Zanzibar - Krise und (k)ein Ende. Kann ein Abkommen mit der Opposition den politischen Stillstand beenden?

On October 10th, 2001 Zanzibar's main opposition party CUF and the ruling CCM signed a peace accord to overcome the political impasse on the islands. A similar accord, brokered by the Commonwealth secretariat, had been signed three years before. But the agreement of 1999 was never put into practice, because the ruling party lacked the political will to do so. This article argues that the implementation of the 2001 agreement is more likely than that of it's predecessor. The escalation of violence on Pemba Island in January 2001, which followed the heavily disputed elections of October 2000, had completely changed the situation. There is serious internal and external pressure to introduce political reforms and even to share power in Zanzibar. If fully accomplished, the agreement will not only provide the framework and the instruments for democratic reforms in Zanzibar, but will possibly enhance democracy on the mainland. But the first steps of implementation of the new agreement have already indicated some of the major problems of the political systems of Zanzibar and Tanzania: The weakness of the legal institutions and the dependence of political reform on the former state party's resolve to make them a success.