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Tanzanian president warns detractors of breaking union between Zanzibar, Tanganyika

Xinhua, April 26, 2017 Adjust font size:

Tanzanian President John Magufuli warned on Wednesday that he will not tolerate people with ambitions to break the Union between Zanzibar and Tanganyika that gave birth to Tanzania 53 years ago.

Addressing the nation during the 53rd anniversary of the Union in the east African nation's political capital Dodoma, President Magufuli said people bent on breaking the union will be dealt with accordingly.

"The Union has passed through a number of trials in the five decades of its existence but the governments of Tanzania and Zanzibar will do all they could to make it much stronger," Magufuli told the nation in his televised speech.

He said any contentious issues facing the Union were being addressed by a Joint Union Commission led by Vice-President Samia Hassan Suluhu.

"Our predecessors have done a tremendous job in protecting our Union. We will continue following in the same footsteps," said Magufuli in reference to the founding fathers of the Union, Presidents Abeid Amani Karume and Julius Nyerere, and their successors.

"If there is anyone out there thinking or trying to break the Union, he will not succeed, and instead he will be the one to be broken," the president added.

The celebrations were marked under the slogan -- 53 years of the Union; let us protect and strengthen it, let us fight narcotics and uphold hard work.

The celebrations were marked by a display of military prowess mounted by commandos of the Tanzania People's Defence Forces, and watched on live television broadcasts by Tanzanians across the country. Endit