Political tensions plague idyllic Zanzibar

Zanzibar's Stone Town is a labyrinth of winding cobbled streets lined with high-walled houses where voices chanting Quranic verses emanate from one home and women dye their skin with henna in the next.
Take away the sunburnt tourists and the hooting Vespa scooters, and the tranquil Indian Ocean islands of Zanzibar could have fallen from the pages of the Arabian Nights. But political analysts say tensions over claims of marginalisation and suppression of Zanzibaris by the government in mainland Tanzania, could threaten the serenity of the islands and their lifeline tourism industry ahead of elections next year.
"People are fed up with the government which won the previous elections through dubious means, and if they try and rig forthcoming elections, there could be some serious unrest," says Ahmed Rajab.
Historically, Zanzibar's twin islands of Pemba and Unguja traded gold, spices and slaves. These days they provide annual tourism revenues averaging $736 million, vital for Tanzania's economy.
Despite healthy tourism income, the former Omani colony, with a population of one million, remains a backward corner of Tanzania, prompting accusations of unequal distribution of resources between the mainland and the islands.
In 1964, Zanzibar's president Abeid Karume forged a union with Tanganyika's president Julius Nyerere to create Tanzania. Under the agreement, the islands of Zanzibar retained their own parliament and president.
But Tanzania's opposition Civic United Front (CUF), which has its powerbase in Zanzibar, says the islands have been marginalised and should have more economic and political power.
"The principal problem with the union is that they talk politics, but whenever there is economic interest, it is only the mainland that benefits," said Juma Duni, the CUF's deputy secretary-general.
Observers fear that if President Benjamin Mkapa's government does not address demands by Zanzibaris for more say over how the islands are governed, there could be a repeat of the civil unrest witnessed in elections in 2000.
Mkapa's ruling Party of the Revolution (CCM) was declared the winner in those elections, which provoked demonstrations by opposition supporters who cited voting irregularities. In the clashes 100 people died.
Against a backdrop of high unemployment, a lack of development and delayed salary payments to civil servants, temperatures are beginning to rise again - especially among the islands' disaffected youth. In March, the island was hit by a series of arson attacks and in one case, a hand grenade was thrown into a restaurant frequented by expatriates living on the island. Electricity transformers were torched and a police vehicle set on fire.
The police have arrested dozens of suspects, most of whom belong to the Society for Islamic Awareness (UAMSHO), which analysts say is not connected to international militants.
The predominantly Muslim islands have historic ties to the Gulf unlike mainland Tanzania where the majority of the 34 million population are Christian.
A UAMSHO cleric is expected to face sedition charges in June over the attacks, but both opposition and religious leaders say the government is to blame.