Abdulrahman Mohamed Babu

Abdulrahman Mohamed Babu (1924 - 1996) was a Zanzibari revolutionary nationalist.

Biography

Abdulrahman Mohamed Babu was born in 1924 in Zanzibar in East Africa, then a British protectorate. He described the place and period in which he grew up in a brief autobiographical sketch which was intended to form the basis of the memoirs which he had been commissioned to write (African Socialism or Socialist Africa?), but which were always postponed by more immediate work relating to contemporary struggles. The veteran politician, Abdulrahman Mohamed Babu,72, died on August 5, 1996 at the London Chest Hospital after a short illness. Babu, who had been staying in London for years as a scholar, served as a cabinet minister in various Tanzanian ministries. He returned to Tanzania one year before his death from exile in London since 1978 when he was freed in an amnesty after being sentenced to death in 1973 for Treason.

The late Prof had been sentenced to death along with 34 other people, 23 others were acquitted for their alleged role in the 1972 assassination of the then Zanzibar President, Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume. Babu and 12 other prisoners who were held on the Mainland were freed by the then President Julius Nyerere in an amnesty to mark the 14th anniversary of the Union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar in April 1978.

Positions Held

Chair - Africa Centre (London) (1985 - 1989)

Foreign Minister (Jan 1964 - Apr 1964)

Founder - Umma Party (Zanzibar) (1963)

Secretary General - Zanzibar Nationalist Party (1957 - 1963)

Minister of Planning

He was picked NCCR-Mageuzi presidential running-mate. However, the charges against and consequent conviction of the late Prof Babu led to the Electoral Commission to reject his bid to run for the Vice-Presidency.

Publications

African Socialism or Socialist Africa?

Citation

* http://www.kabinet.or.jp/kabinet/users/arai/babu3.html
* http://ambabu.gn.apc.org/bioghpy.htm