CUF holds crucial meeting in Z’bar

Zanzibar/Dar. The Civic United Front (CUF) held a meeting on Sunday at the party’s headquarters to chart the way forward after the party’s National Congress ended in chaos the previous weekend in Dar es Salaam.

The National Congress, ended prematurely after delegates hurled furniture at each other.

The crucial meeting took place at the party’s headquarters in Vuga in Zanzibar instead of Mazsons Hotel as earlier announced, due to what CUF leaders claimed they were banned by police.

Delegates were tight lipped over what had transpired during the meeting.

CUF deputy Secretary General Nassor Ahmed Mazrui said the party will hold a press conference on Monday to reveal the resolutions made during the meeting.

On Sunday morning, The Citizen witnessed a number of police officers at Mazsons Hotel, where the meeting was originally scheduled to take place.

The law-enforcers, in two vehicles, were seen patrolling the entrance to the hotel as early as 8am at the time the meeting was to start.

Reporters as well as camera men who had gathered at the hotel to cover the meeting, were ordered to disperse by the police. One of the hotel attendants, who didn’t want to be named, told reporters that police arrived at the hotel early in the morning and ordered them not to host the meeting.

There was another batch of police officers at the party’s headquarters.

CUF leaders, led by the party’s General Secretary Mr Seif Sharif Hamad, arrived at the party headquarters at around 1pm where they held a closed-door meeting.