Omari Ali Juma; Tanzanian Official Aided Peace Efforts
Omari Ali Juma, 60, vice president of Tanzania who had aided Congo peace efforts the day of his death, died Wednesday night in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, of a heart attack.
Juma, a livestock expert, was born on Pemba Island, the northernmost in the Zanzibar archipelago, and served as chief minister in Zanzibar’s semiautonomous government.
He was President Benjamin Mkapa’s right-hand man and had been vice president since Mkapa won his first election in 1995. Both men were reelected last year.
On Wednesday, Juma assisted Mkapa in co-hosting face-to-face talks between Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Congolese President Joseph Kabila. The two leaders discussed ending the war in Congo, in which Uganda has supported rebels trying to oust Kabila.
Mkapa, expressing shock at the sudden death, declared seven days of official mourning in Tanzania.
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