Nyerere, Julius Kambarage
[key], c.1922–99,
African
political leader, first president (1964–85) of Tanzania. Educated at
Makerere College (Uganda) and the Univ. of Edinburgh, he taught in mission
schools and founded (1954) the Tanganyika African National Union. Leader of
the opposition (1954–60), he became chief minister after the 1960
elections. When Tanganyika attained independence (1961) he was prime
minister and when it became a republic (1962), Nyerere was elected
president. He brought Tanganyika and Zanzibar into a union as the republic
of Tanzania (1964). Nyerere authored a policy of African socialism, called
Ujamaa, characterized by economic self-reliance, egalitarianism, and local
rural development, but it was ultimately unsuccessful. His efforts to build
a stable, prosperous nation conversely created an economic crisis, a war
with Uganda—he engineered the ouster of Idi Amin in
1979—and a one-party state led by the Revolutionary Party of Tanzania
(CCM). Nyerere retired from the presidency in 1985, leading to consecutive
electoral transitions in Tanzania. He remained chairman of CCM until 1990.
Nyerere's political vision inspired social movements to end white minority
rule in Southern Africa.
See W. E. Smith, We Must Run While They Walk (1971); J. G. Liebenow,
African Politics: Crises and Challenges (1986); A. A.
Mazrui and L. L. Mhando, Julius Nyerere, Africa's Titan on a Global
Stage (2012); P. Bjerk, Building a Peaceful
Nation (2015); P. Bjerk, Julius Nyerere
(2017).
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