly Zanzibari Arabs, were killed, with relatively few casualties on the revolutionary side. The Zanzibar Revolution brought an end about 500 years of Arab domination on the island during which the Arab Slave Trade
Arab slave trade
The Arab slave trade was the practice of slavery in the Arab World, mainly Western Asia, North Africa, East Africa and certain parts of Europe during their period of domination by Arab leaders. The trade was focused on the slave markets of the Middle East and North Africa...

, most significantly, had resulted in a strong resentment among the majority African population.

Power struggle

Having taken control of the island, John Okello invited Abeid Karume back to the island to assume the title of President. Other Zanzibaris in foreign territory were also invited back, most notably the Marxist politician Abdulrahman Mohammad Babu, who was appointed to the Revolutionary Council. John Okello reserved for himself the title of "Field Marshal", a position with undefined power. What followed was a three month long internal struggle for power.

Karume used his political skills to align the leaders of neighboring African countries against Okello, and invited Tanganyikan police officers into Zanzibar to maintain order. As soon as Okello took a trip out of the country, Karume declared him an "enemy of the state" and did not allow him to return. Given the presence of Tanganyikan police and the absence of their leader, Okello's gangs of followers did not offer any resistance.

Karume's second important political move came when he agreed to form a union with Tanganyikan president Julius Nyerere
Julius Nyerere
Julius Kambarage Nyerere was a Tanzanian politician who served as the first President of Tanzania and previously Tanganyika, from the country's founding in 1961 until his retirement in 1985....

 in . The union ensured that the new country, to be called Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...

, would not align itself with the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 and communist bloc, as A.M. Babu had advocated. Given the new legitimacy of Karume's government (now solidly backed up by mainland Tanganyika), Karume marginalized Babu to the point of irrelevance. The Marxist leader was eventually forced to flee Tanzania after being charged with masterminding the assassination of Karume in 1972.

Assassination and legacy

Karume was assassinated in in Zanzibar Town. Four gunmen shot him dead as he played Bao at the headquarters of the Afro-Shirazi party. People celebrated his death, as different parts of the country did not like the self-proclaimed president who was never a person from Zanzibar by origin. It is believed he came from Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...

. Reprisals followed against people suspected to have been opposed to Karume's regime. Amani Abeid Karume
Amani Abeid Karume
Amani Abeid Karume is a former president of Zanzibar. He held the office from 8 November 2000 to 3 November 2010. He is the son of Zanzibar's first president, Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume and a member of the Chama Cha Mapinduzi party....

, Sheikh Abeid's son, was elected two times as the president of Zanzibar, in 2000 and 2005 by a popular majority and handed over power in late 2010 to his successor Ali Mohamed Shein
Ali Mohamed Shein
Dr.Ali Mohamed Shein Currently the 7th President of Zanzibar and the first President ever from Pemba Island . The former Vice President of Tanzania is originally from the island of Pemba. Dr.Shein is a member of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party...

.
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