The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
Suleiman Jongo
14 April 2008
Olympic Torch winds up Dar tour without a hitch
Contrasted to the rest of the World where the Olympic Torch has been subjected to mass protests by pro-Tibet groups, Dar es Salaam yesterday marked the most peaceful relay of the torch that arrived in the city late Saturday.
As a precautionary measure, the organisers had deployed tight security to guard against any sign of protest throughout the five-kilometre race.
Instead, the torch attracted thousands of people who had turned up at Tazara railway station at the junction of Mandela and Nyerere roads in Dar es Salaam escorted the torch all the way to the newly built National Stadium singing and dancing. People chanted "Tanzania is a peaceful country, Tanzania is a peaceful country, Tanzania is a peaceful country," all the way to the stadium.
Regardless of race, the relay was one of typical cosmopolitan event as locals mixed with the visitors while flapping mini flags of Tanzania and China. Police officials took no chances as the torch was relayed by selected leaders, officials and celebrities while a police helicopter hovered in the air until the end of the race.
"We feel very much honoured to have welcomed the torch peacefully. Tanzania has the brand of peace second to none worldwide which is one of the reasons for hosting the torch," said Adam Kimbisa, the Dar es Salaam city mayor.
The torch arrived in Dar es Salaam on Saturday night by a special flight from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Initially, the relay was planned to cover 25 kilometres but the threat of protests forced the organisers to cut the distance to five.
United Nations' Habitat Director Anna Tibaijuka was the last person to hold the torch on it's arrival at the National Stadium.
"My fellow Tanzanians, this is a great moment to us as we represent the whole Africa," said Tibaijuka. She said Tanzania is proud of it's long prevailing peace and the torch's presence marked a new milestone to strengthen the existing unity between people of different religions, ethnic origins, political affiliations, dialects and cultures.
The torch, which was lit in Olympia, Greece, on March 25 for it's long journey to 22 cities in the five continents, was disrupted by heavy protests in Paris, London and San Francisco.
The torch is expected in Muscat today on its way to Pakistan, India, far East onwards to Australiasia. This is the first time Tanzania hosted the Olympic Torch.
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Walter, are the protests due to the Westerners' genuine hate of China (or non-whites) or their genuine care of Tibet? I imagine it is more of the former. I also wonder how much the Central Intelligence Agencies was involved, after all, it has been involved in military training of Tibetans in the past, and it has been doing that all over the world ever since (yeah, "human" rights!). After all, where did the Tibetan protesters get their Tibet flag bandana and large flags to wave? and the income to support their daily protest and plane flights?
This article is factually very inacurrate. From being in Dar at the time of the torch I can tell you the whole thing was total chaos, maybe not a protest but not at all much better. There were soldiers everywhere just shoving onlookers out of the way, and people getting practically overrun by cars. Many people were robbed by pickpockets, and cameras galore were lost. Then they had the torch in the stadium and you had to have a "ticket" to enter. These "tickets" weren't available to buy or get anywhere, even people on U.S. embassy email list had no idea such a thing were necessary. Anyone without a ticket couldn't enter, which meant everyone but some preselected few--coincidentally many of whom were chinese. All in all, lack of protest means nothing in this case, as almost every random citizen who went was either manhandled by soldiers, or almost hit by cars coming through, or pickpocketed in the shoving chaos. A calm protest would have been a welcome change in my book.
Is the lack of protest due to the Tanzanian government restrictions, or because Tanzanians like China? I imagine it is more of the former. I also wonder how much the Chinese government was involved. After all, where did the supporters get their 'mini Chinese flags' to wave?