Zim Online
Friday 16 February
2007
By Brian Ncube
BULAWAYO -
Zimbabwe's national intelligence agency has warned that a
wave of strikes by
disgruntled doctors, nurses and teachers "will soon"
spread to all
government departments and the security forces and could
easily turn into
mass revolt against President Robert Mugabe.
In a confidential
memorandum dated February 8, 2007, the Central
Intelligence Organisation
(CIO) claimed the opposition and unnamed foreign
powers were behind plans to
manipulate worker grievances to incite public
revolt. It added that such a
revolt had "all chances of succeeding" unless
preempted by the
government.
A copy of the memo headed "Grand Plan to Overthrow the
Government" and
addressed to the Ministers of State Security, Defence and
Home Affairs was
shown to ZimOnline on Thursday. The ministers received the
five-paged memo
last Monday, according to our sources in the intelligence
community.
"Recent investigations have revealed that all government
departments
will soon be affected by these crippling strikes. This will
affect even the
disciplined forces (police, army and prison services), where
some members
have become very vocal in criticising the government lately,"
the CIO wrote.
State doctors have since December boycotted work to
press the
government to hike their salaries by about 8 000 percent. Nurses
at some
state hospitals have also joined the doctors on strike to cripple
the public
health sector.
Teachers at several public schools
began absconding classes last week
to press for a salary hike, while the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
(ZCTU) has given the government until
February 23 to address doctors, nurses
and teachers' salary grievances as
well as move to fix the bleeding economy
or face a general strike by workers
across the country.
The ZCTU warned in a statement that the country
should brace up for
"more serious strikes" by workers demanding living wages
and better working
conditions.
But the CIO claims in its memo
that its investigations had established
that the political opposition,
Western countries and strangely some of
Zimbabwe's neighbours, which the spy
agency did not name, were sponsoring
strikes in the hope to incite a civil
uprising against Mugabe's government.
It said: "Our investigations
have uncovered a plot by some opposition
political parties, in conjunction
with some regional and Western countries,
of paying these professionals
handsomely in foreign currency, so that they
continue the strikes, resulting
in a public outcry that sparks angry
reactions from the populace, thereby
igniting the uprising."
Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramayi refused
to take questions on the
matter, saying he did not discuss "security matters
with the Press" while
Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi said he had not
seen the memo because he
was away at his rural home in Beitbridge for his
father's funeral.
But State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa, under
whose portfolio the
CIO falls, said the government was aware of plans to
destabilise the country
and would "heavily deal" with those behind the
plans.
Mutasa told ZimOnline: "We know all about their plans and
once they
start it, we will heavily deal with them. They do not stand a
chance. We
have a well-trained army that is always on the alert and they
should be
warned before they start doing anything funny."
Sources said the Joint Operations Command, comprising senior
commanders of
the army, police, CIO and prisons service, had as a result of
the CIO memo
recommended that security forces be put on high alert.
It was not
possible to get confirmation from the Zimbabwe Defence
Forces headquarters
whether the army and air force were on alert. But police
spokesman Wayne
Bvudzijena said the law enforcement agency was on alert to
quash street
demonstrations or any other disturbances to law and order.
He said:
"We gather that there are people who are planning to hold
illegal
demonstrations and since our duty is to preserve peace and maintain
law and
order, we have placed our members on the alert to deal with those
according
to the demands of the law."
Under the government's tough security
laws, Zimbabweans must first get
permission from the police before holding
public demonstrations.
An unprecedented economic crisis marked by
the world's highest
inflation of nearly 1 600 percent, acute shortages of
food, hard cash and
every basic survival commodity has fuelled political
tensions in Zimbabwe.
Plans by Mugabe - in power since Zimbabwe's
1980 independence from
Britain and blamed by critics for ruining its once
brilliant economy - to
extend his term, which ends in 2008, by another two
years without going
through an election has only helped stoke up hostilities
in the country as
well as in the veteran President's own ruling ZANU PF
party.
Mugabe's controversial plan to extend his term to 2010 has
met with
unprecedented opposition from some of his closest lieutenants in
ZANU PF,
while outraged opposition parties, churches and civic groups have
threatened
to launch street protests to block the plan. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Friday 16 February
2007
By Regerai Marwezu
MASVINGO - Zimbabwe opposition parties on Thursday accused the ruling
ZANU
PF party of vote-buying and intimidation ahead of Saturday's
by-election in
Chiredzi South constituency.
Four political parties, ZANU PF, the
United People's Party (UPP) and
the two factions of the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) party will lock
horns in the by-election to fill up
a seat left vacant following the death
of ZANU PF legislator Aaron Baloyi
last September.
A spokesperson for the Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC,
Nelson Chamisa, told
ZimOnline yesterday that the weekend election will not
be free and fair
because ZANU PF had resorted to "dirty tactics" to garner
votes.
"We are aware that ZANU PF is using food handouts to win
votes in the
election. We have also noted with concern that ZANU PF is also
threatening
traditional leaders if their supporters vote for the
opposition.
"We cannot have a free and fair election under these
circumstances,"
said Chamisa.
United People's Party (UPP)
provincial co-ordinator for Masvingo
province, Antony Kundishora, also
accused ZANU PF of using state resources
to buy support ahead of the
election.
"We are going into this election under protest since ZANU
PF has
already bought votes from the electorate through the politicisation
of food
and agricultural inputs.
"Our supporters have been
denied food because of their political
affiliation. We have raised this
issue with the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission but it appears nothing has been
done to address our concerns,"
said Kundishora.
Contacted for
comment yesterday, ZANU PF senator for Masvingo who is
also the party's
provincial political commissar, Dzikamai Mavhaire, rejected
allegations of
vote buying by his party.
"We have heard that allegation over and
over again in the past
whenever we have an election. The opposition wants
sympathy from Western
governments but the truth of the matter is that the
allegations are
baseless," said Mavhaire.
Immaculate Makondo
will represent the Tsvangirai-led MDC while
Nehemiah Zenamwe will represent
the Arthur Mutambara-led MDC. Mayethani
Chauke will stand for the UPP while
retired army colonel, Kallisto Gwanetsa,
will represent ZANU
PF.
Zimbabwe opposition parties and human rights groups have in the
past
accused ZANU PF of using food aid to garner political support
especially
during elections, a charge the ruling party denies. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Friday 16 February 2007
Own Correspondent
BULAWAYO
- Police were on Thursday still holding 174 women from the Women of
Zimbabwe
Arise (WOZA) activist group, three days after arresting them for
demonstrating against President Robert Mugabe's government.
The
women, some of whom were brutally assaulted by baton wielding riot
policemen, have not been taken to court since their arrest on Tuesday this
week. Under the law police cannot detain suspects for more than 48 hours
without a court order, however a law police often ignore.
The women's
lawyer, Simba Chivaura, said the police had however released
close to a
hundred other WOZA activists they had also arrested and the
majority of who
were with minor children and babies.
Chivaura told ZimOnline: "The police
have not indicated when they are likely
to take my clients to court. They
are saying they are still recording
statements and doing the paperwork
before taking them to court and it
definitely is not going to be today
(Thursday)."
Police wielding truncheons descended on about 500 members of
WOZA as they
marched across Bulawayo city waving placards and distributing
fliers calling
on President Robert Mugabe to resign.
The WOZA women,
who have held public demonstrations demanding better living
conditions for
their families every St Valentine's Day over the past three
years, had held
this year's march on Tuesday hoping to catch the police
unawares. St.
Valentine's Day was on Wednesday.
Police authorities indicated they will
charge the women under security laws
that prohibit Zimbabweans from holding
political meetings or marches in
public without first seeking permission
from the law enforcement agency.
Meanwhile, eight other WOZA activists
arrested in Harare were on Wednesday
freed by the police after paying
admission of guilt fines.
Their lawyer Rangu Nyamurundira said the women
had agreed to pay the fines
of Z$250 each only so they could escape the
"deplorable conditions" in the
cells at Harare Central police station where
they were being detained. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Friday 16 February
2007
By Thulani Munda
HARARE -A senior Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) official on Thursday refused
to give evidence before
Parliament's special committee on mines and the
environment in the presence
of journalists saying information he had to
disclose to the committee could
cause instability in the country if shared
with the Press.
Mirirai
Chiremba, who is the director of Financial Intelligence Inspectorate
Evaluation and Security at the RBZ agreed to testify on the central bank's
role in an ongoing crackdown by the government against illegal miners and
smugglers of precious minerals only after journalists were ordered out of
the meeting.
Chiremba said: "Because of the nature of my job, I do
not think it is
suitable to have the Press here. I do not wish to say
anything that will
cause instability in the country."
The committee
complied with his request and told journalists to leave the
room.
After the closed-door meeting, acting chairperson of the
committee Tsitsi
Muzenda said Chiremba had informed the committee on the
RBZ's operations in
light of concerns raised by small-scale miners that the
central bank was
involved in illegal gold mining.
Muzenda said the
RBZ had invited the committee to tour its projects in
Kwekwe city in
Midlands province and a hub of illegal gold mining and
trading. She however
said the central bank had not disclosed names of senior
government officials
involved in minerals smuggling because it did not have
such
names.
Powerful ruling ZANU PF party politicians, government officials
and some
military commanders are widely suspected of being behind illegal
mining and
trading of gold and diamonds.
For example, private
small-scale miners last week told the parliamentary
committee that permanent
secretary in the Ministry of Environment and
Tourism Margaret Sangarwe was
involved in illegal gold mining.
The small-scale miners claimed that they
had more names of senior government
officials involved in illegal mining but
which they said they could not
divulge for fear of reprisals.
Acting
Police Commissioner Innocent Matibiri a fortnight ago also said
senior
government officials were behind illegal gold mining. He did not
provide
names.
Zimbabwe has seen earnings from gold and other precious minerals
decline
over the past few years as more minerals are smuggled out of the
country. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Friday 16 February 2007
Own Correspondent
HARARE -
The Morgan Tsvangirai-led Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
party
yesterday filed an urgent court application to force the police to
lift a
ban on a rally planned for next Sunday and at which the party will
launch
its campaign for a presidential election next year.
The police on
Wednesday told the MDC that the rally that had been scheduled
for the
Zimbabwe Grounds in Highfield suburb could not go ahead as the law
enforcement agency did not have enough manpower to ensure security at the
political meeting.
"We are filing the urgent court application today
(Thursday)," said Jessie
Majome, a lawyer who is handling the case. Majome
is also an executive
member of the MDC.
Majome said under the
restrictive Public Order and Security Act (POSA),
political parties are not
required to seek permission from the police but to
simply notify them before
holding any meetings.
A spokesperson for the MDC, Nelson Chamisa, was
more defiant saying the
opposition party would press ahead with the rally
regardless of the outcome
of the court application.
"We have vowed to
defy unjust laws and that's exactly what we will do. The
launch will take
place on Sunday whatever happens," he said.
The Tsvangirai-led MDC and
the other faction of the opposition party led by
academic Arthur Mutamnbara
as well as civic society groups say they want the
election held in March
2008 when President Robert Mugabe's term ends. But
the poll remains in great
doubt after Mugabe said he wanted it postponed by
two years.
Mugabe
says postponing the presidential poll so it could be held jointly
with
elections for Parliament in 2010 would save on administrative costs but
critics say have dismissed this as a ploy by the veteran President to hold
onto power without going through an election.
Mugabe is already
facing stiff resistance from his own party over the plan
with ZANU PF
failing to endorse the proposal at its annual conference held
last December
in Goromonzi. - ZimOnline
IOL
February 15
2007 at 04:00PM
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country
holds the EU
presidency, urged Zimbabwe's neighbours on Thursday to use
their influence
to help end the "suffering" from President Robert Mugabe's
policies.
Speaking at the opening of the Africa-France summit in
the French
Riviera resort of Cannes, Merkel said there was "great concern"
over the
deteriorating economic and political situation in
Zimbabwe.
"The intimidation of political opponents, the
difficulties, the
threats to farmers, the destruction of neighbourhoods
where the poor live;
there is no justification for this," said
Merkel.
"That is why I am calling on Zimbabwe's neighbouring states
to join us
and exert their influence to help men and women who are
suffering," she
added.
Mugabe, in power in
Zimbabwe since its independence in 1980, is
accused by his critics of
driving his nation to the brink of economic
collapse.
Zimbabwe's annual inflation rate, the world's highest, reached 1 593
percent
in January, as the standard of living continued to drop in the
southern
African country.
In a shift from a previous Africa-France summit
held in Paris in 2003,
France decided not to invite Mugabe to the Cannes
meeting, in accordance
with a European Union travel ban on the Zimbabwean
leader and his inner
circle.
Reuters
Thu Feb 15, 2007
11:40 AM GMT
HARARE (Reuters) - Foreign donors gave $70 million (36
million pounds)on
Thursday to help Zimbabwe cope with growing numbers of
AIDS orphans in what
officials said was a rare show of unity among the
government, donors and
non-governmental organisations.
The United
Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) says one in four children in the
southern
African nation -- about 1.6 million children -- have lost one or
both
parents to HIV/AIDS, which claims the lives of 3,000 Zimbabweans every
week.
The funds were made available by Britain, New Zealand, Sweden
and German and
would be jointly administered by UNICEF, NGOs and the
Zimbabwe government to
help ensure orphans gained access to facilities such
as education and health
care.
President Robert Mugabe has previously
accused donors of working with the
opposition to overthrow his government,
and has drafted a bill requiring
NGOs to be registered with the
government.
"In a complex and difficult environment this is an
outstanding agreement
between a diverse group of key institutions," UNICEF
Zimbabwe representative
Festo Kavishe told journalists.
Under the
five-year programme, a total of $250 million would be required to
help the
country's orphans, donors say.
Zimbabwe is among the countries worst hit
by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, which
accounts for 70 percent of hospital
admissions.
But there were also signs of hope as the HIV prevalence rate
declined to
18.1 percent this year from 25 percent five years
ago.
Health experts say the fall is due to more condom use and the
success of
programmes encouraging people to have fewer sex partners.
Reuters
Thu Feb 15, 2007 5:26 PM GMT
By Cris Chinaka
HARARE
(Reuters) - Zimbabwe should reject a request by Equatorial Guinea to
extradite a Briton accused of plotting a coup in the oil-rich West African
state because he will be severely tortured there, his lawyer said on
Thursday.
Former British special forces officer Simon Mann was
convicted by a
Zimbabwean court in September 2004 of trying to buy weapons
without a
licence and sentenced to four years in jail.
The government
said the arms were intended for a coup attempt in Equatorial
Guinea and Mann
was accused of being the ringleader of the plot.
On Thursday, Equatorial
Guinea launched an application in the Harare
Magistrates Court to secure
Mann for a treason trial when he is released
early for good behaviour in
May.
Zimbabwean state lawyer Joseph Jagada -- who is representing the
West
African state -- charged that Mann was a key player in a 2004 plot to
assassinate Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo and
should be extradited.
"The applicant is only supposed to establish a
prima facie that the subject
of extradition has a legal case to answer, and
in this the applicant has
gone way beyond that," he said, pointing to a file
of documents which he
said incriminated Mann.
"The applicant has also
given assurances that the death sentence will not be
pursued if Mr Mann is
convicted, and that he will get a fair trial," Jagada
said.
Defence
lawyer Jonathan Samkange said Zimbabwe should not hand over Mann
because his
case was political and Equatorial Guinea had a long history of
torture and
unfair trials.
"There is nothing that resembles a fair judiciary system
there, nothing like
a fair trial ... and because this case is political, he
will not get a fair
trial and he will be severely tortured," he told the
court.
"The assurances being given are not worth the paper they are
written on ...
Others facing the same charges have not received a fair
trial, one has died
from torture" he said.
Samkange said
international law barred the extradition of people indicted in
political
trials or facing possible torture. "It would be a very sad day if
Zimbabwe
were to extradite a man against all international conventions," he
added.
Equatorial Guinea Attorney General Jose Ole Obono told the
court that
although his government believed that Mann was the "intellectual
head" of
the coup plot, he would get justice.
Mann -- who was not in
court on Thursday, but is expected to give evidence
later during the
extradition proceedings -- insists he was not involved in
any coup plot,
Samkange said.
Mann also pleaded not guilty at his Zimbabwe
trial.
Sixty-six other defendants, including 64 men who had South African
passports
when their plane was seized in Harare, served less than a year in
jail after
pleading guilty to charges of violating Zimbabwe's immigration
and civil
aviation laws.
Mann is an acquaintance of Mark Thatcher,
the son of former British Prime
Minister Margaret Thatcher, who was arrested
in South Africa on suspicion of
involvement in the suspected coup plot but
was freed after a legal deal.
Mann's lawyers said on Thursday his
extradition case was likely to go on for
weeks.
SABC
February 15,
2007, 14:30
The South African government was prepared to look the other
way while a coup
d'etat was carried out in Equatorial Guinea; it was alleged
in the Pretoria
Regional Court today. Crause Steyl, a state witness told the
court that the
government knew what was being planned. He was the second
State witness to
do so.
"One cannot expect the South African
government to give us a piece of paper.
It was probably in the intelligence
service or a nod from someone that (the
plot was acknowledged)," Steyl told
the court.
He was being cross-examined by Margie Victor, a defence
advocate who appears
for Raymond Stanley Archer, Victor Dracula, Errol
Harris, Mazanga Kashama,
Neves Tomas Matias, and Hendrik Jacobus Hamman.
Alwyn Griebenow, an attorney
for Louis du Preez and Simon Morris
Witherspoon, also cross-examined Steyl.
The eight men are accused of
contravening the Foreign Military Assistance
Act. "The South African
government will be on side," Steyl said was the
assurance given to those
taking part in the coup.
Foreign Military Assistance Act
Steyl said
the issue was again raised with Simon Mann one of the alleged
planners of
the coup when in an unrelated matter Carl Alberts, a former SA
Air Force
pilot, pleaded guilty in 2004 to contravening the Foreign Military
Assistance Act through mercenary activities in the Ivory Coast. He said Mann
again assured them that the South African government will be "on side". "We
were all grown men who wanted to return to South Africa. We have families
here we did not want to stay in Equatorial Guinea forever," Steyl
said.
Steyl earlier testified that the country's opposition leader was
already on
his way to take power when the coup was foiled in 2004. He said
he was
flying Severo Moto, an opposition leader from the Canary Islands to
Equatorial Guinea. They had landed in Mali to refuel when they received a
message that 60 men - who were on their way to Equatorial Guinea had been
arrested in Zimbabwe. Steyl testified that they returned to the Canary
Islands where they were arrested by immigration officials. After a
conversation with an official, their passports were handed back to them and
they were allowed to go.
Oil millionaire implicated as backers of the
coup
Steyl said Moto was accompanied by David Tremain, a British businessman,
Greg Wales, and by Karim Fallaha, an associate of Ely Calil, a London-based
Lebanese oil millionaire. They have all been implicated as backers of the
coup, but have denied any involvement. He said he went to London to try to
raise money to help his friends who were arrested, but being unsuccessful he
returned to South Africa.
He later pleaded guilty under a
plea-bargain to involvement in a coup
attempt. He, however, could not
implicate one of the eight accused as being
involved in the coup. The trial
continues tomorrow. - Sapa
Institute for War and Peace Reporting
African Christians ask their leaders to concentrate on political, social
and
health issues, not just on gays and lesbians.
By Trevor Grundy in
Canterbury, England (AR No. 95, 15-Feb-07)
Anglican Christians in parts
of Africa are calling on their leaders
attending the 2007 Primates Meeting
in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania this week, to
concentrate on real issues and not
spend so much time debating the rights of
gay men and lesbian
women.
Those who criticise the amounts of time and energy spent debating
gay issues
say there should be a focus on the catastrophic spread of
HIV/AIDS,
widespread and pervasive poverty, severe drought, lack of
governmental
transparency and how the church can use its moral influence to
remove
despots from power.
In London, a rising star in the Anglican
Communion, the Bishop of Botswana,
the Right Reverend Musonda Trevor Selwyn
Mwamba, told IWPR that Anglicans in
Africa are growing tired of the gay
debate, the endless arguments about who
goes to bed with whom and what
colour pyjamas they wear.
Even prominent African Anglicans sympathetic to
gays, such as the
increasingly popular Archbishop of Cape Town, Mjongonkuku,
and his
predecessor, Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu, are urging
church
leaders gathered in Dar es Salaam for six days, ending February 19,
to
concentrate on poverty, HIV/AIDS, climate change and political oppression
rather than gay issues that threaten to split the worldwide Anglican
community of 75 million people.
But one real issue the prelates will
find impossible to sidestep is the
leader of the Anglican community in
Zimbabwe, the Bishop of Harare, Nolbert
Kunonga, who has been accused by his
own priests of terrorising Christians
and turning his diocese into a branch
of President Robert Mugabe's ruling
ZANU PF party.
Zimbabwean
Anglicans want the archbishops and bishops gathered in Dar es
Salaam to act
against Kunonga, a ruling party loyalist in his late 50s, who
they say is a
disgrace to Christianity and to Africa. Anglican priests
critical of Mugabe
have been transferred to tough rural parishes and many
have resigned. A
plethora of legal cases between Kunonga and his
disillusioned flock are
stuck in Zimbabwe 's chaotic court system. In place
of priests who have
resigned, he has appointed men who have pledged not to
criticise the head of
state. He even licensed the acting vice president of
Zimbabwe, Joseph Msika,
a man on record as saying that whites are not human
beings, to act as a
deacon of the church.
From the time of his disputed election as Bishop of
Harare in 2001 to the
present Kunonga has, say Anglicans in Harare, made no
secret of his personal
ambitions for fame and fortune or his willingness to
exploit fully his
sycophantic relationship to Mugabe and ZANU PF.
His
election in 2001 to the bishopric was shrouded in mystery, resulting in
the
defeat of a popular priest, and marred by widespread allegations that
Kunonga had used his influence with the ruling party to secure the post. He
is the only clergyman among many powerful individual Zimbabweans against
whom heavy sanctions have been imposed by the European Union and the United
States.
Kunonga has used his pulpit at St Mary's Cathedral in Harare
to support
Mugabe's controversial land reform programme, in which thousands
of
commercial farms have been confiscated from mainly white owners but also
from some black farmers. During one of Kunonga's pro-Mugabe sermons, the
choir began singing hymns to drown out his words. The choir was subsequently
sacked by the bishop along with the cathedral wardens and cathedral
council.
He was rewarded by Mugabe with St Marnock's, 2000 acres of prime
farmland 15
kilometres outside Harare , confiscated from its previous white
owner,
25-year-old Marcus Hale. The bishop installed his son in the
seven-bedroom
farmhouse, which overlooked a lake and sweeping fields of
wheat and soya:
the lake remains, but the house is now derelict and the
crops have been
replaced by weeds. The bishop, a short, thickset man who
wears a jewelled
cross over his cassock, also evicted 50 black workers and
their families
from the property.
Bishop Nolbert has lost few
opportunities to sing the praises of Mugabe, who
turns 83 on February 21. On
that day Zimbabwe will, as it does every
February 21, be ordered to come to
a halt as "the great and wise authentic
ruler" of the past 27 years requires
the nation to pay homage to him.
Last year, Kunonga aped his political
patron by ordering all 45 Anglican
churches in the Harare Diocese -
including St Mary's Cathedral - to close on
Sunday in honour of his 33rd
wedding anniversary. Instead, he called all
Anglicans to a fundraising
prayer meeting at a sports arena. Each parish in
attendance was asked to
donate the equivalent of 2000 US dollars and each
individual 20 dollars as a
present for the bishop and his wife, Agatha. The
5000-seat arena was less
than half full. Nineteen church wardens and
choristers were subsequently
banned by a Harare court from attending
services in St Mary's Cathedral
after Kunonga laid charges against them of
trying to disrupt his wedding
anniversary.
In August 2005 the bishop, who likes to mock black critics
of Mugabe as
"puppets of the West", and has described Mugabe's repeated
election
victories as "God's will", appeared before an ecclesiastical court
to face
38 charges arising from scores of complaints, all but three of which
were
registered by black parishioners. The charges included incitement to
murder,
intimidating critics, ignoring church law, mishandling church funds,
bringing militant ZANU PF politics into the pulpit and preaching racial
hatred.
In December 2005, the court hearing before a Malawian judge
collapsed in
disarray without proper explanation and the head of the
Anglican province of
Central Africa, Zambian Archbishop Bernard Malango,
informed church leaders
in the province that the case against Kunonga had
been dropped for ever.
Archbishop Malango is a friend and an admirer of
both Mugabe and Kunonga. He
was a guest of honour at the Harare bishop's
33rd wedding anniversary
celebrations.
Kunonga recently hit back at
his critics, in Zimbabwe 's government-owned
Herald newspaper, by lambasting
white parishioners for their alleged racism
and support for commercial
farmers who were removed from their farms after
2000 in Mugabe's contentious
land reform programme. The bishop likened his
"stand" against his own white
parishioners to Martin Luther's against the
Pope in 1517.
He made no
apology for chasing twelve respected black priests out of their
parishes and
replacing them with ruling party stooges. Ten of the black
priests sought
political asylum in Britain .
He went on to remind the rest of the
worldwide Anglican Communion that it is
only a fellowship and that he could
pull out of it just as President Mugabe
pulled out of the
Commonwealth.
The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo , Pius Ncube,
Zimbabwe 's most
outspoken critic of Mugabe, said Kunonga had aligned
himself with the
"forces of evil".
Last year, black Zimbabwean
Anglican priests exiled in Britain called on the
Ugandan-born Archbishop of
York, Dr John Sentamu, to intervene in the
dispute between Kunonga and his
many critics.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, the
symbolic head of the
worldwide Anglican Communion, stepped into the dispute
before the Dar es
Salaam summit and said the bishop should be suspended
until allegations
against him have been properly dealt with.
A senior
source in the Anglican Communion told IWPR that Dr Williams would
almost
certainly be talking to Archbishop Malango about why he declared the
Kunonga
case closed and sealed for ever.
Lambeth Palace, the Archbishop of
Canterbury's administrative headquarters
and home in London, continued to
put the pressure on Kunonga and Malango
before Dr Williams flew to Dar es
Salaam . "In the context of a prolonged
and political crisis, the Anglican
Diocese of Harare faces intolerable
strain in the form of the very grave and
unresolved accusations against
Bishop Kunonga," said a statement from the
Archbishop of Canterbury's London
office.
"In other jurisdictions, a
priest or bishop facing such serious charges
would be suspended without
prejudice until the case has been closed. It is
therefore very difficult for
Bishop Kunonga to be regarded as capable of
functioning as a bishop
elsewhere in the communion," it continued.
The Reverend Paul Gwese today
lives in self-imposed exile in England. He is
the former rector of St
Francis of Assisi, an Anglican church in the Harare
suburb of Glen Norah, a
poor black working class community.
He told IWPR, "Since his
controversial ordination in 2001, Bishop Kunonga
has terrorised Christians
and is turning his dioceses into a religious
branch of Mugabe's ruling
party. People want spiritual leaders who are
accountable but when you look
at the way things are done in Harare Diocese,
church politics is no
different from secular politics. I am depressed to see
what was once a
reputable church deteriorate into a circus."
Father Gwese, 34, was
suspended by Kunonga for allowing the local member of
parliament to make a
donation worth about 300 US dollars to parish funds.
The problem was that
the politician, Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga,
belongs to the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change, not to ZANU PF.
Father Gwese was
transferred to a rural parish 110 km away, while his
congregation boycotted
services at their church and staged demonstrations
outside the Harare
cathedral to demand that their vicar be returned to them.
Kunonga refused to
listen to them and Father Gwese fled into exile.
With many other
contentious issues to tackle that could split the worldwide
Anglican church,
the bishops in Dar es Salaam may not be able to solve the
Kunonga problem.
But once the ageing Mugabe steps down, Kunonga's reign will
end also, for he
only retains his post as Zimbabwe 's most powerful Anglican
with the
president's patronage.
Trevor Grundy is an author, broadcaster and
journalist specialising in
religious affairs and Zimbabwean issues, who
lived and worked in Zimbabwe
and other central African countries from 1966
to 1996.
Engineering News
Z
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zimbabwean
gold producers declared 10,96 t of the yellow metal in 2006 -
down from 13,4
t in 2005 - Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gedion
Gono said when he
presented his latest quarterly monetary policy statement
in Harare at the
end of January.
According to Zimbabwean law, all gold produced in the
country must be
delivered to Fidelity Printers & Refiners, a subsidiary
of the RBZ.
"Cumulative gold deliveries in 2006 stood at 10,96 t,
painting a
disappointing picture in this critical sector when compared to 21
t achieved
back in 2004." Gold deliveries for 2005 were similarly lower than
for 2004,
with total gold deliveries to the RBZ amounting to 13,45 t. "The
decline is
attributed to a combination of factors, including a lack of
equipment, and
reduced exploration and mine development, as well as illegal
trading and
smuggling of gold," Gono said.
As a result of the
leakages, the RBZ has put in place measures compelling
gold millers to
become more accountable.
"All custom millers are given up to the end of
March 2007 to convert their
production systems to lockable concentrators so
as to improve on gold
recovery. "Analysis of the systems by the RBZ has
shown that, where a
concentrator is used, gold recoveries are 80%, compared
with about 35%,
where a copper plate is used, or 30%, where the blanket or
rubber mat method
is used," said Gono.
However, miners attribute the
declining gold deliveries to the static
exchange rate, which Gono chose to
keep intact. Mine costs are denominated
in foreign currency, miners argue,
while earnings remain depressed owing to
the exchange rate, restricting
expansion.
Chamber of Mines president Jack Murehwa said that any smuggler
should be
arrested, but that there was need for more fundamental economic
reforms.
Last year, the RBZ hired Israeli experts to look into the
leakages, but
their efforts have yielded little, as gold continues to find
its way out of
the country.
Gold is a key foreign-currency earner for
the country, accounting for 51% of
Zimbabwe's mineral output. The governor
refused to bow to market pressure to
devalue the Zimbabwe dollar, insisting
that allowing the local currency to
slide would not solve the country's
economic woes. Analysts were expecting
the bank chief to allow the local
unit to slide from 250 against the US
dollar, a rate at which it has been
fixed since July 31, 2006, when he
presented the last half-yearly monetary
policy statement. The local dollar
is currently trading at around 5 000 to
the US greenback on an illegal but
thriving parallel market, where the bulk
of hard cash is traded. Gono said
no amount of devaluation would lead to
"truck loads" of foreign currency,
adding that he did not want to take the
responsibility of causing pain to
consumers through price hikes induced by
the weakening of the local
currency.
"It is clear that the foreign-
exchange market setbacks are a supply and
demand issue, linked to sanctions
against the country, linked to a lack of
balance of payment support, linked
to smuggling and indiscipline in the
economy, linked to shortage of a fund
to support whatever devaluation we may
contemplate and, above all, linked to
poor performance of the export
sectors. "To talk of a market rate when these
structural issues remain
unattended is as simplistic response to this
multifaceted policy area," Gono
said.
14 members of the Zimbabwe National
Students Union (ZINASU), including the
President, Promise Mkwananzi, who
were arrested on Tuesday February 13, 2007
are scheduled to appear in court
today, February 15, at 10am on allegation s
of illegally holding a protest
march without police clearance as stipulated
by the draconian Public Order
and Security Act (POSA). The court session
will be held at the Rotten Row
magistrate courts.
Meanwhile.
Raymond Majongwe,
PTUZ Secretary General and treasurer, McDonald Mangauzani
are also
scheduled to appear before the magistrate at Rotten Row Magistrate
Courts
today at 11am on allegations of addressing teachers at Haig Park
Primary
School. The President, Takavafira Zhou was released yesterday
afternoon
without any charges leveled against him. Police in Masvingo said
they would
continue investigating him.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
From The Daily Mirror, 15 February
Pamenus Tuso in Bulawayo
Zanu PF's leadership in
Bulawayo has told the Minister of Water Resources
and Infrastructural
Development Munacho Mutezo to go back to Cabinet and
convince his colleague
to re-consider Zinwa's takeover of the city's water.
In an interview with
The Daily Mirror after the ruling party's leadership
met Mutezo on Monday,
provincial chairman Macleob Tsawe said they wanted the
matter thrashed out
at the central committee level before engaging Zinwa.
Zinwa falls under
Mutezo's ministry. "The minister told us that the takeover
was a result of a
Cabinet decision, but as a party, we expressed our
displeasure on the
consultative process," Tsawe said. "We suggested to the
minister that the
issue should be taken to the central committee and the
Cabinet for further
discussion." Sources who attended the closed-door
meeting said the Zanu PF
leadership flatly rejected the takeover of the
water system, arguing that
Bulawayo City Council was doing a good job.
Instead, the source said, the
leadership suggested that the government must
urgently connect the city to
Mtshabezi Dam and also resuscitate boreholes in
the Nyamandlovu Aquifers
before the city runs dry. "Otherwise there is no
point for Zinwa to takeover
the city's water and sewer reticulation system
when there is no water to
distribute," Tsawe said.
The sources said Mutezo had a torrid time
explaining how Cabinet had agreed
that Zinwa should takeover the supply of
water in Bulawayo and in other
cities and towns around the country. "The
minister tried to explain the
background surrounding the take over which he
said is a Cabinet directive,
but the party leadership shot down his
explanation saying they were not
consulted over the issue," the source said.
Another source said the issue,
if not handled carefully, had a potential to
divide the party ahead of local
government elections set for August this
year. "I think the government
should consider a climbdown on this one
because everybody in the party here,
including churches and civil society,
are against the move. This position
was made clear to the minister who
promised to take back the concerns to
Cabinet," the source added. Bulawayo
City Council spokesperson Pathisa
Nyathi told this newspaper that there was
no need for Zinwa to be in charge
of water and sewer reticulation system in
the city. "We told the minister
that the city council had not failed to
reticulate water and, therefore,
there was no justification for the
takeover."
Dear All,
Many thanks to all those who have been calling
police
stations for the detained WOZA women. It seems Byo
central has been
overloaded as they were no longer
answering their phones by yesterday
afternoon .
The women have now been split across 7 police
stations
(numbers below) and those in Harare have been
released. There is
grave concern for the well being
of Magadongo Mahlangu who has been held in
isolation.
Full accounts from yesterday 8pm and 11am are below.
Please
remember the WOZA Solidarity Vigil in London
on Saturday - 2pm to 6pm outside
the Zimbabwe Embassy
249 Strand (nearest tube Charring Cross). We will
be
filming activities and posting on Youtube (internet
broadcasting site)
to ensure as many as possible know
how deeply respected and widely supported
the brave
women of WOZA are - come and show your support!
Police
stations holding WOZA women.
Bulawayo Central: (+263 9) 72515 /
61706
Mzilikazi: (+263 9) 202908 / 212905
Nkulumane: (+263 9) 476755 /
467039
Queens Park: (+263 9) 22641/2
Sauerstown: (+263 9) 200960 /
218432
Hillside: (+263 9) 241161/2
Donnington: (+263 9) 474005 /
467309
WOZANews update
Wednesday 14th February -
8pm
www.wozazimbabwe.
Bulawayo:
131 members remain in
custody in Bulawayo for a second
night. The 36 released into the custody of
their
lawyers once again have been allowed to return to
their homes having
spent the day at Bulawayo Central.
Initial reports from one lawyer indicated
that there
were 274 in custody but the figure from another lawyer
was 174
members that were arrested. This figure
includes 17 juveniles, 20 mothers
with babies and
three pregnant women.
Only seven of the group are
being charged under
Chapter 37, Section (2) of the Criminal
Law
(Codification and Reform) Act - 'participating in a
gathering with
intent to promote public violence, a
breach of the peace or bigotry is
committed whether
the action constituting it is spontaneous or planned
in
advance, and whether the place or meeting where it
occurred is public or
private.' These seven being the
only ones that arresting officers were
prepared to
come forward to testify against. The rest of the
group,
including Magodonga Mahlangu, are not being
charged and at 4 pm today, police
dealing with the
case agreed that they should be released. The head of
the
Law and Order Section at Bulawayo Central, G
Ndlovu, refused to allow them to
go home tonight
however, insisting that they only be released in
the
morning after the seven had appeared in court - the
lives of 124
people made miserable by the petty whim
of one individual.
Magodonga
Mahlangu remains isolated from the rest of
the group as Law and Order
officers have resisted
attempts to have her moved back to join
others,
arguing that as a leader of WOZA, Mahlangu 'deserves
the dignity
of having a cell to herself' - having an
entire police station to herself
does seem a little
excessive however! Concerns for her safety
continue
whilst she remains in solitary confinement.
Members in Queens
Park are still being denied
medication - please call Queens Park Station on
+263 9
22641/2 to demand that those taking ARV treatment be
allowed to
take their medication.
Harare:
The eight women arrested in Harare
yesterday and held
at Harare Central overnight are out of custody
having
paid admission of guilt fines early this evening. The
women
complained of terrible and inhumane conditions
in the cells and having been
beaten in custody.
Attempts are still being made to ascertain exactly
what
happened in Harare Central and more information
will be given when it becomes
available.
The Herald
(Harare)
February 15, 2007
Posted to the web February 15,
2007
Harare
MOBILE phone companies in Zimbabwe are now facing a
new threat from frequent
power cuts, which could limit the availability of
service and also push up
costs beyond the reach of ordinary
subscribers.
The power cuts, which are now commonplace throughout
Zimbabwe, are causing
havoc for the cellular operators. This is because base
stations which
provide cellular coverage use power from the power authority,
Zesa Holdings,
for their operations, and each time Zesa cuts power in an
area for more than
three hours the base station automatically shuts
down.
Zimbabwe is currently experiencing power cuts due to unreliable
coal
supplies to thermal plants as well as reduced import
supplies.
The firms say they are already struggling to keep their
businesses afloat
citing the chronic shortage of foreign
currency.
According to an Econet spokesman, the problem is now so severe
that is now
"the single biggest source of disruption to service at the
moment".
He said that in any given day, Econet experiences not less than
15 base
stations shutdowns because of power cuts. "Once a base station shuts
down
you cannot call or receive calls in that area. The problem is
multi-faceted
because once a base station goes down congestion can appear on
the network
because of overload," the spokesman said.
A Telecel
official in the technical department also said due to the power
cuts their
company was losing a lot of revenue as on average about seven
base stations
switch off every day due to the blackouts.
"Last week alone the Glen View
base station shut down for more than 10 hours
while the Glen Norah one went
down for about 600 minutes.
"When that happens it means the neighbouring
stations will have to take over
the traffic and this has greatly overloaded
our network." he said.
He said the power cuts are now a major contributor
to calls failing to go
through between networks. "It is an absolute
nightmare at the moment because
it affects all the networks. At any given
time we simply do not know what
base stations are down between the networks,
and it's affecting the calls,"
he said.
Econet currently has more
than 300 base stations nationwide and is currently
installing another 200
under its ongoing network expansion programme.
The spokesman said the
only way the company can overcome the problem is to
install diesel
generators at each base station. The cost of installing and
maintaining such
a large number of generators is extremely high, and would
send tariffs
skyrocketing.
"Even if we could find the foreign currency to install that
many generators
we would need a small army of people to keep then running,
and supplied with
diesel," he said.
In Nigeria Econet built a network
with more than 2 000 generators as well as
one in Burundi which suffers from
unreliable power supplies.
"What makes the challenge in Zimbabwe
particularly difficult for the company
is the shortage of foreign currency.
We not only have to find the foreign
currency to buy the generators, we also
have to find thousands of litres of
diesel every month to keep them going,"
he said.
The spokesman said that the problem was so severe that they were
holding
meetings with their head office in South Africa to try and find a
solution.
"Our prognosis is that this is a serious problem, which is
likely to get
worse before it gets better. It is affecting the way we plan
and run the
network going forward," he said.
The spokesman said
cellular operators are working closely with Zesa to find
solutions to the
problems that the power authority is facing.
"We must, however, commend
Zesa for doing its best to connect power to new
base stations and also for
its efforts to try and help us whenever there are
power outages," he
said.
The Herald
(Harare)
COLUMN
February 15, 2007
Posted to the web February 15,
2007
Victoria Ruzvidzo
Harare
My seven-year old son yesterday
made a statement that not only reflected the
extent to which general service
provision by public utilities in this
country has gone down but also made
startling revelations that even children
his age have had to mature so early
they have to help think up solutions to
national crises.
He
innocently asked me to leave my job as a journalist and join Zesa
Holdings
to ensure our house would never experience any electricity cuts.
Such
a statement made me want to inquire further as to how he had come up
with
the idea and this was his response:
"It's so boring that many times we do
not have electricity and I can't watch
cartoons. So if we have a power cut
we will phone you (at Zesa) so that we
can have electricity back
immediately."
You can imagine my reaction. Initially I laughed as I
pictured myself as a
Zesa engineer on standby to ensure my house is always
fully powered lest my
son misses his favourite Tom and Jerry or Scooby Doo
cartoons.
But it quickly dawned on me that this was no laughing matter.
In fact, the
statements by my son meant the electricity problem had reached
such endemic
proportions it required urgent attention.
To think that
when we were his age, we never worried about power cuts and
were not even
aware such words existed in the vocabulary.
It was automatic that the
minute you flicked the switch the lights would
turn on while using firewood
for cooking was sometimes out of choice or in
some cases the absence of an
electrical cooker, but never as a result of a
power blackout.
But for
now it has become the order of the day that meat, milk and other
perishables
find their way into the bin or are quickly turned into dog food
due to power
blackouts that last for days, if not weeks.
One day the refrigerator is
on, the next it is off and so on.
In some instances you have to "rent"
refrigerator space at an acquaintance's
house across town who might have
power when you don't and vice versa.
It has ceased to be funny. Imagine
the inconvenience and health risk of
thawing food and freezing it again, not
just once but time and time again.
This is obviously not the first
complaint to Zesa.
I am sure the power utility is choking with complaints
of this nature but
the question that beckons is: Is there a solution in
sight?
We have recently established though that in most instances, areas
where some
of the engineers and Zesa management stay rarely experience power
outages.
And when that happens as a result of some vandalism, electricity is
restored
in no time.
A story is told of a mishap in the Avenues area
which caused a blackout.
However, a certain section of the area had
electricity restored the next day
because some top guys from Zesa lived in
that area while the other section
of the Avenues went without power for more
than two weeks.
Zesa may have a technical explanation for that but many
have been tempted to
buy into the former version "because you cannot rule
this out with Zesa".
For how long are we to endure the blackouts. In
fact, Zesa seems to have a
blackout of solutions.
The power utility
has admitted things are not well in its stable but this is
a story we have
become so used to over the years. It has been told from
different angles.
Various scripts to the drama have been written and they
all have a common
rating: UNIMPRESSIVE!
The Zesa "moto muzhinji" beat has since
faded.
Last month acting Zesa chairman Professor Christopher Chetsanga
said
equipment breakdowns and malfunctioning units at Hwange Power Station
were
some of the constraints Zesa was facing, saying these needed about
US$30
million.
Furthermore, the power utility, which imports 35
percent of total local
requirements, was failing to get the usual supplies
because some of its
sources, which include the Democratic Republic of Congo,
Mozambique and
South Africa, were also facing dwindling production hence
they could not
meet export requirements as was the case in the
past.
What did all this mean? More blackouts, warned Professor
Chetsanga.
In the meantime, households, industry and other institutions
continue to
suffer.
Elsewhere in this paper we carry a story in which
cellular service providers
have said worsening congestion on their networks
is as a result of power
blackouts by Zesa.
They say base stations
automatically switch off when they go for three hours
without
electricity.
Their only alternative is to install generators which they
say will
translate into higher tariff charges because the generators are
expensive
and they also gobble huge amounts of fuel.
This leaves
subscribers caught between a rock and a hard place.
There is need for the
relevant stakeholders to craft strategies that will
bring more power to
homes, offices, industries and other consumers. Zesa
seems to be lights out
in terms of finding solutions so the powers-that-be
need to come to its
rescue.
Of course, 2007 is set to present challenges to the entire region
in terms
of power shortfalls but we have not seen much in terms of
preparedness on
the part of Zesa.
We can only hope that we will soon
have all the six units running at Hwange
Power Station and equipment
serviced or bought for other units as the power
utility seeks more foreign
currency to import the balance.
We are renowned as a country for having
the brains that are making regional
economies tick. It's high time we taped
on some of these brains locally and
even in the Diaspora as we seek lasting
solutions to the electricity issues,
among others that will bring light to
this our economy.
15 Feb 2007 14:45:00 GMT
Source: WFP
Reuters and AlertNet
are not responsible for the content of this article or
for any external
internet sites. The views expressed are the author's
alone.
WFP has said a WFP-chartered helicopter had started
rescue and food delivery
missions in central Mozambique where the worst
flooding in years has forced
an estimated 85,000 people to flee their
homes.
A WFP-chartered Mi-8 helicopter, flying from the town of Caia and
coordinated by the government's National Institute for Disaster Management
(INGC), delivered 2.5 metric tons of WFP food on Wednesday (14 February) to
an accommodation centre in Shamrrucha for people displaced by the
floods.
The helicopter also began rescue missions yesterday, flying
to Cocorico
island, where 120 people were trapped by floodwaters. The Mi-8
is continuing
food delivery missions from its Caia base
today.
Flooded rivers
WFP and its partners began
distributing food aid this week to 2,000 people
in temporary accommodation
centres in Caia district and 6,100 people in
Mutarara district of Tete
Province.
Some 10,000 litres of JetA1 fuel for the helicopter arrived
today in Caia by
road.
Heavy rains in central and northern
Mozambique and neighbouring Malawi,
Zambia and Zimbabwe over the last month
flooded the Zambezi, Chire and
Rivubue rivers in Tete, Manica, Sofala and
Zambezia provinces.
Heavy downpours
The
800-kilometre-long Lower Zambezi River in Mozambique is above alert
levels.
Flood waters in Mutarara, Caia and Marromeu districts are nearing
levels
last seen during the catastrophic Mozambique floods of 2001.
A total
of about 10,000 people affected by the Zambezi Valley floods have so
far
received WFP food.
The INGC said yesterday the situation was under
control, but with nearly a
month left in the rainy season and continued
heavy downpours in neighbouring
Zambia and Malawi, the situation could
worsen in the weeks ahead.
The INGC reports that the floods have
displaced 85,000 people, of whom
29,000 are sheltering in accommodation
centres.
Zambezi
The Lower Zambezi is still being fed
through tributaries by rains from
neighbouring countries such as
Zambia.
The Cahora Bassa Dam in Tete province yesterday reduced its
discharge rate
to 6,000 cubic metres per second compared with 8,400 cubic
metres per second
at the weekend.
Influx to the dam was 10,000
cubic metres per second last week but the
discharge was then lowered both
because of a reduced influx and to protect
downstream dykes near
communities.
Dam
If the government can control the dam
outflows and rains in neighbouring
countries decline, flooding on a scale
similar to 2001 could be averted.
The Government of Mozambique has
deployed troops to evacuate people from the
worst-hit areas, but some people
have refused to leave their homes, their
land and their
livestock.
The INGC also has a dozen boats that are ferrying people
to higher ground in
Caia district.
Appeal
WFP and
other in-country humanitarian agencies will soon launch an appeal to
support
the Mozambique government's efforts to contain the crisis.
WFP's
portion of the appeal is expected to include food aid, air operations
to
participate in the rescue and delivery of relief supplies, and
telecommunications to facilitate government coordination of the humanitarian
response.
The INGC estimates that 285,000 people in Mozambique
may need food and other
assistance for the next few months in a worst-case
scenario.
Crops lost
An estimated 40,000 hectares of crops
have been lost in Mozambique under the
floods. Crops are currently in their
peak growing and development period
ahead of the April/May
harvest.
So far this year, flooding has also hit Angola, Madagascar,
Malawi, Zambia,
and Zimbabwe. WFP has responded across the region, but faces
a critical
shortfall in funding for all its operations in southern Africa,
requiring
US$105 million through to the end of 2007.
Contact
us
Michael Huggins
WFP/Caia
Satphone: + 88 216 2111 0121
Cell.:
+27-82-908-1448
michael.huggins@wfp.org
Peter
Smerdon
WFP/Nairobi
Tel. +254 207 622 179
Cell. +254 733 528 911
peter.smerdon@wfp.org
Brenda
Barton
Deputy Director
Communications
WFP/Rome
Tel.
+39-06-65132602
Cell. +39-3472582217
(ISDN line available)
brenda.barton@wfp.org
Gregory
Barrow
WFP/London
Tel. +44-20-72409001
Cell. +44-7968-008474
gregory.barrow@wfp.org
Christiane
Berthiaume
WFP/Geneva
Tel. +41-22-9178564
Cell.
+41-792857304
christiane.berthiaume
@wfp.org
Cécile
Sportis
WFP/Paris
Tel. +33-1-70385330
Cell. +33-6161-68266
cecile.sportis@wfp.org
Jennifer
Parmelee
WFP/Washington
Tel. +1-202-6530010
Ext. 1149
Cell.:
+1-202-4223383
jennifer.parmelee
@wfp.org
Bettina
Luescher
WFP/New York
Tel. +1-212-9635196
Cell. +1-646-8241112
luescher@un.org
IPSnews
Baradan
Kuppusamy
Kuala Lumpur, Feb 15 (IPS) - By setting up a war crimes
tribunal to 'try'
those responsible for torture and death in Iraq, Lebanon
and Palestine,
Malaysia's former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad may have
scored a few
political points, but he has also revived public memory of his
own iron
rule.
Mahathir announced the formation of the
tribunal at the end of a three-day
international conference that he
organised in the Malaysian capital, last
week, to 'criminalise' war. But
embarrassed officials and indignant rights
activists are still to come to
terms with the idea of Mahathir being its
leading light.
In a fiery
opening speech, Mahathir slammed the United States President
George W. Bush,
British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his favourite regional
whipping boy
Prime Minister John Howard of Australia as war criminals who
should be tried
and punished.
He praised the 'resistance' in Iraq and declared that the
only way the U.S.
will withdraw from the country is for more U.S. soldiers
to head home in
body bags.
The conference, Mahathir's statements and
the Kuala Lumpur tribunal have all
caused uproar, with some Malaysians
saying Mahathir is unfit for the job
while others praise him for "biting the
bullet."
His supporters see him as a hero who dares to take on the
world's only super
power while his detractors say he is just a village bully
shouting his head
off to get attention.
In letters to editors and
over the Internet, Malaysians are fiercely
debating the merits and worth of
the tribunal and Mahathir's own 'fitness'
for the initiative.
The
Malaysian government itself rushed to put distance between itself and
Mahathir's blunt and even shocking statements.
Foreign Minister Syed
Hamid Albar said the conference and the tribunal were
''independent
efforts''by the former prime minister -- who retired in 2003
after 22 years
of authoritarian rule during which he transformed Malaysia
from a backwater
country into an industrial powerhouse.
''I don't think our ties with the
U.S. and Britain will be hurt,'' Hamid
told local reporters.
As if on
cue, Malaysian newspapers played down the "anti-U.S. rhetoric" of
the
conference which was attended by about 3,000 people including foreign
peace
activists, writers, lawyers and judges.
Like other 'private' war crimes
tribunals, the Kuala Lumpur version is
symbolic and does not have the legal
authority needed to summon individuals
or impose penalties.
It plans
to hold name-and-shame 'mock' trials based on complaints by Iraqis
and
Palestinians against leaders like Bush, Blair, Howard and Israel's
former
prime minister Ariel Sharon.
Mahathir said the tribunal was necessary as
an alternative to the
International Criminal Court in The Hague, which he
accused of bias in its
selection of cases. "The one punishment that most
leaders are afraid of is
to go down in history with a certain label attached
to them," he said at a
concluding press conference.
"We cannot arrest
them, we cannot detain them, and we cannot hang them the
way they hanged
Saddam Hussein but we can label them as war criminals
..that's how history
will seem them," he said.
''There are people who take the tribunal
seriously," he added, however.
''This is not a show.'' But that is exactly
what his critics are
disputing -- saying that the whole thing is a show and
a political gimmick.
''The proposal for a war crimes tribunal in Kuala
Lumpur is a farce and will
make Malaysia and Malaysians a laughing stock
internationally,'' said Param
Cumaraswamy, a respected lawyer and former
U.N. Special Rapporteur on the
Independence of Judges and
Lawyers.
''It could deter respectable and credible foreign investors from
investing
in this country if our system permits such a circus to take place
here,'' he
said in a statement.
Cumaraswamy said the Mahathir
government did not sign the Rome Statute of
the International Criminal Court
to try war crimes and genocide agreed to by
most member states of the United
Nations in 1998.
''He never bothered. The Malaysian government to this
date is not a
signatory to the statute,'' he said. In numerous letters to
the independent
Malaysiakini.com news portal, writers criticised not so much
the idea of a
war crimes tribunal but that Mahathir is heading
it.
''A tribunal should be impartial and have members with an
unimpeachable
record and with moral authority,'' one letter said, accusing
Mahathir of
"dictatorship" during his rule.
''He ruined democratic
institutions in Malaysia to such an extent that it
will take generations to
restore,'' the anonymous writer said.
The writer accused Mahathir of
ignoring the ''genocide in East Timor,
supporting the junta in Myanmar
(Burma), Pinochet in Argentina and Robert
Mugabe in Zimbabwe.''
"Dr
Mahathir's hands are not clean," said human rights lawyer P.Uthayakumar.
"The formation of the commission is excellent and we uphold and encourage it
but it is embarrassing that Dr Mahathir heads it," he said in a
statement.
During his administration Mahathir kept up a hard line against
Israel and
Jews in general. He blamed Jews for the collapse of the Malaysian
ringgit
during the 1997 Asian financial crisis that wiped out billions of
dollars in
private wealth.
In his final political retirement speech
he accused Jews of controlling the
U.S. and unleashing wars across the globe
for political domination and
access to natural resources.
However,
the sharpest criticism heard against Mahathir is for his sacking
and
ill-treatment in custody of his deputy Anwar Ibrahim.
Anwar spend six
years in jail on charges of sodomy and abuse of power,
charges that he said
were trumped up. His trial was slammed as 'kangaroo
court' and condemned
internationally. Anwar's convictions were overturned in
2004 after Mahathir
left office and Anwar was released by the country's apex
court.
Many
Malaysians welcome the setting up of the Malaysians war crimes tribunal
which they said raised the country's profile internationally.
''But
we don't want this commission to go the way of other war crimes
tribunal
established in Turkey in 2005 and Brussels in 2006,'' said one
human rights
activist.
The Kuala Lumpur tribunal is headed by a nine-member panel of
mostly
Malaysians and is led by a former judge Abdul Kadir
Sulaiman.
Many foreign participants at the seminar believed that
something concrete
may come out of the tribunal because it is led by
Mahathir, a politician.
''Earlier conferences are normally academic,
activist and theoretical --
nothing ever happens...it's all just talkŕthis
one different,'' said writer
and lecturer Kathryn Dyer.
Others felt
that people's tribunals were necessary because the international
institutions have shirked responsibility and failed humanity. "We the people
should find ways to readjust this failure. This tribunal says the people are
uncompromising on punishing war criminals," said Hana Bayaty, writer and
chief editor of 'Al-Ahram Weekly' in Iraq.
''It's necessary work.
It's the kind of work that will push the
international institutions to
perform the functions that they were founded
for and not doing,'' said
Cynthia McKinney, former member of the U.S. House
of
Representatives.
''Dr Mahathir is admirable, necessary and competent.
This isn't hot air.
This tribunal isn't going to give up,'' Mc Kinney
said.