The Management of Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF) has asked the two big communities of Christian and Muslims living in the Island to live in unity and solidarity for the development of the nation.
According to Prof. Martin Muhando, the CEO of ZIFF, they made it a requirement for those who attended the opening ceremony of ZIFF on 18th July 2015 to dress in white to symbolize unity among Christian and Muslim Communities and to demonstrate that there is peaceful coexistence between members of Muslim and Christian Communities living together in Zanzibar Island.
“You will notice that we are all dressed in white; this is a symbol of what we want our country to be; to always remain the most peaceful country in the continent and in the whole world,” he said.
Speaking to AMECEA Online News in Zanzibar the Parish Priest of St. Joseph Cathedral Parish, Rev. Fr. Cosmas Shayo said “unlike the last couple of years when the island experienced violence which were alleged to have been caused by religious intolerance; no such incidences have been witnessed in the recent past.”
A Catholic priest Fr Anselmo Mwangamba was doused with acid in Zanzibar, in September 2013 in a wave of series of attack which seemed to be targeting Catholic Priests in the Archipelago.
The first attack was on Christmas day of 2012, when Fr Ambrose Mkenda was seriously wounded in an armed attack; While in February 2013, Fr Evarist Mushi, the Parish Priest of St. Joseph Cathedral was shot dead in Zanzibar City while heading for Sunday Eucharistic celebration.
On 27 May 2003, hundreds of members of the separatist Islamist group Uamsho (Awakening) clashed with police and burned at least two churches during the confrontation in Stone Town, capital of the semi-autonomous Tanzanian archipelago and a UNESCO world heritage site.
In August 2013, two young British women were injured in an acid attack carried out by two men on a motorcycle in Stone Town.
However, the year 2015 has been without any incidences and the tension that previously existed has since defused.
Source: Pamela Adinda, AMECEA Online News