Fanfare greets the Isles as Z’bar marks 55 years after revolution

What you need to know:

  • Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan and Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa have joined Zanzibaris and Tanzanians in general to celebrate the 55th Anniversary of the Zanzibar Revolution.
  • This is the second time that Zanzibar Revolution celebrations are taking place in Pemba. The last time such event was marked here, was in January 2010.

Dar es Salaam. There is fanfare and high government presence in the Zanzibar Archipelago as Tanzanians celebrate the 55th Anniversary of the Zanzibar Revolution.

This is the second time that Zanzibar Revolution celebrations are taking place in Pemba. The last time such event was marked here, was in January 2010.

Zanzibar President Ali Mohamed Shein arrived at Ngombani grounds in Pemba on the early morning of Saturday January 12 where he is expected to address the public at a colorful event that marks 55 years since the ouster of the Omani-Arab sultanate oligarchy on January 12, 1964.

Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan and Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa joined Zanzibaris and Tanzanians in general to celebrate the big day on the Isles.

It’s a historic day. Fifty five years ago when the overthrow of the Sultan of Zanzibar and his mainly Arab government by local African revolutionaries took place.

 Zanzibar was an ethnically diverse state consisting of a number of islands off the east coast of Tanganyika which had been granted independence by Britain in 1963, reports show.

 In a series of parliamentary elections preceding independence, the Arab minority succeeded in retaining the hold on power it had inherited from Zanzibar's former existence as an overseas territory of Oman, history shows.