President Nyerere with President Nasser of Egypt (above left) and conferring a honorary degree on Kenya’s first president Jomo Kenyatta in 1965. Mwalimu Nyerere’s commitment to African Unity was such that he had proposed to delay his country’s independence to coincide with that of neighbouring Kenya if that would facilitate a union between the two countries. In the North, President Nasser was on a similar quest and was the architect of the short-lived United Arab republic which united Egypt and Syria. This was supposed to be the nucleus of a bigger union in that part of the world.
When Zanzibar became independent with Shamte installed as the new monarch by the departing British, it appeared to be a major setback. However, the puppet government was thrown in the January 12 revolution and Sheikh Abedi Karume became the new leader. Karume and Nyerere moved fast to enact a union between their two countries and this was unveiled three months after the revolution on 26 April 1964. This was the birth of the modern day United Republic of Tanzania. Almost half a century later, the union despite its troubles, endures. It is the only African Union to do so.
Mwalimu Nyerere doing a symbolic mixing of sand from Tanganyika and Zanzibar to inaugurate the union in 1964 (above).The Union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar to form the modern day Tanzania is one of the enduring achievements of Mwalimu’s presidency. It is difficult to know how a Zanzibar without the revolution and subsequent Union would have evolved. Many modern day historians take the view that there was a great risk of this small nation becoming unstable and there is a possibility that, with its historical and religious connection to the Middle East, those who, in recent years have fomented acts of international terror might have been tempted to exploit this. This is, of course, merely a hypothesis and impossible to prove one way or another. However, the fact that Tanzania is the most stable country in this region of the world full of tumult would tend to suggest that Mwalimu laid a very firm foundation for peace and stability and three presidents after his own rule ended, it remains a beacon of peace.
Much of Mwalimu’s energy on the international stage was directed towards the liberation of countries still under colonial rule. Below, he is seen meeting Mozambique’s liberation movement FRELIMO’s leader Samora Machel (left) and Angola’s MPLA’s Agostinho Neto during the years of their countries fight for liberation from Portuguese colonial rule. Both countries gained independence in 1974 and the two became their respective countries’ leaders. President Neto died in 1979 and President Samora Machel was killed in a plane crash in October 1986.
Nyerere as an advocate of African union and liberation supporter
Exchange of documents between presidents Nyerere and Karume makes the Union between Tanganyika and Zanzibar official on April 26, 1964. The United Republic of Tanzania is born.