Tanzania: Support for Professor Abdul Sherriff

Dear Colleagues,

You may have heard that our colleague, Abdul Sheriff, former Professor at Dar Es Salaam and more recently a highly successful Director of the Zanzibar Museum and Archives has been summarily, and without explanation, dismissed from his post by the Tanzanian Ministry of Education. This is despite the fact that Abdul has an exemplary record as a creative director of the Museum and Archives and enjoys an international reputation as a historian of Zanzibar, East Africa and the dhow culture. Since he became Director of the Zanzibar Museum and Archives in 1992, he has established the Palace Museum, four major permanent exhibitions in the House of Wonders (since 2001), the Museum Library, and the Museum Education Programme, as well as trained a large number of staff. A few months ago he was appointed by the Tanzanian Minister of Science, Technology & Higher Education to be a delegate to UNESCO's World Heritage Committee in recognition of his work on the history of Zanzibar and the Zanzibar Stone Town which is a World Heritage Site. Abdul attended the meeting of the Committee in Durban in July and was due to attend the UNESCO General Assembly in Paris in October until barred by the Zanzibar Ministry of Education. In recognition of his exceptional achievements in the field of culture and development, and for intellectual leadership and achievements in ensuring the survival and appreciation of global cultural heritage Abdul will also receive this December a Prince Claus (the Netherlands) award. In honouring Abdul, the Prince Claus committee point to his use of sustainable low cost and low technology, and local technicians and skills, in setting up the House of Wonders museum. They also noted the training of local staff, creating a professional team of skilled and committed personnel and sustainable management. Abdul is a man of enormous integrity and one of the most internationally respected historians of East Africa. He will very shortly be without a position and income clearly as a result of political persecution.

Jan-Georg Deutsch has kindly supplied the following addresses:

Hon.Haroun Ali Suleiman Ministry of Education, Culture & Sports Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar P.O. Box 394 ZANZIBAR
Email: [email protected]

Hon Mohammed Aboud Mohammed, Minister, Ministry of Trade Industry Marketing & Tourism P.O.Box 601 Zanzibar Fax No 255-24-2231517 E-mail: [email protected]

I would urge those of you who can do so to write and it is, I think, the least gesture we can make to write in protest to both addresses.