Commonwealth mediation offer for Zanzibar

The Commonwealth secretary-general, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, has warned that the political tension in Zanzibar could plunge the island into civil conflict.

In a statement issued after a visit to Zanzibar, Chief Anyaoku said he had put proposals to both the authorities and the opposition Civic United Front to help them break the political deadlock.

The opposition disputes the results of the 1995 elections in which it campaigned for greater autonomy for Zanzibar, a semi-autonomous region of Tanzania.

Sixteen of its officials have been arrested in the past two months and charged with treason.

Meanwhile, at a ceremony marking the thirty-fourth anniversary of the island's revolution against Arab rule, President Salmin Amour blamed unnamed foreigners for Zanzibar's current political problems.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service