African town built on slavery crumbles
Five years ago, Stone Town received a boost when the United Nations awarded it World Heritage status, recognizing it as a historically intact East African coastal trading town that is also a living community. And the town is luring more tourists, who browse the shops and spice stalls along the winding streets.
Yet the core problem remains: Stone Town is no longer a well-to-do trading center. Most of its 16,000 residents are poor and pay highly subsidized rents to Zanzibar's government, which owns half the town but lacks money for preservation projects.