Aftermath of the Zanzibar Revolution | "Field Marshal" John Okello | January 1964

Thursday, January 16th 1964. Footage of the aftermath of the Zanzibar Revolution, an uprising by Black African revolutionaries against the Arab rulers which led to the overthrow of the Sultan of Zanzibar and the end of 200 years of Arab domination of the island. Arabs and South Asians were targeted but not Europeans. The Arabs were rounded up and put into special camps. The uprising was instigated by an election which was rigged in favour of the Arab dominated ruling political party. It was also a reaction to festering resentments based on race. Zanzibar was for centuries a thriving slave port from which Africans were taken to the Middle East. The man who became the public face of the revolution, the self-proclaimed Field Marshal John Okello (1937-1971) is filmed at a press conference. Okello, a Ugandan bricklayer who moved from Pemba to the island in February 1963, and who played an important role in the insurgency said that the island would stay within the Commonwealth and added that Zanzibar wanted "democracy and freedom for all regardless of race and colour." He also said that the island would be non-aligned in its external relations. Afterwards, wearing a black denim uniform with an eagle and globe crest on his left epaulette, the 32-year-old Okello held his guns and proclaimed that he obtained all the military knowledge he had from reading the bible. Source: Reuters News Archive. Note: 1. The African insurgents were initially poorly armed with clubs, machetes and pangas. But they overpowered police and other security establishments to acquire more lethal weapons. 2. Between 2,000 and 4,000 ethnic Arabs, as well as ethnic Indians and Comorans, were murdered. 3. Okello, who was a Christian in mainly Muslim Zanzibar, fell out of favour with the new government and was deported to Tanganyika from where he moved through Kenya and Congo-Kinshasa before returning to his native Uganda where he disappeared in 1971. He is believed to have been murdered by Idi Amin, the Ugandan dictator who seized power from Millton Obote that year. It is believed that Amin saw Okello as a potential threat.