Biography of Tanzanian Leader Julius Kambarage Nyerere African History Glossary Julius Kambarage Nyerere was one of Africa's leading independence heroes (and a leading light behind the creation of the Organization of African Unity), the architect of ujamaa (an African socialist philosophy which revolutionized Tanzania's agricultural system), the prime minister of an independent Tanganyika, and the first president of Tanzania. Date of Birth: March 1922, Butiama, Tanganyika Date of death: 14 October 1999, London, UK An Early Life Kambarage ("the spirit which gives rain") Nyerere was born to Chief Burito Nyerere of the Zanaki (a small ethnic group in northern Tanganyika) and and his fifth (out of 22) wife Mgaya Wanyang'ombe. Nyerere attended a local primary mission school, transferring in 1937 to Tabora Secondary School, a Roman Catholic mission and one of the few secondary schools open to Africans at that time.

continue reading below our video What are the Seven Wonders of the World He was baptized a catholic on 23 December 1943, and took the baptismal name Julius. Nationalistic Awareness Between 1943 and 1945 Nyererre attended Makerere University, in Uganda's capital Kampala, obtaining a teaching certificate. It was around this time that he took his first steps towards a political career -- in 1945 he formed Tanganyika's first student group, an offshoot of the African Association, AA, (a pan-African group first formed by Tanganyika's educated elite in Dar es Salaam , in 1929). Nyerere and his colleagues began the process of converting the AA towards a nationalistic political group. Once he had gained his teaching certificate, Nyerere returned to Tanganyika to take up a teaching post at Saint Mary's, a Catholic mission school in Tabora. He opened a local branch of the AA, and was instrumental in converting the AA from its pan-African idealism to the pursuit of Tanganyikan independence.

To this end, the AA restyled itself in 1948 as the Tanganyika African Association, TAA. Gaining a Wider Perspective In 1949 Nyerere left Tanganyika to study for an MA in economics and history at the University of Edinburgh. He was the first African from Tanganyika to study at a British university and, in 1952, was the first Tanganyikan to gain a degree. At Edinburgh Nyerere became involved with the Fabian Colonial Bureau (a non-Marxist, anti-colonial socialist movement based in London). He watched intently Ghana's path to self-government, and was aware of the debates in Britain on the development of a Central African Federation (to be formed from a union of North and South Rhodesia and Nyasaland). Three years of study in the UK gave Nyerere an opportunity to vastly widen his perspective of pan-African issues. Graduating in 1952, he returned to teach at a Catholic school near Dar es Salaam. On 24 January he married primary school teacher Maria Gabriel Majige.

Developing the Independence Struggle in Tanganyika This was a period of upheaval in west and south Africa -- in neighboring Kenya the Mau Mau uprising was fighting against white settler rule, and nationalistic reaction was rising against the creation of the Central African Federation. But political awareness in Tanganyika was nowhere near as advanced as with its neighbors. Nyerere, who had become president of the TAA in April 1953, realized that a focus for African nationalism amongst the population was needed. To that end, in July 1954, Nyerere converted the TAA into Tanganyika's first political party -- the Tanganyikan African National Union, or TANU. Nyerere was careful to promote nationalistic ideals without encouraging the kind of violence that was erupting in Kenya under the Mau Mau uprising. TANU manifesto was for independence on the basis of non-violent, multi-ethnic politics, and the promotion of social and political harmony. Nyerere was appointed to Tanganyika's Legislative Council (the Legco) in 1954. He gave up teaching the following year to pursue his career in politics.

International Statesman Nyerere testified on behalf of TANU to the UN Trusteeship Council (committee on trusts and non-self-governing territories), in both 1955 and 1956. He presented the case for setting a timetable for Tanganyikan independence (this being one of the specified aims set down for a UN trust territory). The publicity he gained back in Tanganyika established him as the country's leading nationalist. In 1957 he resigned from the Tanganyikan Legislative Council in protest over the slow progress independence. TANU contested the 1958 elections, winning 28 of 30 elected positions in the Legco. This was countered, however, by 34 posts which were appointed by the British authorities -- there was no way for TANU to gain a majority. But TANU was making headway, and Nyerere told his people that "Independence will follow as surely as the tickbirds follow the rhino." Finally with the election in August 1960, after changes to the Legislative Assembly were passed, TANU gained the majority it sought -- 70 out of 71 seats.

Nyerere became chief minister on 2 September 1960 and Tanganyika gained limited self-government. Independence In May 1961 Nyerere became prime minister, and on 9 December Tanganyika gained its independence. On 22 January 1962, Nyerere resigned from the premiership to concentrate on drawing up a republican constitution and to prepare TANU for government rather than liberation. On 9 December 1962 Nyerere was elected president of the new Republic of Tanganyika. Nyerere's Approach to Government #1 Nyerere approached his presidency with a particularly African stance. First he attempted to integrate into African politics the traditional style of African decision making (what is known as "indaba in Southern Africa). Consensus is gained through a series of meetings in which everyone has an opportunity to say their piece. To help build national unity he adopted Kiswahili as the national language, making it the only medium of instruction and education. Tanganyika became on of the few African countries with an indigenous official national language. Nyerere also expressed a fear that multiple parties, as seen in Europe and the US, would lead to ethnic conflict in Tanganyika.

Prev Julius Nyerere, first president of Tanzania | African American Registry Julius Nyerere, first president of Tanzania Julius Nyerere Date: Thu, 1922-04-13 On this date, we observe the birth of Julius Kambarage Nyerere in 1922. He was the first president of Tanzania in 1964. Born the son of a minor chief in Butiama, in what was then British-ruled Tanganyika, Nyerere was educated as a teacher. He entered politics in 1954 and founded the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU). He became the colony's chief minister when TANU won the elections of 1960 and the country became independent a year later. Nyerere continued as Prime Minister, until early in 1962 when he resigned to concentrate on restructuring TANU for its post independence role. In 1964, following a revolution on the Arab-dominated island of Zanzibar and a mutiny in his army, Nyerere formed a union of the two countries, with himself as president.

Committed to African liberation, he offered sanctuary in Tanzania to members of the African National Congress and numerous other rebel groups from Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Angola, and Uganda. In 1978, under Nyerere's leadership, Tanzanian troops entered Uganda, deposing Dictator Idi Amin. A strong supporter of indigenous African culture, Nyerere promoted the use of Swahili, even translating the works of Shakespeare into his native tongue. Under his leadership Tanzania became the only country on the continent with a native African official language. He stepped down as president in 1985, but continued as head of the ruling party until 1990. At the time of Nyerere's retirement from TANU party leadership, Tanzania faced major economic problems arising from his attempt to build an agrarian socialist economy. Nevertheless, the country maintained an expanding educational system and a strong sense of national unity unmarked by ethnic unrest. Still active in international politics, Nyerere’s style of governing emphasized ujamaa ("familyhood"), a unique form of rural socialism. Nyerere was addressed throughout Africa as Mwalimu, Swahili for "teacher.” He died in October 1999.

Reference: The Encyclopedia Britannica, Fifteenth Edition. Copyright 1996 Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. ISBN 0-85229-633-0 Julius Nyerere | president of Tanzania | Britannica.com president of Tanzania Alternative Titles: Julius Kambarage Nyerere, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Patrice Lumumba Julius Nyerere, in full Julius Kambarage Nyerere, also called Mwalimu (Swahili: “Teacher”) (born March 1922, Butiama, Tanganyika—died October 14, 1999, London , England ), first prime minister of independent Tanganyika (1961), who became the first president of the new state of Tanzania (1964). Nyerere was also the major force behind the Organization of African Unity (OAU; now the African Union ). Julius Nyerere, 1985. William F. Campbell—Time Life Pictures/Getty Images Nyerere was a son of the chief of the small Zanaki ethnic group. He was educated at Tabora Secondary School and Makerere College in Kampala , Uganda .

A convert to Roman Catholicism, he taught in several Roman Catholic schools before going to Edinburgh University. He was the first Tanganyikan to study at a British university. He graduated with an M.A. in history and economics in 1952 and returned to Tanganyika to teach. By the time Nyerere entered politics, the old League of Nations mandate that Britain had exercised in Tanganyika had been converted into a United Nations trusteeship, with independence the ultimate goal. Seeking to hasten the process of emancipation, Nyerere joined the Tanganyika African Association, quickly becoming its president in 1953. In 1954 he converted the organization into the politically oriented Tanganyika African National Union (TANU). Under Nyerere’s leadership the organization espoused peaceful change, social equality, and racial harmony and rejected tribalism and all forms of racial and ethnic discrimination . Julius Nyerere. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. In 1955 and 1956 he journeyed to the United Nations in New York City as a petitioner to the Trusteeship Council and the Fourth Committee on trusts and non-self-governing territories.

After a debate that ended in his being granted a hearing, he asked for a target date for the independence of Tanganyika. The British administration rejected the demand, but a dialogue was begun that established Nyerere as the preeminent nationalist spokesman for his country. The British administration nominated him a member of the Tanganyikan Legislative Council, but he resigned in 1957 in protest against the slowness of progress toward independence. In elections held in 1958–59, Nyerere and TANU won a large number of seats on the Legislative Council. In a subsequent election in August 1960, his organization managed to win 70 of 71 seats in Tanganyika’s new Legislative Assembly . Progress toward independence owed much to the understanding and mutual trust that developed during the course of negotiations between Nyerere and the British governor, Sir Richard Turnbull. Tanganyika finally gained responsible self-government in September 1960, and Nyerere became chief minister at this time. Tanganyika became independent on December 9, 1961, with Nyerere as its first prime minister.

The next month, however, he resigned from this position to devote his time to writing and synthesizing his views of government and of African unity. One of Nyerere’s more important works was a paper called “ Ujamaa—The Basis for African Socialism, ” which later served as the philosophical basis for the Arusha Declaration (1967). When Tanganyika became a republic in 1962, he was elected president, and in 1964 he became president of the United Republic of Tanzania (Tanganyika and Zanzibar). Tanganyika gaining independence, 1961. Stock footage courtesy The WPA Film Library Britannica Stories Ringling Bros. Folds Its Tent Nyerere was reelected president of Tanzania in 1965 and was returned to serve three more successive five-year terms before he resigned as president in 1985 and handed over his office to his successor, Ali Hassan Mwinyi. From independence on Nyerere also headed Tanzania’s only political party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM).

As outlined in his political program, the Arusha Declaration, Nyerere was committed to the creation of an egalitarian socialist society based on cooperative agriculture in Tanzania. He collectivized village farmlands, carried out mass literacy campaigns, and instituted free and universal education. He also emphasized Tanzania’s need to become economically self-sufficient rather than remain dependent on foreign aid and foreign investment. Nyerere termed his socialist experimentation ujamaa (Swahili: “familyhood”), a name that emphasized the blend of economic cooperation, racial and tribal harmony, and moralistic self-sacrifice that he sought to achieve. Tanzania became a one-party state, though certain democratic opportunities were permitted within that framework. Structures of Government: Fact or Fiction? As a major force behind the modern Pan-African movement and one of the founders in 1963 of the OAU, Nyerere was a key figure in African events in the 1970s. He was a strong advocate of economic and political measures in dealing with the apartheid policies of South Africa .

Nyerere was chairman of a group of five frontline African presidents who advocated the overthrow of white supremacy in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), South Africa, and South West Africa/Namibia (now Namibia). Britannica Lists & Quizzes Editor Picks: Exploring 10 Types of Basketball Movies Nyerere’s concerns on the domestic front were dominated by economic hardships and by difficulties between Nyerere and Idi Amin of Uganda . In 1972 Nyerere denounced Amin when the latter announced the expulsion of all Asians from Uganda. When Ugandan troops occupied a small border area of Tanzania in 1978, Nyerere pledged to bring about the downfall of Amin, and in 1979 the Tanzanian army invaded Uganda in support of a local movement to overthrow him. Nyerere’s intervention helped to unseat Amin and brought about the return to power in Uganda of Milton Obote in 1980. Though enthusiastically adopted by his countrymen and steadfastly supported by sympathetic western European nations, Nyerere’s socialist policies failed to spur economic development in Tanzania.

At the time of his resignation in 1985, Tanzania was still one of the world’s poorest countries, with a per capita income of about U.S. $250. Agriculture remained at the subsistence level, and the country’s industrial and transportation infrastructures were chronically underdeveloped. One-third of the national budget was supplied by foreign aid. Tanzania had one of the highest literacy rates in Africa, however, and the society was both politically stable and notably free of economic inequalities. Nyerere himself remained committed to socialist policies throughout his political career. Julius Nyerere, 1981. Hanos/Liaison Agency Nyerere continued as chairman of the CCM until 1990. Thereafter he assumed the role of elder statesman and was regularly called upon to act as arbiter in international crises such as those in Rwanda and Burundi . Soft-spoken, unpretentious, small of stature, and quick to laugh, Julius Nyerere was widely credited with impressive oratorical skills and unusual powers of political perception.

His thoughts, essays, and speeches are collected in his books, Uhuru na Umoja (1967; Freedom and Unity), Uhuru na Ujamaa (1968; Freedom and Socialism), and Uhuru na Maendeleo (1973; Freedom and Development). He also translated two plays by William Shakespeare , The Merchant of Venice and Julius Caesar, into Swahili. More about Julius Nyerere Julius Nyerere | Military Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Julius Kambarage Nyerere (13 April 1922 – 14 October 1999) was a Tanzanian politician who served as the first President of Tanzania and previously Tanganyika, from the country's founding in 1961 until his retirement in 1985. Born in Tanganyika to Nyerere Burito (1860–1942), Chief of the Zanaki, [2] Nyerere was known by the Swahili name Mwalimu or 'teacher', his profession prior to politics. [3] He was also referred to as Baba wa Taifa ( Father of the Nation ).

[4] Nyerere received his higher education at Makerere University in Kampala and the University of Edinburgh. After he returned to Tanganyika, he worked as a teacher. In 1954, he helped form the Tanganyika African National Union . In 1961 on independence, Nyerere was elected Tanganyika's first Prime Minister, and following the declaration of a republic in 1962, the country's first President. In 1964, Tanganyika became politically united with Zanzibar and was renamed Tanzania. In 1965, a one-party election returned Nyerere to power. During the first years, Nyerere created a single-party system and used "preventive detention" to eliminate trade unions and opposition. Nyerere issued the Arusha Declaration , which outlined his socialist vision of ujamaa that came to dominate his policies. The policies led to a collapsing economy, systematic corruption, and unavailability of goods. In the early 1970s Nyerere ordered his security forces to forcibly transfer much of the population to collective farms and, because of opposition from villagers, often burned villages down.

The campaign pushed the nation to the brink of starvation and made it dependent on foreign food aid. In 1985, after more than two decades in power, he relinquished power to his hand-picked successor. Nyerere left Tanzania as one of the poorest, least developed, and most foreign aid-dependent countries in the world, [5] although much progress in services such as health and education had nevertheless been achieved. [6] He remained the chairman of the Chama Cha Mapinduzi for another five years until 1990. He died of leukemia in London in 1999. Contents Edit Kambarage Nyerere was born on 13 April 1922 in the town of Butiama in Tanganyika's Mara Region . [7] He was one of 26 children of Nyerere Burito (1860–1942), Chief of the Zanaki . [8] He began attending Government Primary School in Musoma at the age of 12 where he completed the four year programme in three years and went on to Tabora Government School in 1937.

He later described Tabora School as being "as close to Eton as you can get in Africa." [9] In 1943 he was baptised as a Catholic. He took the baptismal name of Julius, which eventually became his given name. [10] [11] He received a scholarship to attend Makerere University in Kampala , Uganda . Here he founded the Tanganyika Welfare Association, which eventually merged with the Tanganyika African Association (TAA), which had been formed in 1929. [12] Nyerere received his teaching diploma in 1947. [7] He returned to Tanganyika and worked for 3 years at St. Mary's Secondary School in Tabora, where he taught Biology and English. In 1949 he got a government scholarship to attend the University of Edinburgh and was the first Tanganyikan to study at a British university. [13] [14] He obtained an undergraduate Master of Arts degree in Economics and History in 1952. In Edinburgh he encountered Fabian thinking and began to develop his particular vision of connecting socialism with African communal living.

[15] [16] Political career Edit On his return to Tanganyika, Nyerere took a position teaching History, English and Kiswahili, at St. Francis' College, near Dar es Salaam. [16] In 1953 he was elected president of the TAA, a civic organisation dominated by civil servants, that he had been involved with while a student at Makerere University. [3] In 1954 he transformed TAA into the politically oriented Tanganyika African National Union (TANU). [3] TANU's main objective was to achieve national sovereignty for Tanganyika. A campaign to register new members was launched, and within a year TANU had become the leading political organisation in the country. [17] [18] Nyerere's activities attracted the attention of the Colonial authorities and he was forced to make a choice between his political activities and his teaching. He was reported as saying that he was a "schoolmaster by choice and a politician by accident". [19] He resigned from teaching and travelled throughout the country speaking to common people and tribal chiefs, trying to garner support for movement towards independence.

He also spoke on behalf of TANU to the Trusteeship Council and Fourth Committee of the United Nations in New York. His oratory skills and integrity helped Nyerere achieve TANU goal for an independent country without war or bloodshed. The cooperative British governor Sir Richard Turnbull was also a factor in the struggle for independence. Nyerere entered the Colonial Legislative council following the country's first elections in 1958–59 and was elected chief minister following fresh elections in 1960. On 9 December 1961, Tanganyika gained independence as a Commonwealth realm and Nyerere became its first Prime Minister. A year later Nyerere was elected President of Tanganyika when it became a republic. A month later, Nyerere declared that in order to further the interests of national unity and economic development, TANU was now the only legal party in the country. However, it had effectively been a one-party state since independence.

Nyerere was instrumental in the union between the islands of Zanzibar and the mainland Tanganyika to form Tanzania, after the Zanzibar revolution on 12 January 1964 which toppled the Sultan of Zanzibar Jamshid bin Abdullah . The coup leader, a stonemason from Lira, Uganda, named John Okello , had intended Zanzibar to join Kenya. Nyerere, unnerved by the Tanganyika Army mutiny a few days later, ensured that Okello was barred from returning to Zanzibar after a visit to the mainland. Transformation into socialism Edit When in power, Nyerere implemented a socialist economic programme (announced in the Arusha Declaration ), establishing close ties with Mao Zedong 's China , and also introduced a policy of collectivisation in the country's agricultural system, known as ujamaa or "familyhood". In 1967, nationalizations transformed the government into the largest employer in the country. The state expanded rapidly into virtually every sector. It was involved in everything from retailing to import-export trade and even baking. This created an environment ripe for corruption.

[20] The private sector suffered from the multiplying cumbersome, bureaucratic procedures and excessive tax rates. [20] Enormous amounts of public funds were misappropriated and put to unproductive use. [20] Purchasing power declined at an unprecedented rate and even essential commodities became unavailable. [20] A system of permits (vibali) allowed officials to collect huge bribes in exchange for the vibali. [20] Nyerere's policies laid out a foundation for systemic corruption for years to come. [20] The ruling party's officials became known as Wabenzi ("people of the Benz"), referring to their taste for Benz cars. Collectivization was accelerated in 1971. Because the population resisted collectivisation, Nyerere used his police and military forces to forcibly transfer much of the population into collective farms. [21] [22] Houses were set on fire or demolished, sometimes with the family's pre-Ujamaa property inside. [22] The regime denied food to those who resisted. [22] A substantial amount of the country's wealth in the form of built structures and improved land (fields, fruit trees, fences) was destroyed or forcibly abandoned.

[22] Livestock was stolen, lost, fell ill, or died. [22] In 1975, the Tanzanian government issued the "ujamaa program" to send the Sonjo in northern Tanzania from compact sites with less water to flatter lands with more fertility and water; new villages were created to reap crops and raise livestock easier. This "villagization" (coined by W.M. Adams) encouraged the Sonjo to use modern irrigation techniques such as the ‘unlined canals’ and man-made springs (Adams 22-24). Given the diversion of water from the Kisangiro and Lelestutta Rivers by dams, river water can flow by canals into the irrigation systems to alleviate the hardships of smallholder farmers and livestock owners. [23] Farming practices towards tea and cloves had increased for subsistence farmers. By 1974 ujaama programs and the IDA (International Development Association) worked hand and hand; while villagization organized new villages to farm, the IDA financed projects to educate farmers to grow alternate crops and granted loans to farmers with added credit to small farmers (Whitaker 206).

For example, only 3 tons of tea had been produced in 1964 yet by 1975, 2,100 tons of tea was the net output of smallholder farmers mostly by Nyerere’s policies have given the communal villages the opportunity to grow tea leaves despite the long history of tea being only grown in estates (208). Although these statistics come from the late 1970s, one may understand agricultural growth through reorganizing traditional farms and investing into non-staple agriculture (especially through educating farmers how to grow tea and improve farming methods. One may look upon another example of Tanzanian government’s extensive services in training farmers to grow tobacco and improve farming methods, which aided significantly in tobacco yields 41.9 million pounds in 1975-1976. By 1976, Tanzania became the third-largest tobacco cultivator in Africa (207). Therefore, when the Tanzanian government utilized extensive services in agriculture, they achieved positive results and crop yields’ growth, especially in tea and tobacco smallholder farming whose prices are cheaper for Tanzanian villages to consume than purchase products within the cities.

[24] As a result of this centralized government-controlled focus on tobacco and tea dominating arable land with only cash crops beneficial to the central government, food production plummeted, and only foreign aid prevented starvation. Tanzania, which had been the largest exporter of food in Africa, and also had always been able to feed its people, become the largest importer of food in Africa. [25] [26] Many sectors of the economy collapsed. There was a virtual breakdown in transportation. Goods such as toothpaste became virtually unobtainable. [25] [26] The deficit in cereal grains was more than 1 million tons between 1974 and 1977. Only loans and grants from the World Bank and the IMF in 1975 prevented Tanzania from going bankrupt. By 1979, ujamaa villages contained 90% of the rural population but only produced 5% of the national agricultural output.

[27] Nyerere announced that he would retire after presidential elections in 1985, leaving the country to enter its free market era — as imposed by structural adjustment under the IMF and World bank — under the leadership of Ali Hassan Mwinyi , his hand-picked successor. Nyerere was instrumental in putting both Ali Hassan Mwinyi and Benjamin Mkapa in power. He remained the chairman of Chama Cha Mapinduzi (ruling party) for five years following his presidency until 1990, and is still recognised as the Father of the Nation. Nyerere left Tanzania as one of the poorest, least developed, and most foreign aid-dependent countries in the world. [5] Nevertheless, Nyere's government did much to foster social development in Tanzania during its time in office.

At an international conference of the Arusha Declaration, Nyere’s successor Mwinyi noted the social gains of his predecessor’s time in office: an increase in life expectancy to 52 years, a reduction in infant mortality to 137 per thousand, 2600 dispensaries, 150 hospitals, a literacy rate of 85%, two universities with over 4500 students, and 3.7 million children enrolled in primary school. [28] Foreign policy U.S. President Jimmy Carter , Julius Nyerere, and First Lady Rosalynn Carter , 1977 Nyerere's foreign policy emphasised nonalignment in the Cold War and under his leadership Tanzania enjoyed friendly relations with the People's Republic of China , the Soviet bloc as well as the Western world. Nyerere sided with the Chinese in the Sino-Soviet rivalry. West German President Richard von Weizsäcker greets Julius Nyerere, 1985 Nyerere, along with several other Pan-Africanist leaders, founded the Organisation of African Unity in 1963.

Nyerere supported several militant groups active in African colonies, including the African National Congress (ANC) and the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) of South Africa, FRELIMO when it sought to overthrow Portuguese rule in Mozambique, MPLA when it sought to overthrow Portuguese rule in Angola, and ZANLA in its war with the Smith government of Rhodesia. From the mid 1970s on, along with President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, he was one of the leaders of the Front Line States which campaigned in support of black majority rule in southern Africa . In 1978 he led Tanzania in war with Uganda , defeating and exiling the government of Idi Amin . Nyerere was instrumental in the Seychelles military coup in 1977, in which soldiers trained by Nyerere deposed the country's democratically elected president James Mancham and installed a repressive one-party regime. [29] [30] [31] Nyerere claimed that homosexuality was alien to Africa and therefore it was right to have policies against it. [32] He was criticised[ by whom?

] for his vindictive actions after unsuccessfully appealing to the Pan Africanist Congress to adopt dialogue and détente with Pretoria instead of armed revolution. He supported a leadership coup that installed David Sibeko but after Sibeko's assassination he crushed PAC resistance at Chunya Camp near Mbeya on 11 March 1980, when Tanzanian troops murdered[ citation needed ] and split up the PAC army into detention camps. Nyerere then pressured the Zimbabwe government to arrest and deport PAC personnel in May 1981. The PAC never recovered and despite rivalling the ANC from 1959–1981 quickly declined. Its Tanzanian controlled remnant gained only 1.2% in the South African freedom election of 1994.[ citation needed ] Outside of Africa Nyerere was an inspiration to Walter Lini , Prime Minister of Vanuatu, whose theories on Melanesian socialism owed much to the ideas he found in Tanzania, which he visited.

Lecturers inspired by Nyerere also taught at the University of Papua New Guinea in the 1980s, helping educated Melanesians familiarise themselves with his ideas.[ citation needed ] Post-presidential activity Edit After the Presidency, Nyerere remained the Chairman of CCM until 1990 when Ali Hassan Mwinyi took over. Nyerere remained vocal about the extent of corruption and corrupt officials during the Mwinyi administration. However, he raised no objections when the CCM abandoned its monopoly of power in 1992. Nyerere retained enough influence to block Jakaya Kikwete 's nomination for the presidency in the country's first multiparty elections in three decades, citing that he was too young to run a country. Nyerere was instrumental in getting Benjamin Mkapa elected (Mkapa had been Minister of Foreign Affairs for a time during Nyerere's administration). Kikwete later became president in 2005.

Nyerere's portrait on the Tanzanian 1000 shilling note In one of his famous speeches during the CCM general assembly, Nyerere said in Swahili "Ninang'atuka", meaning that he was pulling out of politics for good. He kept to his word that Tanzania would be a democratic country. He moved back to his childhood home village of Butiama in northern Tanzania. [11] During his retirement, he continued to travel the world meeting various heads of government as an advocate for poor countries and especially the South Centre institution. Nyerere travelled more widely after retiring than he did when he was president of Tanzania. One of his last high-profile actions was as the chief mediator in the Burundi conflict in 1996. He died in a London hospital of leukaemia on 14 October 1999. Positions Held after Presidency: Chairman of Chama Cha Mapinduzi (1985–1990), Chairman of the independent International South Commission (1987–1990), and Chairman of the South Centre in the Geneva & Dar es Salaam Offices (1990–1999).

In January 2005 the Catholic diocese of Musoma opened a cause for the beatification of Julius Nyerere. Nyerere was a devout Catholic who attended Mass daily throughout his public life and was known for fasting frequently. He has received honorary degrees from the University of Edinburgh (UK), Duquesne University (USA), University of Cairo (Egypt), University of Nigeria (Nigeria), University of Ibadan (Nigeria), University of Liberia (Liberia), University of Toronto (Canada), Howard University (USA), Jawaharlal Nehru University (India), University of Havana (Cuba), National University of Lesotho , [33] University of the Philippines , Fort Hare University (South Africa), Sokoine University of Agriculture (Tanzania), and Lincoln University (PA, USA). Cultural influences Namesake Julius Nyerere International Airport In the late 1960s, Nyerere criminalized "decadent" forms of culture such as soul music, unapproved films and magazines, miniskirts, and tight trousers. [34] [35] Nyerere continued to influence the people of Tanzania in the years following his presidency.

His broader ideas of socialism live on in the rap and hip hop artists of Tanzania. [36] Nyerere believed socialism was an attitude of mind that barred discrimination and entailed equality of all human beings. [37] Therefore, ujamaa can be said to have created the social environment for the development of hip hop culture. Like in other countries, hip hop emerged in post-colonial Tanzania when divisions among the population were prominent, whether by class, ethnicity or gender. Rappers’ broadcast messages of freedom, unity, and family, topics that are all reminiscent of the spirit Nyerere put forth in ujamaa. [36] In addition, Nyerere supported the presence of foreign cultures in Tanzania saying, "a nation which refuses to learn from foreign cultures is nothing but a nation of idiots and lunatics...[but] to learn from other cultures does not mean we should abandon our own." [36] Under his leadership, the Ministry of National Culture and Youth was created in order to allow Tanzanian popular culture, in this case hip hop, to develop and flower.

As a result of Nyerere’s presence in Tanzania, the genre of hip hop was welcomed from overseas in Tanzania and melded with the spirit of ujamaa.[ citation needed ] Honours and awards Freedom and Unity (Uhuru na Umoja): A Selection from Writings & Speeches, 1952–1965 (Oxford University Press, 1967) Freedom and Socialism (Uhuru na Ujama): A Selection from Writings & Speeches, 1965–1967 (Oxford University Press, 1968) Includes "The Arusha Declaration"; "Education for self-reliance"; "The varied paths to socialism"; "The purpose is man"; and "Socialism and development." Freedom and Development (Uhuru Na Maendeleo): A Selection from the Writings & Speeches, 1968-73 (Oxford University Press, 1974) Includes essays on adult education; freedom and development; relevance; and ten years after independence.

Ujamaa — Essays on Socialism (1977) Crusade for Liberation (1979) Julius Kaisari (a Swahili translation of William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar) Mabepari wa Venisi (a Swahili translation of William Shakespeare's play – The Merchant of Venice ) Utenzi wa Enjili Kadiri ya Utungo wa Mathayo (a poetic Swahili version of the Gospel of Matthew ) Utenzi wa Enjili Kadiri ya Utungo wa Marko (a poetic Swahili version of the Gospel of Mark ) Utenzi wa Enjili Kadiri ya Utungo wa Luka (a poetic Swahili version of the Gospel of Luke ) Utenzi wa Enjili Kadiri ya Utungo wa Yohana (a poetic Swahili version of the Gospel of John ) Utenzi wa Matendo ya Mitume (a poetic Swahili version of the Acts of the Apostles ) See also Former Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere dies | South African History Online South African History Online Home » Former Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere dies Former Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere dies nyerere_j.jpg Thursday, 1

4 October 1999 On 14 October 1999, the first president and father of Tanzanian independence Julius Mwalimu Nyerere died of leukaemia aged 77.

Nyerere became a symbol of the struggle against colonialism in Tanzania and to other African countries including South Africa. His commitment to the liberation of Africa from White minority rule was demonstrated through allowing several liberation movements to have bases in Tanzania. For instance, the African National Congress (ANC), the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), the Frente de LibertaÁƒÂƒÂ§ÁƒÂƒ£o de MoÁƒÂƒÂ§ambique (FRELIMO) led by Samora Machel and the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU). In 1961, Nyerere joined other African leaders in denouncing the racist policies of the apartheid government in South Africa and declared that, if the apartheid regime remained in the Commonwealth, Tanzania would never join. Nyerere also spoke out strongly against the British Prime Minster Harold Wilson's government for not taking military action against Ian Smith's Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 1965. When the crisis in then Rhodesia worsened he mobilized and campaigned for majority rule through the frontline states (Tanzania, Zambia, Angola, Botswana and Mozambique).

When the UK government considered the possibility of resuming limited arms sales to the apartheid government in South Africa, Nyerere expressed his concern. In 1975 the Tanzanian government donated a sisal farm of five thousand hectares of land to the ANC in Morogoro. The land was developed and the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College (SAMFCO) was constructed. As the youth fled political persecution in South Africa many found their way into Tanzania and landed at SAMFCO. In 1992, the piece of land was handed back to the government of Tanzania. In recognizing the role played by Nyerere and people of Tanzania in the struggle against apartheid, Nelson Mandela the president of South Africa in 1997 declared that: "The people of Tanzania gave unstinting support to the liberation of South Africa.

They gave recognition of the most practical kind to the principle that our freedom and theirs were interdependent." References: • Anon (1999), Julius Nyerere , from the UK Guardian, 15 October 1999 [online] Available at: [Accessed 05 October 2010] Biography: Julius Kambarage Nyerere Transcribed by: Ayanda Madyibi . One of Africa’s most respected figures, Julius Nyerere (1922 — 1999) was a politician of principle and intelligence. Known as Mwalimu or teacher he had a vision of education that was rich with possibility Julius Kambarage Nyerere was born on April 13, 1922 in Butiama, on the eastern shore of lake Victoria in north west Tanganyika. His father was the chief of the small Zanaki tribe. He was 12 before he started school (he had to walk 26 miles to Musoma to do so). Later, he transferred for his secondary education to the Tabora Government Secondary School. His intelligence was quickly recognized by the Roman Catholic fathers who taught him.

He went on, with their help, to train as a teacher at Makerere University in Kampala (Uganda). On gaining his Certificate, he taught for three years and then went on a government scholarship to study history and political economy for his Master of Arts at the University of Edinburgh (he was the first Tanzanian to study at a British university and only the second to gain a university degree outside Africa. In Edinburgh, partly through his encounter with Fabian thinking, Nyerere began to develop his particular vision of connecting socialism with African communal living. On his return to Tanganyika, Nyerere was forced by the colonial authorities to make a choice between his political activities and his teaching. He was reported as saying that he was a schoolmaster by choice and a politician by accident. Working to bring a number of different nationalist factions into one grouping he achieved this in 1954 with the formation of TANU (the Tanganyika African National Union). He became President of the Union (a post he held until 1977), entered the Legislative Council in 1958 and became chief minister in 1960. A year later Tanganyika was granted internal self-government and Nyerere became premier.

Full independence came in December 1961 and he was elected President in 1962. Nyerere’s integrity, ability as a political orator and organizer, and readiness to work with different groupings was a significant factor in independence being achieved without bloodshed. In this he was helped by the co-operative attitude of the last British governor — Sir Richard Turnbull. In 1964, following a coup in Zanzibar (and an attempted coup in Tanganyika itself) Nyerere negotiated with the new leaders in Zanzibar and agreed to absorb them into the union government. The result was the creation of the Republic of Tanzania. Ujamma, socialism and self reliance As President, Nyerere had to steer a difficult course. By the late 1960s Tanzania was one of the world’s poorest countries. Like many others it was suffering from a severe foreign debt burden, a decrease in foreign aid, and a fall in the price of commodities. His solution, the collectivization of agriculture, villigization (see Ujamma below) and large-scale nationalization was a unique blend of socialism and communal life.

The vision was set out in the Arusha Declaration of 1967 (reprinted in Nyerere 1968): "The objective of socialism in the United Republic of Tanzania is to build a society in which all members have equal rights and equal opportunities; in which all can live in peace with their neighbours without suffering or imposing injustice, being exploited, or exploiting; and in which all have a gradually increasing basic level of material welfare before any individual lives in luxury." (Nyerere 1968: 340) The focus, given the nature of Tanzanian society, was on rural development. People were encouraged (sometimes forced) to live and work on a co-operative basis in organized villages or ujamaa (meaning ‘familyhood’ in Kishwahili). The idea was to extend traditional values and responsibilities around kinship to Tanzania as a whole. Within the Declaration there was a commitment to raising basic living standards (and an opposition to conspicuous consumption and large private wealth). The socialism he believed in was ‘people-centred’. Humanness in its fullest sense rather than wealth creation must come first. Societies become better places through the development of people rather than the gearing up of production.

This was a matter that Nyerere took to be important both in political and private terms. Unlike many other politicians, he did not amass a large fortune through exploiting his position. The policy met with significant political resistance (especially when people were forced into rural communes) and little economic success. Nearly 10 million peasants were moved and many were effectively forced to give up their land. The idea of collective farming was less than attractive to many peasants. A large number found themselves worse off. Productivity went down. However, the focus on human development and self-reliance did bring some success in other areas notably in health, education and in political identity. Liberation struggles A committed pan-Africanist, Nyerere provided a home for a number of African liberation movements including the African National Congress (ANC) and the Pan African Congress (PAC) of South Africa, Frelimo when seeking to overthrow Portuguese rule in Mozambique, Zanla (and Robert Mugabe) in their struggle to unseat the white regime in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). He also opposed the brutal regime of Idi Amin in Uganda.

Following a border invasion by Amin in 1978, a 20,000-strong Tanzanian army along with rebel groups, invaded Uganda. It took the capital, Kampala, in 1979, restoring Uganda’s first President, Milton Obote, to power. The battle against Amin was expensive and placed a strain on government finances. There was considerable criticism within Tanzania that he had both overlooked domestic issues and had not paid proper attention to internal human rights abuses. Tanzania was a one party state — and while there was a strong democratic element in organization and a concern for consensus, this did not stop Nyerere using the Preventive Detention Act to imprison opponents. In part this may have been justified by the need to contain divisiveness, but there does appear to have been a disjuncture between his commitment to human rights on the world stage, and his actions at home. Retirement In 1985 Nyerere gave up the Presidency but remained as chair of the Party - Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM). He gradually withdrew from active politics, retiring to his farm in Butiama.

In 1990 he relinquished his chairmanship of CCM but remained active on the world stage as Chair of the Intergovernmental South Centre. One of his last high profile actions was as the chief mediator in the Burundi conflict (in 1996). He died in a London hospital of leukaemia on October 14, 1999. Books and Articles by Julius Nyerere: Julius Nyerere - Telegraph Obituaries Julius Nyerere Julius Nyerere, the former President of Tanzania who has died aged 77, won international acclaim for his success in raising standards of health and education in Tanzania, where he was universally known as Mwalimu - "The Teacher"; but his firm adherence to socialist policies impoverished the country and left it dependent on Western aid. Photo: CORBIS Comments Nyerere came to power as Prime Minister of independent Tanganyika when Britain granted self-rule in 1961. He was elected first President of the Republic (named Tanzania in 1964, following union with Zanzibar) in December 1962, aged just 40. The next year he promulgated a constitution introducing a one-party state.

Over the next two decades, largely thanks to Nyerere's success in attracting aid from Western countries, Tanzania achieved striking improvements in education and health. In 20 years the literacy rate reached 83 per cent - among the highest in Africa - and fresh water supplies were laid on for more than half the villages. In 1985 the United Nations described Tanzanian health services as the best on the continent. National pride grew among the tribes who were helped to forget old enmities through the promotion of Ki-swahili as the national language. Left-wing commentators hailed Tanzania as a model for Third World development. A mild-mannered man of transparent integrity, Nyerere lived frugally. He accepted a salary of only pounds 4,000 a year, lower than the pay of some of his cabinet ministers, and dreamt of self-sufficiency for Tanzania based on agriculture: "Let others go to the Moon," he said when the future seemed bright. "We must work to feed ourselves." He introduced a form of socialism based on the Chinese model of agricultural collectives, set up as self-help villages or ujamaa, a Swahili word meaning "familyhood".

The government promised to buy all the crops and revitalise important industries through nationalisation. But the experiment proved disastrous. Even though the country's volcanic soils were naturally fertile, capable of producing heavy yields without the need for fertilisers, agricultural production plummeted. By the mid Eighties, peasants in the Shinyanga province faced starvation through lack of maize. The economy was further weakened in the Seventies by an invasion of neighbouring Uganda to help overthrow Idi Amin. While the campaign was successful, it cost Tanzania pounds 250 million. In the early Eighties Tanzania was in no condition to withstand the fall in world commodity prices and the droughts that hit the economy. By the middle of the decade, the country had become dependent on imports of cereals and had to introduce rationing. Corruption was widespread and industry limped along at 30 per cent of its capacity, crippled by a lack of foreign exchange to import raw materials and pay for spares. Nearly half of the 330 firms taken over by the government had gone into liquidation and a third of those that survived lost money.

When Nyerere stood down as president in 1985, Tanzania had become one of the world's 20 poorest countries, burdened by debt and with inflation running at between 30 and 40 per cent. Nyerere eventually acknowledged that his policies had failed, though he remained a committed socialist. "Nationalising little things like farms was a mistake," he said in 1985, "as was the nationalisation of co-operatives. But we were very impatient. The main problem of Africa is the backwardness of its agriculture - we have all neglected it. We are a poor country and we opted for socialist policies, but to build a socialist society you have to have a developed society." But he defended the one-party system: "It was one-party democracy that has earned us an homogeneous society founded on a strong national unity," he maintained. While Tanzanians had cause to regard his presidency with mixed feelings, Nyerere shone on the world stage. A founder of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), he was a vigorous opponent of the apartheid system in South Africa, speaking with Archbishop Trevor Huddleston at the small meeting which founded the Anti-Apartheid Movement in June 1959.

He charmed Western leaders even as he castigated them for their indifference towards the problems of Africa. Always a welcome guest at Buckingham Palace, he made his mark elsewhere as a skilled negotiator and mediator, capable of cutting his way through barriers of distrust between people of different ideological persuasions. In 1985 The Archbishop of Canterbury's special envoy, Terry Waite, visited Nyerere to ask for help to free four British hostages in Libya. Nyerere immediately contacted the Libyan leader, Colonel Gaddafi, and brought about swift negotiations that led to freedom for the hostages. In 1995, the OAU asked Nyerere to mediate an end to the civil war in neighbouring Burundi, where more than 200,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed since 1993. Nevertheless, Nyerere's tendency towards sanctimony sometimes aroused irritation. His worst clash with Britain came in 1965 when he temporarily broke off diplomatic relations over the refusal by Harold Wilson's administration to send troops into Rhodesia to resolve Ian Smith's illegal breakaway from British rule.

Nigeria never forgave Nyerere for supporting Biafra in the 1967-70 civil war and in 1975 condemned his decision to order Tanzanian troops into Uganda to crush Amin - the first time that one OAU country had invaded another. Julius Kambarage Nyerere was born in April 1922 in Butiama on the eastern shore of Lake Victoria, now in the Serengeti Park. He was one of 26 children of Nyerere Burito, the aristocratic but illiterate chief of the small Wazanaki tribe. Until he was 12, young Julius had no contact with white men, but lived a typical tribal life herding sheep and helping with the chores of a farm. He was educated at a Native Authority school at Musoma, 26 miles from his home, then at a British-run Roman Catholic secondary school where he came top of his class; he was baptised a Roman Catholic when he was 20. In 1948, he obtained a place for teacher training at Kampala University, Uganda.

He returned to Tanganyika two years later to teach in a mission school in Tabora, where he gained a reputation as a compulsive talker and debater. In 1949, he became the first person from the colony to study abroad, winning a government scholarship to Edinburgh University to read History and Economics. At Edinburgh, Nyerere came under the influence of Fabian socialists, who fanned his interest in politics and convinced him that he could graft socialist principles on to the fabric of village life in Tanganyika. After Edinburgh, Nyerere returned to teaching in a school near Dar es Salaam and renewed his ties with the country's African Association (in his student days he had formed a branch in Uganda), a non-political organisation founded by the British Colonial Civil Service in 1929. Nyerere transformed the association into a political force. When he became its president in 1954 he turned it into the Tanganyikan African National Union (TANU) with a new constitution which committed it to the aim of independence.

At the same time, the British Governor, Sir Edward Twining, appointed Nyerere to a temporary seat on the Legislative Council where he emerged as a crusader for education for the black population. Within a year, he had presented the TANU programme to the United Nations' Trusteeship Council in New York. When the headmaster of his school asked him to give up politics, Nyerere decided to give up teaching instead and set about trying to win more support for TANU, touring the country in a battered Land Rover; within a year the party had a membership of 250,000. The colonial authorities, alarmed at his political progress, banned him from public speaking, claiming that his speeches were inflammatory. Although he emphatically disavowed violence, Nyerere warned that TANU was prepared to resort to civil disobedience to pursue its aims. "I am a troublemaker because I believe in human rights strongly enough to be one," he declared. Clashes with the government led to his resignation from the Legislative Council; but in 1958 he was back to take part in negotiations towards independence.

A series of elections culminated in 1960 with TANU winning 70 out of 71 seats in the new Legislative Assembly. In 1961, Tanzania achieved complete self-government and independence within the British Commonwealth; Nyerere became prime minister and a year later was elected president with 97 per cent of the vote. Under a new constitution, the country became a one-party state in which strikes were outlawed and order maintained by a Preventative Detention Act which enabled Nyerere to arrest and imprison critics. In 1964, the islands of Zanzibar and Femba united with Tanganyika to form the United Republic of Tanzania, within the Commonwealth. In 1967 Nyerere made his famous Arusha Declaration, which set up the agricultural collectives system and in nine years resettled 13 million Africans - some forcibly - into 8,000 co-operative villages. Over the years, the West pumped enormous sums of money into Tanzania. Sweden, Norway, Finland, Holland, Canada and West Germany between them provided around pounds 2.7 billion every year; in 1983-84 British aid amounted to pounds 26 million.

By the mid-Eighties, Tanzania was the highest per capita recipient of foreign aid in Africa. But by then Nyerere's socialist adventure was running into serious trouble. Committed to expensive social services favoured by donor countries but crippled by socialist policies, the Tanzanian economy began to fall apart. Nyerere spent his last years in office resisting stringent conditions proposed by the International Monetary Fund for a deal to prop up the country. "Repaying debts is a matter of honour. We want to repay them. But before you can pay you have to live. Thousands of our people have starved or are starving. Millions are surviving on charity," he protested. The inevitable agreement was signed in 1986, a year after Nyerere had handed over power to his vice-president, Ali Hassan Mwinyi. For five years after his retirement in 1985, Nyerere remained the dominant figure in Tanzania as chairman of the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (Revolutionary Party), the only legal political movement in the one-party state.

During the Nineties, Nyerere eased gradually into the role of benign elder statesman, dividing his time between various mediation missions and his farm in his native village of Butiama, where he enjoyed the life of a patriarch, surrounded by his family. In 1992 he shared Unesco's Simon Bolivar Prize with Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese pro-democracy leader, for their contributions to freedom. He married, in 1953, Maria Magige, by whom he had five sons and two daughters.

Julius Nyerere | News | The Guardian browse all sections close Julius Nyerere A giant of the African independence struggle, he retained his worldwide moral authority even after his vision of rural socialism faltered Thursday 14 October 1999 21.02 EDT First published on Thursday 14 October 1999 21.02 EDT Share on Messenger Close In his heyday as president of Tanzania - which he ruled from 1961 to 1985 - Julius Nyerere, who has died from leukaemia aged 77, was lion- ised by the liberal left of the world for his impassioned advocacy of his style of African socialism, but mauled by his critics as a priggish autocrat, whose idealism failed to deliver prosperity to his people. To his credit, Nyerere stepped down peacefully and voluntarily, long before it became fashionable for Africa's self-appointed life presidents to subject themselves to the verdict of their peoples in multi-party elections. In 1967 came Nyerere's Arusha Declaration, his policy on socialism and self-reliance.

Its cornerstone was ujamaa, or familyhood, which was imposed on Tanzania in the following years. The aim was to collect people into villages or communes, where they would have better access to education and medical services. Nearly 10m peasants were moved and a substantial majority were forced to give up their land. But to most Tanzanians, the idea of collective farming was abhorrent. Many found themselves worse off; incentive and productivity declined, and ujamaa was effectively abandoned. It was a measure of Nyerere's international prestige that the failure of this fundamental policy at home in no way dented his global standing. A man of austere and unostentatious personal habits, and instantly recognisable in his Mao tunic, Julius Nyerere was born at Butiama, on the eastern shore of Lake Victoria, into the small Zanaki tribe. He was 12 before he first went to school, but was immediately singled out for his lively intelligence by the Roman Catholic priests. After Makerere University, in Kampala, he taught for three years, admitting, later in life, that he was a schoolmaster by choice and a politician by accident.

In 1949 he became the first Tanzanian to study at a British university, when he went to Edinburgh on a government scholarship. And it was there, under the influence of post-war Fabian socialists, that he developed his own political ideas of grafting socialism on to African communal existence. Nyerere left teaching in 1954, formed the Tanganyika African National Union, and campaigned for the nationalist movement. He was elected to the then Tanganyika legislature in 1958, representing East Province, the first time that the country's Africans were enfranchised, and became leader of the opposition. He became chief minister in 1960. But it was not until 1961, when he was sworn in as prime minister of the newly-independent Tanganyika that he would be in a position to start putting the ideas into practice. In the same year, he joined other African leaders in denouncing the racist policies of South Africa and declaring that, if the apartheid regime remained in the Commonwealth, Tanzania would never join. South Africa subsequently withdrew its membership.

For Nyerere the move marked the beginning of an effective commitment to African liberation movements: later, he played host to the African National Congress (ANC) and the Pan- African Congress (PAC) of South Africa, to Samora Machel's Frelimo - battling against the Portuguese in Mozambique - and to Robert Mugabe's fledgling Zanla forces, which opposed colonial rule in the then Southern Rhodesia. He broke off relations with Britain, Tanzania's principal aid donor, after its failure to use force when Ian Smith declared UDI in 1965 - earning himself the description by Smith of the "evil genius" behind the ensuing guerrilla war. The unusually principled way in which Nyerere looked upon international politics was again evident in his uncompromising stand against the brutal regime of Idi Amin in Uganda in the late 1970s. Despite almost universal condemnation of the dictator's excesses, it was left to Tanzania to intervene militarily and dislodge Amin. A brief invasion of Tanzania by Amin in late 1978 brought a swift reponse from Nyerere: Tanzanian troops, joined by Ugandan exiles, were mobilised to drive back the invaders.

But they didn't stop at the border. Kampala fell in 1979, with its residents lining the streets chanting the name of the Tanzanian leader. It was the first time in African post-colonial history that one country had invaded another and captured its capital. It was a fundamental breach of the principles of the Organisation of African Unity. But Nyerere weathered the storm. However, the campaign proved expensive, and while their leader devoted such resources, time and energy to foreign affairs, his critics in Tanzania argued that he overlooked domestic problems, and failed to apply the same observance of human right abuses. He seldom flinched from using a Preventive Detention Act that allowed him to lock up his opponents virtually at will. Relations with Zanzibar, which had united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania with Nyerere as president, were always strained. Tanzania became ever more dependent upon foreign aid, and decision-making was paralysed by a ponderous bureaucracy. Nyerere was to admit that mistakes had been made, while his devotees pointed to developments - such as the spread of literacy and primary healthcare.

A practising Catholic in a predominantly Muslim country, Nyerere married Maria Magige in 1953, by whom he had five sons and two daughters. He maintained a passionate interest in Swahili, the language of East Africa, and translated Julius Caesar and The Merchant Of Venice. His political writings included Essays On Socialism (1969) and Freedom And Development (1973). The idea that when he resigned as president, handing over to Hassan Ali Mwinyi, Nyerere would live quietly on his farm at Batiama, cultivating his interest in book-binding, was always improbable. And indeed he continued to influence government policy through his chairmanship of the single ruling party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi. Whether or not he initiated the debate about an alternative political system in Tanzania is questionable, but he rapidly became a part of it. Although mwalimu , or teacher, as he liked to be known, was to his own people one of them, he nonetheless became - like Senghor, of Senegal, and Sadat, of Egypt - an African leader who outgrew his country.

When he relinquished the party chairmanship in 1990, he was able to devote more time to campaigning for greater co-operation between developing countries, and, as chairman of the South Commission, a closing of the gap between rich and poor. He also took on the role of African elder statesman, working notably in conflict resolution, although his most recent efforts - trying to resolve Burundi's civil war - did not bear fruit. Julius Nyerere belonged to a generation of African post-independence leaders, like Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah and Zambia's Kenneth Kaunda, who had an unshakeable belief in their mission to lead their countries to a better world through their chosen political ideologies, but who were unable to recognise their personal failings. When he stepped down, Nyerere declared that "although socialism has failed in Tanzania, I will remain a socialist because I believe socialism is the best policy for poor countries like Tanzania". His suc cessors decided otherwise, embracing capitalism and the free market, but with arguable benefits to the country. His detractors would regard his stewardship of Tanzania to have been flawed by his single-minded adherence to a manifestly unworkable policy.

Yet Nyerere is more likely to be remembered for having provided a moral leadership to Tanzania, and indeed Africa, when the continent was taking its first shaky steps after independence. Julian Marshall Ahmed Rajab, editor of Africa Analysis, writes: Julius Nyerere was "a great leader who made great mistakes," as one ruler once famously said of another. He unified his country, certainly, gave it a sense of purpose and, in the 1960s and 1970s, made Tanzanians feel proud of themselves. As a pan-Africanist, he could not be faulted for putting his country in the forefront of the frontline states against white minority rule in Africa. He took a principled stand at a great cost to his country, but his people never really minded. Tanzania became a home for exiled freedom-fighters who are now the rulers in a number of southern African states. Many a time, Nyerere confounded those of us who thought of ourselves as being to his left by appropriating our political lexicon and social agenda.

He never quite became a Marxist, but the former shepherd boy, whom we used to deride as "a good boy of the west" and who was viewed with suspicion by the likes of Kwame Nkrumah, turned into a tactical ally when he started talking about class struggle and a classless society. But his African socialist philosophy of ujamaa only brought misery and economic degradation. Under the man who preached self-reliance, Tanzania depended on foreign aid more than any other African country. That was only one of his contradictions. His vision of a united Africa did not stop him from recognising Biafra, the breakaway eastern Nigeria, in the early 1960s. A pious Catholic, who could not tolerate the excesses of Idi Amin, Nyerere nonetheless felt himself unable to move against another dictator much closer to home: the burly Sheikh Abeid Karume, Zanzibar's then president and Tanzania's first vice-president, who presided over a brutal dictatorship, detained people without trial, killed countless imagined or real enemies, and forced girls of Persian or Arab origin to marry elderly black Zanzibaris.

Karume was assassinated in 1972 but, throughout the sheikh's eight-year rule, Nyerere never lifted a finger against his tragic histrionics. Despite his failings, Nyerere was revered by progressive Africans. When they talked of Tanzania, they talked, in effect, of Nyerere - the simple, unassuming former schoolteacher, untainted by corruption or personal scandals and with a fondness for Mateus rosé. In the 1950s and 1960s, admirers would copy his hairstyle, his moustache, and later, when he started donning a kofia , the Swahili-Muslim cap, his fellow up-country Christians did likewise. In the mid-1960s he went to China, shook hands with Chairman Mao, and came back with a variant of the Mao suit, which became de rigueur among Tanzania's officials and aspiring politicians. H ad he not been a politician, Nyerere might have become a scholar of repute. He was a poet of modest pretensions and, although his translation of Julius Caesar was not brilliant, he did, after all, dare to translate Shakespeare.

He could be profound and esoteric to the intellectuals; streetwise to the masses. His speeches were electrifying. I remember spending the best part of two hours with him alone in a Nairobi hotel room in 1994, when he was out of office and Tanzania was about to embark on its first multi-party elections. Initially, he refused to discuss the prospective presidential candidates of his own party, the Chama Cha Mapinduzi. But once he had been assured that it was strictly off-the-record, he became candid, almost gossipy, about a number of party leaders. Earlier in the day, when I offered to bring him tea during a conference break, he turned me down, saying: "Let me do it myself; it is at times like these that I can act as a normal human being." Julius Kambarage Nyerere, politician, born 1922; died October 14 1999

Question: Julius Nyerere was the first President of which country?
Answer: Tanzania