Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, in Zanzibar to mark the semi-autonomous Tanzanian island's 1964 revolution, vowed Wednesday to press ahead with controversial land reform policies in his country. The visiting Mugabe, the sole foreign leader to attend the celebration, said he was unfazed by international opposition to his scheme and urged other African nations not to relent in efforts to redress colonial-era inequities.
"It is a great honour to be with Zanzibaris as you celebrate the 41st anniversary of the revolution," Mugabe said. "Zimbabwe and Zanzibar have the same historical backgrounds in political changes in Africa."
"In 1964, Zanzibar brought changes to its people by refusing to be under colonists, the same with Zimbabwe later," said Mugabe, whose impoverished southern Africa nation won majority black rule in 1980. "You provided your land to the majority people, as we did the same to our people, we must not reverse back," he told a cheering crowd of thousands at the Zanzibar's Amani Stadium.
Mugabe added that he was not bothered by pressure from the West, notably Britain and United States, to reverse his policy of forcibly taking vast swathes of land from white farmers and redistributing it to black Africans.
He said he would "not kneel to any pressure to reverse the land reform program."
Wednesday's celebration, led by Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa and his Zanzibari counterpart Amani Abeid Karume and attended by members of the diplomatic corps, was the climax of a week of festivities that has included the inauguration of development projects and Zanzibar's new flag.
The ceremonies mark the bloody ouster of the island's Arab oligarchy on January 12, 1964, shortly before Zanzibar joined what was then known as Tanganyika on April 26, 1964, to form the United Republic of Tanzania.