STATELESSNESS AND CITIZENSHIP IN THE EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY The government of Zanzibar continued to hold devolved power in the islands in the semi-federal system agreed on the creation of the United Republic. In 1968, against the background of a generalised targeting of “Arabs” and other privileged “foreigners” since 1964 by the revolutionary government of Zanzibar, in which some 7,000 people of Arab or Asian descent had been expelled and others killed, there was a crackdown on the rights of Zanzibaris of Comorian origin, including closure of Comorian schools and other ethnically based institutions. Sheikh Abeid Karume, leader of the revolutionary council and rival of Abdulrahman Mohammed Babu, of Comorian and Yemeni descent, announced that Comorians would be deprived of citizenship and expelled from Zanzibar unless they renounced their status as French subjects and naturalised as Tanzanian: the rationale for this requirement being that because they were French nationals they had not been subjects of the Sultan before the revolution. The provisions of the 1963 Constitution of Zanzibar and the Tanganyikan Citizenship Act as extended to Zanzibar, which had not required renunciation of citizenship for these individuals, were discounted. In 1970, the remaining Comorian civil servants were dismissed and citizenship again revoked from many.263 The French government also denied, with few exceptions, that members of this community were French nationals (Comoros only obtained independence from France in 1975). In 2009, the Immigration Department revived the 1968 announcement, and announced that Zanzibaris of Comorian origin would not be entitled to passports unless they had naturalised as Tanzanian citizens and renounced any other nationality. Where people have held passports in the past, they have been refused renewal, on the grounds that they were issued in error. It seems that at least one hundred people have been affected by this decision; many more may potentially be affected, but because few people require an international passport, they are not aware of the issue. Paradoxically, many of those denied Tanzanian passports hold ZanIDs, for which Tanzanian citizenship is supposed to be a pre-condition.264 Although many people of Omani descent repatriated to Oman during the 1970s (they were not allowed entry during the immediate revolutionary period), those who remained in Zanzibar do not face the same difficulties.265 There are several thousand people of Comorian descent living in the two islands of Zanzibar. If not recognised as Tanzanian, this community would be stateless (the offer of naturalisation would not change that, since naturalisation is a discretionary and expensive process and not guaranteed success). Although connections with Comoros have been retained by some, most have no family links or documented connection enabling them to obtain recognition of Comorian citizenship. Makonde in Zanzibar There is a group of a few thousand people of Mozambican descent living in Zanzibar, the majority from the Makonde ethnic group, descendants of people who came to Zanzibar in the 1950s and 60s when the Mozambican liberation movement FRELIMO had a presence on the island. Like the Comorians, their status in Zanzibar is complicated because of their origin from a non-British territory; Portugal, the colonial power in Mozambique, was one of the countries whose nationals were excluded under the 1952 Nationality Decree from obtaining Zanzibari nationality based on birth in Zanzibar, and thus it is asserted that they need to naturalise to obtain Tanzanian citizenship. However, like the Comorians, in principle they should have been retroactively attributed Tanzanian citizenship by the independence constitution of Zanzibar and by the extension of the Tanganyika Citizenship Act to Zanzibar in 1964. Following the revolution in Zanzibar, the Makonde were allocated land by the Zanzibari government as part of the redistribution of the large spice estates. As a result of their presence, Mozambique has a consulate in Zanzibar, and recognises these people as its nationals; those who wish to can register to vote in Mozambican elections. However, the community is integrated into Zanzibari society, while retaining some cultural traditions, and its members have little if any contact with Mozambique. Very few of those who came from 263 Citizenship laws have been manipulated in other cases also. Ali Mohammed Nabwa, a Zanzibari journalist of Comorian origin and editor of the independent newspaper Dira, faced a long battle over his citizenship. “Veteran editor stripped of citizenship”, The Guardian, Dar es Salaam, 8 August 2006. See also US Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, entries on Tanzania for the years 2003 to 2006. 64 264 Interviews, representatives of Comorian community, Zanzibar, 18 July 2016. 265 Interview, Omani consulate, Zanzibar, 19 July 2016. UNHCR / September 2018