The government of Tanzania has uncovered a plot to disrupt the three-day official visit by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to the country.
Local English broadsheet Daily News on Wednesday quoted Tanzanian Foreign Minister Bernard Membe as saying that measures were being taken to ensure that the UN chief's scheduled visit would be a success. The visit starts on Thursday.
The foreign minister also said that a group of people who call themselves "Pemba elders" had planned to block the way to be used by the UN chief's entourage.
Foreign Minister Membe called on the Pemba elders to present their case to the United Nations Human Rights Commission if they have grievances they think that need redress.
The Pemba elders claim that their rights have been trampled down and demand cessation of the Pemba island from the Union, known as the United Republic of Tanzania.
Pemba is one of the two major islands of the Indian Ocean archipelago of Zanzibar which joined the then Tanganyika in 1964 to form the united republic.
Some Pemba elders presented a petition last year to the United Nations office in Dar es Salaam seeking support in their bid to obtain Pemba's sovereignty.
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