AP Photo XKP102
By ALEXANDRA ZAVIS
Associated Press Writer
ZANZIBAR, Tanzania (AP) - The winner of Zanzibar's disputed election appealed for peace Friday as the Indian Ocean archipelago celebrated the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan after days of political violence.
``The people of Zanzibar made their choice and God blessed their choice,'' President Amani Abeid Karume said in his first public address since being sworn in Wednesday for a second and final term. ``There is no good reason for people not to respect the law.''
Karume's main rival, Seif Shariff Hamad, says the Oct. 30 election was stolen. Hamad's supporters in the Civic United Front party fought running battles with police for four days before, during and after the poll in opposition strongholds in this semiautonomous part of Tanzania. At least two people were killed and scores were injured and arrested.
Opposition leaders - who say two previous elections were also tainted by violence, intimidation and fraud - have promised a civil disobedience campaign similar to one that toppled the government in Ukraine last year. They plan to meet in the commercial capital, Dar Es Salaam, on Saturday to finalize plans for mass peaceful demonstrations in Zanzibar and mainland Tanzania ahead of upcoming national elections.
Voting in national and regional elections on the mainland had also been scheduled for Sunday, but were postponed to Dec. 14 because of the death of a vice presidential candidate.
In a speech to government and religious officials gathered at a former palace in Zanzibar's fabled Stone Town, Karume urged political leaders to ``control their followers' emotions and preach peace to them.''
A 21-gun salute ushered in the end of Ramadan on Friday. Residents of the largely Muslim islands wore their finest, but many opted to forgo the usual outdoor celebrations and mark the day quietly at home for fear of more violence.
A few camera-toting tourists wandered through Stone Town's narrow alleys as anti-riot police cruised by in trucks, some armed with tear gas and gas masks.
``Today is mostly normal but you can never know,'' said Nourjehan Ibrahim, a 45-year-old secretary, who planned to spend the day with friends. ``Where I live, there was too much wildness.''
Clashes on the second island of Pemba killed up to nine people on both sides earlier this week, Hamad and a member of a regional security force said, though police only confirmed two deaths - a security force member and a civilian teenager.
Security force members armed with machetes and rifles raided homes, breaking down doors, looting valuables and roughing up suspected opposition supporters, according to witnesses reached by phone.
The residents, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, said hundreds of civilians were living rough in the bush to escape the security forces. But police said the villagers fled their homes after chasing a security force member who is now missing.
Calm returned to the island Friday as security forces withdrew, residents said.
The United States deplored the violence Thursday and urged all parties to show restraint. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack urged the Tanzanian government to release the many opposition supporters arrested in recent days.
The United States also backed opposition calls for an investigation into alleged electoral flaws, including multiple voting, saying it reserved judgment on the outcome.
Ally Mwinyikai, director of the state Information Services, denounced the U.S. position.
``This is a clear indication that its opinion were predetermined by personal feelings and stories of the leaders of the opposition,'' Mwinyikai said in a statement published in the state-run Daily News. ``It is dangerous for a big country such as the U.S. to accept to be used as a mouthpiece of other people and act without making proper verification.''
Observers from African organizations and the Commonwealth of former British colonies said in initial assessments that the vote was generally free and fair.
Karume, whose socialist Chama Cha Mapinduzi, or Revolutionary Party, has ruled Zanzibar for more than 30 years, narrowly won re-election with 53 percent of the vote, according to official results. Hamad, whose Civic United Front promises wholesale economic reforms, won 46 percent.