Pemba, Tanzania - Tanzanian security forces regained control of the "spice islands" of Zanzibar yesterday after three days of street battles with opposition protesters that left at least 40 people dead. As international condemnation of the authorities mounted, some diplomats said Western aid to Tanzania could be affected.
The fighting began after the opposition Civic United Front (CUF) called demonstrations to demand a rerun of widely discredited elections on Zanzibar last October. Witnesses accused the police of firing on the demonstrators on Saturday. CUF youths retaliated by attacking policemen and launching an assault on at least one police station.