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Thursday, 14 October 1999: UNICEF today issued the following statement on the
death of Julius Nyerere, former President of Tanzania.
The death of President Julius Nyerere is one of those moments which makes time
stand still. It's not just the riveting end of an era; it's the silencing of
a voice which, uninterrupted for five decades, never abandoned principle, never
abandoned purpose, never abandoned vision. This was a man who consorted with
kings and mingled with the masses in equal egalitarian harmony.
Julius Nyerere --- Mwalimu ("Teacher") to his country and his friends
--- will always remain in memory as that slender, diminutive figure of irresistibly
infectious chuckle, with a mind so sharp as to cut to the heart of every argument,
but a tongue so kind as to soothe the soul of every adversary. Throughout his
life, Mwalimu ever-managed that combination of intellect and generosity which
made him so beloved as the leader of his country.
The media today will be filled with his litany of accomplishments. They are
endless and formidable. They touch everyone on the African continent. They range
from the victory over colonialism, to the building of his nation, to the struggle
against apartheid to the contemporary quest for peace in Burundi.
But for UNICEF, one achievement stands out beyond all others. Julius Nyerere
managed to forge a country which transcended ethnicity. Every citizen was and
is a Tanzanian first. When you recognise that so many of the surrounding nation
states are riven by horrendous ethnic and tribal division, what Nyerere accomplished
seems almost miraculous. He did it by exhortation, he did it by example, he
did it by turning the school system into a universal curriculum of tolerance,
where every child learned that love is preferable to hate, that respect is preferable
to contempt, that decency is preferable to a begrudging and wizened spirit.
In the process, Tanzania became a country where human life is valued and peace
is treasured. In a cornucopia of accomplishments, that may be Mwalimu's greatest.
The world has lost a gentle and wondrous man. As the bard so perfectly wrote:
"When shall we see such another?".
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