These are the official results from Zimbabwe's presidential election run-off
held on June 27. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said he was pulling out of the ballot
five days before the election, but election officials said his withdrawal was a
nullity and his name remained on the ballot. The percentage turnout was 42 percent. 323284
Bulawayo
Robert Mugabe
Morgan Tsvangirai
Spoilt Votes
Harare
Robert Mugabe
Morgan Tsvangirai
Spoilt Votes
Manicaland
Robert Mugabe
Morgan Tsvangirai
Spoilt Votes
Masvingo
Robert Mugabe
Morgan Tsvangirai
Spoilt Votes
Mashonaland
West
Robert Mugabe
Morgan Tsvangirai
Spoilt Votes
Matabeleland
North
Robert Mugabe
Morgan Tsvangirai
Spoilt Votes
Matabeleland
South
Robert Mugabe
Morgan Tsvangirai
Spoilt Votes
Midlands
Robert Mugabe
Morgan Tsvangirai
Spoilt Votes
Mashonaland
East
Robert Mugabe
Morgan Tsvangirai
Spoilt Votes
Mashonaland
Central
Robert Mugabe
Morgan Tsvangirai
Spoilt Votes
TOTAL VOTES
Robert Mugabe
Morgan Tsvangirai
Spoilt Votes
PERCENTAGE
TURNOUT
By Andrew
Malone
Last updated at 1:25 AM on 30th June 2008
With pomp, ceremony and a massive dose of defiance, His Excellency Commander
Robert Gabriel Mugabe was yesterday sworn in as Zimbabwe's president.
Inside the oak-panelled rooms of State House, as fighter jets roared
overhead, he declared himself winner of an election in which he was the only
candidate.
Even before he took the oath, he had set in motion bloody recriminations
against those who worked against him.
Dictator: Robert Mugabe on his way to be sworn in, accompanied by guards
Secret documents outlining the strategy against the opposition Movement for Democratic Change have been seen by the Mail.
They reveal that, in the runup to the polls, Mugabe had plotted to 'eliminate
MDC agents' and ensure that the identity numbers of all voters were taken - so
they could be found later if they voted for the opposition.
The documents are from Mugabe's Joint Operational Command, a group of
military leaders tasked with ensuring he remained in power.
They state that forces are to 'kill MDC MPs' and that 'postal ballot boxes
were to be stuffed in remote areas by death squads (who) have been instructed to
abduct and kill whoever gets in his way'.
Mugabe has now issued a chilling warning that more violence is to come.
His election posters have been removed and replaced with signs stating: 'This
is the final battle for total control.'
The dictator, 84, had just as carefully choreographed yesterday's ceremony.
Uncontested: Robert Mugabe is sworn in as president today
Hailing a hollow victory: Mugabe makes an oath on the bible
Just before his swearing-in, state-controlled television declared that 'Mugabe, R.G' had won 2,150,269 votes compared to 233,000 for the opposition's Morgan Tsvangirai - an apparently stunning reversal of the first elections in March.
Official results said Mugabe won all ten provinces with 85.5 per cent of the
vote, but there were many spoiled ballots.
The ceremony at State House, where the former guerilla leader was handed
power by Ian Smith's white government in 1980, was planned last week.
Mugabe sang the national anthem as his troops fired a volley of shots in a
tent erected on the lawn.
Amid unprecedented security for the inauguration, with soldiers patrolling
the streets and helicopters hovering overhead, he then took the oath for his
sixth term in office.
As he spoke, Chinese-built MIG fighter jets screamed overhead.
In an extraordinary act of brazen cheek, Mugabe invited Mr Tsvangirai, the leader of the MDC, to the swearing-in ceremony.
A man and his family look at preliminary results from the election in Harare
Mr Tsvangirai pulled out of the elections a week earlier fearing a bloodbath, and has been given refuge in the Dutch embassy in Harare ever since.
He turned down the yesterday's invitation.
'The whole inauguration is meaningless,' he said. 'I can't give support to an exercise I am totally opposed to. The people of Zimbabwe will not give this exercise legitimacy.'
After the ceremony, Mugabe's official Mercedes swept out of State House,
flanked by armoured vehicles with sirens blaring.
The toll of his victory was laid bare at one Zimbabwe hospital yesterday, in
wards choked with victims of appalling brutality by the secret police.
Most had shattered limbs after being beaten with iron bars. Burning plastic
had been dripped on others.
Some had iron hooks pushed through their faces and arms.
And gangrene is widespread: many victims took days to reach the hospital
after being warned they would be killed if they showed anyone their wounds.
Their president was last night heading off for a meeting of African leaders
in Egypt.
Sources close to him revealed he was 'furious and on the warpath'. Because, for the first time in his 28-year rule, Mugabe is facing condemnation from his neighbours including Kenya's prime minister Raila Odinga.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, left, meets with unidentified Zimbabwean electoral officials in Harare yesterday - the day after the country went to the polls in a runoff election which has been condemned as not being free, fair or democratic because of the hostile atmosphere in the country
Botswana also called for Mugabe to go. Michael Otinga, a government minister, said: 'We Africans were oppressed by whites, fought wars of liberation, and now we are allowing blacks to oppress blacks.'
Yet Western leaders are reluctant to step in.
Still haunted by intervention in Somalia in 1990, when the bodies of American
soldiers were dragged through the streets, the U.S. is privately lobbying for an
'African solution to an African problem'.
But President George Bush yesterday condemned the violence that left up to
500 dead.
And Gordon Brown pledged 'substantial' help rebuilding the country if
democracy was restored.
Foreign Office minister Lord Malloch-Brown went a step further, saying: 'What
you cannot accept is the status quo continuing - President Mugabe has to go.'
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has been declared landslide winner of a widely condemned election in which he was the only candidate and which African observers said was scarred by violence and intimidation.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew a week ago saying a systematic campaign of violence, which killed nearly 90 of his followers, made a free and fair vote impossible.
The ballot was held in defiance of much world opinion.
Business Day
30 June 2008
Dumisani Muleya
Harare Correspondent
PRESIDENT Thabo
Mbeki will recognise Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who
was inaugurated
yesterday for a further five-year term after he won a
one-man election race,
in a bid to find a negotiated settlement to Zimbabwe's
political
crisis.
"Mbeki wants Mugabe endorsed in the interests of his mediation,"
a source
close to the Zimbabwe talks said. "If he says Mugabe's re-election
is
illegitimate, he won't be able to continue in his mediation
role."
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said Mugabe won 85,5% of the
vote on
Friday, compared with 43,2% in the March election, which Morgan
Tsvangirai
won with 47,9 %. The commission said voter turnout was 42,4%,
almost exactly
the same as on March 29, raising suspicions of ballot
fraud.
Mbeki's move to endorse Mugabe's purported victory after
Tsvangirai pulled
out would divide the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) and the
African Union (AU), already rocked by wrangling
over Zimbabwe.
The Pan-African Parliament has rejected
Mugabe's re-election and called for
a rerun, highlighting divisions in
Africa over the issue.
Marwick Khumalo, who led a team of election
observers from across the
continent under the auspices of the AU-sponsored
Pan-African Parliament,
said yesterday: "The atmosphere prevailing did not
give rise to the conduct
of free, fair and credible
elections."
Khumalo called for a fresh election to be held "as soon
as possible" and
urged African and regional leaders to "engage the broader
political
leadership in Zimbabwe about a negotiated transitional
settlement".
Mbeki, SADC's mediator in Zimbabwe, did not attend a
regional meeting on the
country's crisis in Swaziland last week. SADC
leaders present condemned the
violence in Zimbabwe, saying the environment
did not support a free and fair
election.
Sources said SADC would in
the end claim Mugabe's election was "legitimate,
although not free and
fair". This would be similar to the position taken by
Mbeki's government in
2002 after Mugabe's controversial reelection then.
Mbeki's key envoys
on the Zimbabwe crisis, Provincial and Local Government
Minister Sydney
Mufamadi and legal adviser Mujanku Gumbi, spent two weeks in
Zimbabwe trying
to find a breakthrough.
Mufamadi and Gumbi returned to SA on Friday after
meeting all three
negotiating parties - the two factions of the opposition
Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) and Mugabe's ruling Zanu (PF). Sources
said Mbeki's
team secured firm commitments to dialogue and the need for a
government of
national unity.
"There is now common ground but the
question is what kind of arrangement
will this dialogue produce?" another
source said.
Both Mugabe and Tsvangirai have expressed willingness to
talk and it now
appears necessary for them to find a way of working
together.
Mugabe wants to be on top, while on the basis of his win in
March Tsvangirai
also wants the leading role. Tsvangirai beat Mugabe in
March but failed to
get enough of a majority to form a
govern-ment.
Mugabe has been softening up since last week on the
issue of talking to
Tsvangirai. Yesterday he showed he was amenable by
inviting Tsvangirai to
his inauguration. Mugabe spokesman George Charamba
said the invitation was
issued "in the spirit of the president's wish to
reach out ... towards
political engagement".
Tsvangirai rejected
the invitation, saying the inauguration was pointless
after an illegitimate
poll.
" I can't give support to an exercise I'm opposed to. The whole
world has
condemned it, the Zimbabwean people will not give this exercise
legitimacy
or support."
But Tsvangirai said he was prepared to talk
and suggested Mugabe could be a
ceremonial president and he prime
minister.
Before any agreement was reached, the MDC leader said, he
would ask the AU
not to recognise Mugabe's re-election.
AU leaders
are meeting today in Egypt. Mbeki and other leaders are pressing
Mugabe to
form a government of national unity with Tsvangirai.
Sources said Mbeki
would soon be sending his envoys to Harare to work out
the details.
URGENT MEDIA RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
29 June 2008
Renewed farm attacks and abductions took
place in Zimbabwe on June 29, the
day of Robert Mugabe's contentious
inauguration as President, and coincided
with the release of the Pan-African
Election Observer Mission's highly
critical interim statement on the
Parliamentary run-off election.
In Chegutu, a small
farming town south of Harare, Frank Trott
was badly beaten on his Twyford
farm. It is believed that the assailant was
Gilbert Moyo, a notorious "war
veteran" who is reported to have spearheaded
farm invasions and evictions in
the Chegutu district.
The armed gang then went to
Mount Carmel farm, owned by Mike
Campbell (75), whose family and workers
have been subjected to repeated
attacks and threats of eviction during the
past six years.
Ben Freeth, Campbell's son-in-law,
received a warning phone from
Campbell's son, Bruce, asking him to tell his
parents to get out
immediately.
Freeth's vehicle was blocked
before he reached the main house, which had
been forcibly broken into by the
mob. When Bruce arrived shortly
afterwards, around 40 shots were fired at
him, so he was forced to retreat.
According to reports, Mike
Campbell, his wife Angela and Ben Feeth were
badly assaulted in the house
and then removed from the farm in one of the
vehicles.
In the
interim, Bruce drove to Freeth's house and told Laura Freeth and her
children to escape through the back fence while he followed the vehicles
driven by the assailants.
The convoy, including Mike
Campbell's Prado, which had been stolen, together
with a red pick-up truck
and a combi, travelled to Stockdale farm.
The owners of Stockdale
farm, the Ethridges, had been forcibly evicted by
Moyo and others on June
17.
Bruce fired shots at the attackers' vehicles but the fire was
returned and
he was unable to proceed.
It is believe that the
group then proceeded from Stockdale Farm to the
Bronkhorst's property where
looting took place.
An employee at Bronkhorst's farm confirmed
seeing the Campbells and Freeth
badly beaten up. They were in the back of
the red pickup.
The police at Chegutu have provided six armed
personnel after receiving
instructions from the Provincial Police Officer.
They have attended on
Stockdale Farm but have not managed to locate the
Campbells and Freeth.
SADC Tribunal test
case
Mike Campbell is the second applicant in the Southern African
Development
Community (SADC) Tribunal farm test case.
Over
the past six years he has been subjected to a relentless barrage of
attacks
but has refused to leave the land he purchased legally in
1999.
His farm workers - perceived to be Movement for
Democratic
Change supporters - have also been the terrorised and
abused.
The Zanu PF Secretary for Information and Publicity,
Nathan Shamuyarira has
been implicated in an attempt to take over Campbell's
farm.
Campbell first appealed against the seizure of his property
to the Supreme
Court in Harare but although the hearing took place in March
2007, nine
months later judgement had still not been handed
down.
As a last resort, he took his case to the Southern African
Development
Community (SADC) Tribunal in Windhoek,
Namibia.
In December, the Tribunal barred the Mugabe government
from evicting him
pending a final ruling on his
application.
The next Tribunal hearing on the case
will be July 16.
Campbell, together with 76 other white farmers, will be
represented by South
African Advocate Adrian De
Bourbon.
These continuing events warrant the
application before the SADC
Tribunal to be set down
urgently.
The possibility of death is now a real
concern as the SADC
Interveners and Campbell would appear to be singled out
for punishment.
Trott is currently receiving medical
treatment in Harare.
ENDS
Zimbabwe
Republic Police
Police Station Chegutu: Tel: +263 53 2209 /
2411
Police Station Chegutu: Tel: +263 53 2974 Member in
Charge
Police Station Chegutu: Tel: +263 53 3473 DA
Criminal
Investigation Dept+263 53 3699
Inspector Ganyani (MEC) Cell: +263
91 264 0537 or 11 562 759
Justice for Agriculture
Mr
John Worsley-Worswick
Cell: +263 11 610 073
Cell: +263 912 326
965
Background
information:
Mugabe's so-called "land reform" programme has in
reality been a mechanism
for rewarding and enriching loyal ruling Zanu PF
party elite.
Beneficiaries of the most productive commercial
farms across the country
include senior army, air force and police officers,
Zanu PF ministers and
Mugabe cronies, Mr Mugabe, his wife Grace and nephew
Leo Mugabe, a high
profile cleric and judges.
After the March
29 poll, the army threatened to evict the country's few
remaining white
farmers if a single vote was cast for Morgan Tsvangirai in
the presidential
run-off.
In the run-up to the March 29 elections and June 27
run-off poll, food was
used extensively as a weapon, with desperately needed
food aid being
commandeered for Zanu PF supporters and denied to MDC
members.
More than 5 million people will suffer food
insecurity in the
next nine months. This is a direct result of the
destruction Zimbabwe's
internationally acclaimed commercial farming
sector.
The figure of five million is a million more than the
previous year, the
Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and World Food
Programme (WFP) said
in its crop assessment forecast released on June
18.
Independent experts believe the Zimbabwean population has
shrunk from an
estimated 12.5 million in 2000 to between seven and eight
million people.
ENDS
Submitted
by:
Mrs Glyn Hunter
Glyn Hunter International
Business Day
30 June 2008
Ernest
Mabuza
THE Democratic Alliance (DA) said yesterday there
was an
"overwhelming case" for Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to be
tried at
the International Criminal Court for crimes against
humanity.
DA leader Helen Zille said this after two DA
members of the
Southern African Development Community electoral observer
mission returned
yesterday, and denounced Friday' s runoff presidential
election as a cynical
farce.
Mugabe won in all 10
provinces, according to the Zimbabwe
Electoral
Commission.
Zille said she would request United Nations
(UN)
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to put human rights violations in
Zimbabwe on
the UN Security Council agenda with a view to an inquiry into
"human rights
abuses perpetuated by Robert Mugabe and the Zanu (PF)
leadership and its
youth militia".
She wanted the
secretary- general of the UN to refer the matter
to the chief prosecutor of
the International Criminal Court to open a
criminal investigation into
crimes against humanity committed by the Mugabe
regime.
In her observer report, DA MP Dianne Kohler
Barnard said the
youth militia had usurped the roles of the police and
military by manning
roadblocks and conducting searches of civilian
vehicles.
"What we have witnesses in Zimbabwe these past
weeks has been
the complete reversal of a generally respectful society,
which revered
education and the country's elders, into one in which
uneducated youngsters
hold down these adults and deliberately beat them as a
means to humiliate
them," Kohler-Barnard said.
New York Sun
By LOUIS
WESTON and PETA THORNYCROFT, The Daily Telegraph
June 30, 2008
HARARE,
Zimbabwe - President Mugabe was last night sworn in to a sixth term
as
president of Zimbabwe, extending his 28 years in power after officials
proclaimed he had been re-elected by a landslide.
Maintaining the
fiction that the vote was a contested poll, the Zimbabwe
Election Commission
said that Mr. Mugabe received 2,150,269 votes - or more
than 85% - against
233,000 for Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the
opposition Movement for
Democratic Change who won the first round in March.
Between the two polls
Mr. Mugabe's Zanu-PF movement launched a campaign of
violence against the
opposition in which at least 86 people were killed, and
Mr. Tsvangirai
pulled out of the election.
"This is an unbelievable joke and act of
desperation on the part of the
regime," the MDC's spokesman, Nelson Chamisa,
said. "It qualifies for the
Guinness Book of Records as joke of the year.
Mugabe will never win an
election except when he's contesting against
himself."
Prayers at the inauguration were led by an Anglican ally who
broke away from
the church, Nolbert Kunonga. "We thank you Lord for this
unique and
miraculous day," he said. "You have not failed our leader." Mr.
Mugabe waved
a Bible as he recited "so help me God," to cheers from his
supporters.
Mr. Tsvangirai was invited to the event but declined. "The
inauguration is
meaningless," he said. "The world has said so, Zimbabwe has
said so. So it's
an exercise in self-delusion."
Ambassadors in Harare
were conspicuous by their absence from the event.
Although Mr. Mugabe
offered to hold talks with the opposition the absence of
the word
"negotiations" was noticeable and analysts said he intends to
remain in
office as long as possible.
"It is my hope that sooner rather than later,
we shall as diverse political
parties hold consultations towards such
serious dialogue as will minimize
our difference and enhance the area of
unity and co-operation," Mr. Mugabe
said.
Election observers from the
Southern African Development Community said that
the poll failed to reflect
the will of the people.
Almost 400,000 Zimbabweans defied the threat of
violent retribution by Mr.
Mugabe's thugs to vote against him or spoil their
ballot papers, official
results released on yesterday show.
According
to the Zimbabwe Election Commission's figures, the turnout of 42%
was almost
exactly the same as the first round.
But many polling stations were
virtually deserted throughout election day.
Papers were spoiled.
With
21,127 votes in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second largest city and an
opposition
stronghold, Mr. Mugabe lost to the combined total of 13,291 votes
for Mr.
Tsvangirai and 9,166 spoiled papers.
Only a few independent observers
were accredited for the election.
And the Zimbabwe Election Support
Network - which mounted the most
comprehensive monitoring exercise in the
first round - pulled out in
protest.
Consequently, no unbiased
verification of the figures is possible and the
true tallies may never be
known.
For weeks, Zanu-PF militias have terrorized Zimbabweans, warning
them they
will launch Operation Red Finger, which will target anyone whose
digit is
not marked with ink to show that they cast a vote.
They will
also target anyone who checks show to have backed Mr Tsvangirai.
The Telegraph
Last
Updated: 12:01am BST 30/06/2008
The abhorrent spectacle of
Robert Mugabe being inaugurated as
president after Friday's sham election
has prompted widespread revulsion,
nowhere more so than in Africa itself.
The days when Mugabe could rely on
the embarrassed silence of his neighbours
as he trampled on the liberties of
his countrymen are over.
Kenya's prime minister, Raila Odinga, has called for African Union
troops to
be deployed to Zimbabwe, saying that the election was "a fake
victory and we
do not recognise it". Nelson Mandela's attack last week on
Zimbabwe's
"tragic failure of leadership" was an especially welcome
intervention, as
were the comments yesterday by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the
Nobel peace
prize winner, who called on African leaders to tell Mr Mugabe
that "you are
unwelcome any longer, you are illegitimate, and we will not
recognise your
administration in any shape or form".
With evidence of the
brutality of Zanu/PF during the election still
emerging - an 11-month-old
baby had both legs broken by Mugabe's thugs who
were hunting his opposition
councillor father - it is vital for the
condemnation to be matched by
action. The Archbishop of York, John Sentamu,
accusing Mugabe of
"slow-motion genocide", has called for immediate
sanctions, pointing out
that African states were prepared to isolate Ian
Smith's regime, so they
ought to do the same to Mr Mugabe's.
Given Zimbabwe's reliance on
its neighbours for oil and electricity,
short-term, targeted sanctions
(which should include the seizure of the
assets of leading regime members)
could play a vital role in loosening the
dictator's grip. Such action risks
hurting the people it is designed to
help. But the courageous people of
Zimbabwe, so many of whom defied Mugabe's
terror tactics on Friday, may
think that is a price worth paying.
"Telegraph view" is written by
our team of leader writers and
commentators. This team includes David
Hughes, Philip Johnston, Simon
Heffer, Janet Daley, Con Coughlin, Robert
Colvile, Iain Martin and Alex
Singleton.
VOA
By Peter Clottey
Washington, D.C.
30 June
2008
Some Zimbabweans have described as a façade President
Robert Mugabe's offer
for peace negotiations with main opposition Movement
for Democratic Change
(MDC). They claimed such a gesture would not help
alleviate the suffering of
ordinary Zimbabweans since the ruling ZANU-PF
party had sabotaged previous
negotiations aimed at resolving the country's
economic and political crisis.
Mr. Mugabe made his offer soon after he was
sworn in yesterday (Sunday)
after winning the country's presidential
run-off, which the outside world
condemned as a sham. Main opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out of
the run-off after accusing the government of
sponsoring violence against its
supporters to ensure victory. Glen Mpani is
the regional coordinator for the
transitional justice program of the Center
for the Study of Violence and
Reconciliation in Cape Town, South Africa. He
tells reporter Peter Clottey
President Mugabe is not
trustworthy.
"The reaction from his statement is that of something that
is unbelievable,
and something that all quarters within Zimbabwe and outside
should treat
with a lot of suspicion, and there is a lot of insincerity in
his comments.
Prior to this election the MDC and the international community
and regional
players within Africa were calling for the run-off to be called
off and for
him to negotiate, and he basically refused flat out. The
question now is
what is it that has motivated him now to see the reason that
there is need
to negotiate? Is it because of his one-man presidential
election? I doubt
very much his sincerity," Mpani pointed out.
He
said President Mugabe's call for negotiations with the opposition is a
set
up, which would make things difficult for the MDC in the coming
months.
"I think any call to negotiation would simply be to try and
muzzle and put
the MDC into a corner, and come up with an arrangement that
is heavily
skewed towards ZANU-PF," he said.
Mpani said the ruling
party missed the opportunity for negotiations with the
opposition to resolve
the country's crisis.
"I think the timing for negotiation is long overdue
to negotiate. But I
think the challenge that is simply there is that if they
are going to be
negotiating, they (MDC) should not negotiate on the premise
of the recently
held one-man presidential election because one, it's an
illegitimate
election that was not free and fair. I think they should
negotiate on the
premise of the March 29 election, which was basically
regarded as a free and
fair election. Recognizing this one-man presidential
election is basically
allowing negotiated process on a baseless foundation,
and sooner or later it
will implode," Mpani noted.
He said the
opposition MDC has few options available to challenge the
legitimacy of Mr.
Mugabe's presidency.
"It is certain that there is no other option than
for the opposition to go
back to the people of Zimbabwe because as we can
hear now the regional
players are all now pushing forward towards
recognizing Mugabe as the
president. Thabo Mbeki (South Africa's president)
is leading that process
and I know fully well that because there is no one
within the African Union
or there is no precedence that has been set before,
they are going to push
that he (Mugabe) be recognized. And they will like to
urge Morgan Tsvangirai
to go to a negotiated settlement that is in favor of
the ruling party, but
what will that bring to the people of Zimbabwe?" he
asked.
Mpani said the opposition MDC would be at a disadvantage in any
negotiation
with the ruing ZANU-PF party.
"We are going to have a
latest pact or negotiation that is not going to
transform the institutions
in Zimbabwe. The police that have been highly
politicized, the army and the
courts. That is not going to transform the
economy within Zimbabwe because
Mugabe has got a challenge in terms of
challenging those things because they
are the ones that have been able to
allow him that presidency that he has so
he will not disband those. Even if
they agree, there is not gong to be any
change within Zimbabwe. So, I think
he (Tsvangirai) has to go back to the
people of Zimbabwe and say what is it
that we can be able to do? And I think
Zimbabweans need to know that they
are their own liberators, despite how
difficult the environment is. I think
they need to come up with methods and
mechanisms to confront the
government," Mpani pointed out.
ABC Australia
Posted 43
minutes ago
UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon has criticised Zimbabwe's
election as
"deeply flawed," saying the result was not
legitimate.
President Robert Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since
independence in 1980,
was sworn in on Sunday (local time) barely an hour
after the election
commission declared he won more than 85 per cent of the
votes cast.
"The secretary-general has said repeatedly that conditions
were not in place
for a free and fair election and observers have confirmed
this from the
deeply flawed process," Mr Ban's spokeswoman, Marie Okabe,
said in statement
as the UN head visited Tokyo.
"The outcome did not
reflect the true and genuine will of the Zimbabwean
people or produce a
legitimate result."
Mr Mugabe had lost the first round to Opposition
Leader Morgan Tsvangirai,
who pulled out of the run-off election citing a
campaign of violence against
his supporters.
Mr Ban "encourages
efforts of the two sides to negotiate a political
solution that would end
violence and intimidation," the statement said.
It said that the UN was
"ready to help in any way possible to produce this
result," noting that
deputy UN chief Asha-Rose Migiro and Mr Ban's Zimbabwe
envoy Haile Menkerios
were at the African summit opening Monday in Egypt.
- AFP
Aljazeera
Monday, June 30, 2008
07:36 Mecca time, 04:36 GMT
An African Union summit is set to open in Sharm
el-Shiekh amid growing calls
for African leaders to shun Robert Mugabe, the
Zimbabwean president, over
his widely discredited
re-election.
Mugabe, sworn in for a sixth term on Sunday, having
been declared the winner
after opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai
withdrew because of violence,
was expected to arrive in Egypt for the
summit.
"A discussion will certainly take place at the level of
heads of state and
if there is a decision to take it will be taken at the
level of the Union's
summit," El-Ghassim Wane, AU commission spokesman, said
late on Sunday.
Tsvangirai has dubbed the election a "sham" and
Mugabe's inauguration
"meaningless".
Mugabe for
dialogue
Apparently seeking to temper potential African
hostility, Mugabe used his
swearing-in to call for dialogue and heaped
praise on the much criticised
efforts of South African President Thabo Mbeki
to mediate the crisis.
"It is my hope that sooner rather than
later, we shall as diverse political
parties hold consultations towards such
serious dialogue as will minimise
our difference and enhance the area of
unity and co-operation," Mugabe said.
So far there has been no
consensus among the AU's 53 member states, with the
pan-African body issuing
diplomatic statements and pushing for a
power-sharing arrangement between
Mugabe and Tsvangirai's Movement for
Democratic Change
(MDC).
The Southern African Development Community (SADC), which
has been leading
mediation efforts to resolve the crisis, "are in
consultation to put a text
to the summit on how to end the Zimbabwe crisis,
notably power-sharing
possibilities," a source close to the AU's Commission
said.
African leaders have warned that the crisis could
destabilise southern
Africa and that power cannot be handed entirely either
to Mugabe or to
Tsvangirai because of the country's political
polarisation.
"There is a need to bridge the gap," Meles Zenawi,
the Ethiopian prime
minister said on Sunday.
'African
shame'
Raila Odinga, the Kenyan prime minister and among Mugabe's
most vocal
critics, has called on the bloc to send troops into Zimbabwe, and
labelled
the Zimbabwean leader "a shame to Africa".
Desmond
Tutu, South African cleric and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, said on
Sunday
that "a very good argument can be made for having an international
force to
restore peace" in Zimbabwe under UN auspices.
A group of African
lawmakers who observed Friday's election run-off said the
results should be
scrapped and a new vote held.
George Bush, the US president, has
ordered additional sanctions to beef up
existing measures that include a
travel ban on Mugabe's inner circle and a
freeze on their bank accounts.
Yahoo News
Monday June 30, 01:48 PM
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe will confront
his
critics at an African Union summit on Monday, fresh from victory in a
one-candidate election which observers said was unfair because of violence
and intimidation.
Heads of state of the AU, meeting in Egypt, are likely
to press Mugabe to
enter talks with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to
end the political
crisis in a country where a hyperinflation-wrecked economy
has produced
millions of refugees.
U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice has urged support for international
action against Mugabe's
government, including U.N.-authorized sanctions and
an arms
embargo.
But the AU seems reluctant to back calls for sanctions, favoring
instead a
Kenyan-style power-sharing transition.
In an apparent
response to pressure for talks, the 84-year-old Mugabe -- who
has held power
for 28 years -- said in an inaugural speech on Sunday he was
committed to
dialogue with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC).
Tsvangirai has said the MDC was also committed to AU-sponsored
talks, though
no negotiations have started. But he said he would ask the AU
not to
recognize Mugabe's re-election.
The MDC said the AU should not
welcome Mugabe at the summit.
"I don't think it would be right for the
African Union to welcome him after
all he has done," MDC vice president
Thokozani Khupe said in Sharm el-Sheikh
in Egypt, the summit
venue.
"I think it is important that the African leaders break the
silence. It is
high time they call a spade a spade," said Khupe, adding she
had no plans to
talk to the Zimbabwean delegation on the sidelines of the
summit.
Mugabe left Harare on Sunday night to attend the summit, the
state-run
Herald newspaper said.
The AU summit may be split between
critics of Mugabe, like Kenya, and
opponents of any action against him led
by South African President Thabo
Mbeki, who has been widely criticized for
taking a soft line with his
neighbor.
NEW MANDATE
Kenya's
Prime Minister Raila Odinga was quoted on Sunday as saying the AU
should
deploy troops.
"What is happening in Zimbabwe is a shame and an
embarrassment to Africa in
the eyes of the international community and
should be denounced," he said.
But AU security chief Ramtane Lamamra
played down the prospects of
peacekeepers being sent.
Ethiopian Prime
Minister Meles Zenawi said it was important the two parties
talked, adding
it was too soon to talk of foreign peacekeeping forces being
sent to
Zimbabwe.
"There has to be some sort of negotiations between the
parties," he said.
"If not, polarization will be the result."
He
added: "There cannot be a sustainable solution to the Zimbabwean crisis
under the leadership of one or the other party."
Djibouti Foreign
Minister Mahamoud Ali Youssouf said Africa had to help
prevent civil war in
Zimbabwe.
Mugabe began another five-year term on Sunday after being
declared the
overwhelming winner of an election which poll monitors said was
marked by
violence and intimidation.
Mugabe, in power since
independence from Britain in 1980, was quickly sworn
in to allow him to
attend the summit.
Tsvangirai withdrew a week before the election, saying
a systematic campaign
of violence had made a free and fair ballot
impossible. Mugabe won 85.51
percent of the votes, according to the
Electoral Commission.
Human rights groups and witnesses accused
pro-Mugabe militias of forcing
people to vote in some areas.
Regional
observers said the ballot did not reflect the will of Zimbabweans,
adding
that pre-election conditions fell short of Southern African
Development
Community principles and guidelines for elections.
Pan-African parliament
observers said the election was so flawed it should
be
rerun.
(Writing by Gordon Bell and Barry Moody; editing by Andrew
Roche)
Khaleej Times
(AFP)
30 June 2008
WASHINGTON- British Prime Minister
Gordon Brown said in an interview aired
on Sunday that African governments
were no longer ready to tolerate
Zimbabwe's
'I think what's changed
fundamentally -- over the last few months, indeed --
is that African
leaders are no longer prepared to accept a regime which is
brutal, violent,
oppressive, intimidating its opposition and not allowing
fair and free
elections to take place,' Brown told CNN.
Brown's interview was broadcast
as Robert Mugabe was sworn in as Zimbabwe's
president after a one-man
election condemned around the world as
illegitimate.
'And I think
you've seen statement after statement from some of the leading
African
leaders, making it clear that this is no longer acceptable, and that
they
cannot stand by and see the reputation of Africa and of democracy in
Africa
sullied in this way,' he said.
Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai boycotted the election after
the run-up to the vote was wracked
by violence and intimidation.
After taking the oath of office at his
State House residence, the
84-year-old Mugabe issued an appeal for
'unity.'
But in an uncharacteristically sharp rebuke just hours after
results were
announced, observers from the 14-nation Southern African
Development
Community (SADC) said the election 'did not represent the will
of the
people.'
'The pre-election phase was characterised by
politically-motivated violence,
intimidation and displacements,' Angolan
Sports Minister Jose Marcos
Barrica, the head of the 400-strong team of
observers, said in a statement.
Brown said time was running out for
Mugabe.
'I believe that there will come a time when he will realize that
the rest of
Africa, leaders that he's worked with over the years, are no
longer prepared
to support the brutality and the violence and the oppression
of his regime.'
Brown also said Britain and other countries were
'prepared to contribute
substantially, financially to the reconstruction of
Zimbabwe' once democracy
was restored.
After fractious vote, leaders
must reject or affirm results.
Margaret Coker And Farai Mutsaka, Wall
Street Journal
30 Jun 2008 05:38
When Robert Mugabe, fresh from a
victory in a one-sided election and a
hastily arranged presidential
inauguration, joins an African heads-of-state
summit Monday, his colleagues
will face a choice: chastise him or cement his
claim as Zimbabwe's
legitimate ruler.
The crisis in Zimbabwe is expected to overshadow the
main agenda -- water
and sanitation issues -- at the 53-member African
Union's annual meeting in
Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
But despite
global denunciations that Zimbabwe's elections were a sham, it
is unclear
how decisively the African Union will handle the one-time
liberation leader.
At least six African presidents and a prime minister have
condemned the
actions of Mr. Mugabe, 84 years old, in his quest to extend
his 28-year
rule.
Zimbabwe's electoral commission Sunday confirmed an overwhelming
victory for
Mr. Mugabe in a runoff held Friday. Mr. Mugabe was the only
candidate after
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from the race
because of
intimidation and violence against his supporters.
Mr.
Mugabe won 85.5% of the votes, according to the government commission,
while
Mr. Tsvangirai, whose name was left on the ballot, garnered 10%.
Election
officials reported a 42% voter turnout, similar to that in the
first round
of voting in March, when Mr. Mugabe placed second in official
results, with
43% of the vote, behind Mr. Tsvangirai's 47%.
The election results,
described by Mr. Tsvangirai as an "exercise in
self-delusion," triggered a
fresh wave of international condemnation.
President George W. Bush announced
his intention to impose a new round of
sanctions against Mr. Mugabe and top
government officials. He also said the
United Nations Security Council
should enact an arms embargo against
Zimbabwe. Canada also declared new
sanctions on Mr. Mugabe and close
military officials.
Yet African
leaders assembling in Egypt made no immediate comment about the
poll numbers
or a scathing report issued earlier Sunday by African Union
election
observers. The report recommended a new election be held "as soon
as
possible" to correct irregularities. The recommendation was backed by a
400-person observation team from the Southern African Development Community,
a group traditionally close to Mr. Mugabe.
African Union election
observers, speaking at a news conference in Harare,
also recommended the
African Union promote a power-sharing accord between
Mr. Mugabe's Zanu-PF
party and Mr. Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic
Change to shore up
stability in a nation crumbling under the weight of
runaway
inflation.
"It's inconceivable under the present climate, the way the
political
landscape is, that Zanu-PF can go it alone," said the African
Union election
observers' spokesman, Marwick Khumalo.
Mr. Mugabe
appeared to acknowledge the cascade of complaints. During the
swearing-in
ceremony he curbed his trademark rhetoric of defiance and
adopted a tone of
reconciliation.
"It is my hope that sooner rather than later we shall, as
diverse political
parties, hold consultation toward...dialogue," the
president said, to the
cheers of supporters and the trills of a military
band.
Diplomats in southern Africa said African Union officials were
discussing
behind closed doors a recommendation for a Zimbabwe power-sharing
deal like
one hammered out in Kenya, where election irregularities last year
triggered
widespread violence.
A major sticking point in the
discussions is a role for Mr. Mugabe,
diplomats said. Mr. Tsvangirai, in an
interview with the Sunday Telegraph,
reiterated his willingness to sit in a
national unity government with Mr.
Mugabe's party and his proposal to give
Mr. Mugabe a ceremonial position as
president for life.
Yet African
leaders so far have been unwilling to force such a solution on
Mr. Mugabe,
especially South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has a close
relationship
with Mr. Mugabe and is scheduled to take over the leadership of
the African
Union in August.
Mr. Mbeki received special commendation in Mr. Mugabe's
inauguration speech.
Zimbabwe was "indebted" to Mr. Mbeki's mediation
efforts, he said.
Supporters of a tougher approach say Mr. Mbeki's soft
diplomacy isn't an
effective way to push Mr. Mugabe to a compromise.
http://zimbabwemetro.com
By Roy Chinamano ⋅ ©
zimbabwemetro.com ⋅ June 29, 2008 ⋅
Losing MDC candidates from the rival
faction led by Arther Mutambara
attended the swearing in of President Mugabe
at state house.
After the ceremony, Gabriel Chaibva, the spokesperson for the
Arthur
Mutambara-led MDC faction told ZBC Newsnet.
“I know there will
be criticism because I attended this ceremony. But in
times like this it is
crucial to put the past behind us and show the spirit
of constructive
engagement and dialogue as the only way forward. Victory is
sweet and defeat
is bitter, but as leaders we must learn to accept both and
work for the good
of the people.
“So in a small way, we are sending our message that it is
time for a new
spirit to govern the manner in which we engage each other,”
he said.
Other MDC officials at the function included Edwin
Mushoriwa,Priscilla
Mushonga and Job Sikhala.The three 2 term MPs lost their
seats to the MDC
led by Tsvangirai.
Reports say Mugabe invited
Tsvangirai and senior MDC officials to attend the
inauguration, but that
Tsvangirai shunned the event, describing it as
illegitimate.
ZEC
needed less than 48 hours to declare Mr. Mugabe the winner of the
run-off,
whereas the results of the first-round election March 29 were not
released
until May 2, more than a month later. That election gave Tsvangirai
47.9% of
the ballots, compared with 43.2% for Mr. Mugabe. The two MDC
groupings
claimed a parliamentary majority in the election.
Mr. Mugabe’s
inauguration was organized at top speed and went ahead at State
House late
Sunday afternoon.
Share and Enjoy:
http://www.hararetribune.com
By Phil Matibe
| Harare Tribune Contributor
Sunday, June 29, 2008 22:23
Opinion@hararetribune.com
THE
ANTI-TYRANNY TASKFORCE AGAINST ROBERT GABRIEL MUGABE and ASSOCIATES
The
present indictment contains charges against individuals who
committed serious
violations of international humanitarian law in
Zimbabwe where thousands of
men, women, and children were brutally
killed, and a large number of persons
were systematically raped, tortured
and maimed from April 1980 to
present.
The facts hereunder are true and correct according to the best
my
knowledge and belief.
Indictment I
Plaintiff: Philemon Matibe,
Taskforce Commander, Anti-Tyranny Taskforce,
a citizen of Zimbabwe, on his
own behalf and on behalf of all others
similarly situated, pursuant to his
rights under the United Nations, African
Union, European Union, International
Criminal Court and other relevant
charters and covenants charges:
ROBERT
GABRIEL MUGABE in his individual and personal capacity
with CRIMES AGAINST
HUMANITY (PERSECUTION, MURDER, and INHUMANE
ACTS), GRAVE BREACHES OF THE
GENEVA CONVENTIONS, and VIOLATIONS
OF THE LAWS OR CUSTOMS OF WAR as set forth
below:
THE ACCUSED:
1. Robert Gabriel MUGABE , son of Bona Shoniwa and
Gabriel Mugabe
Matibili , was born on 21 February 1924 in Matibiri village,
near Kutama
Mission in the Zvimba District northeast of Salisbury in Southern
Rhodesia,
now present day Zimbabwe. In 1951 he graduated with a Bachelor
of
Arts degree from the University of Fort Hare in 1951. Mugabe
subsequently
earned six further degrees through distance learning including a
Bachelor
of Administration and Bachelor of Education from the University of
South
Africa, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Laws, Master of Science,
and
Master of Laws, all from the University of London External Programme.
The
two Law degrees were taken whilst he was in prison, whilst the Master
of
Science degree was taken during his premiership of Zimbabwe.
After
graduating, Mugabe lectured at Chalimbana Teacher Training College,
in
Zambia from 1955-1958, thereafter he taught at Apowa Secondary
School
at Takoradi, in the Western Region of Ghana (1958 - 1960).
2. Robert Gabriel
MUGABE returned to Southern Rhodesia in 1960. He
became publicity secretary
for the National Democratic Party (NDP). Led
by Joshua Nkomo, the NDP was a
nationalist political party that opposed
white rule in the colony. After the
NDP was banned in 1961, Mugabe
became secretary general of Nkomo's new party,
the Zimbabwe African
People's Union (ZAPU), which was also soon banned due to
its opposition
to white rule. Mugabe broke with Nkomo and ZAPU in 1963 to
join the rival
Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) which had been formed
in 1963
by the Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole, Edgar Tekere, Edson Zvobgo,
Enos
Nkala and lawyer Herbert Chitepo.
3. Robert Gabriel MUGABE in 1964
was arrested for "subversive speech" and
spent the next 10 years in prison.
In 1974, while still in prison, Mugabe
was
elected -- with the powerful
influence of Edgar Tekere -- to take over the
reigns of ZANU after a
no-confidence vote was passed on Ndabaningi
Sithole (Mugabe himself abstained
from voting). His time in prison
burnished his reputation and helped his
cause. Mugabe unilaterally
assumed control of ZANU from Mozambique.
4.
Robert Gabriel Mugabe returned to Zimbabwe in December 1979 after
the
conclusion of the Lancaster House agreement in September 1978. On
4 March
1980 Zanu won 57 seats out of 80 in the new parliament and
Robert Gabriel
Mugabe became independent Zimbabwe's first Prime
Minister on the 18 April
1980.
5. Robert Gabriel Mugabe in 1983 fired Nkomo from his cabinet,
triggering
bitter fighting between ZAPU supporters in the Ethnic Ndebele
people-
speaking region of the country and the ruling ZANU. Between 1982
and
1985 the military crushed armed resistance from Ethnic Ndebele
people
groups in the provinces of Matabeleland and the Midlands,
leaving
Mugabe's rule secure. A peace accord was negotiated in 1987.
ZAPU
merged into the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front
(ZANU-
PF) on December 22, 1988. Mugabe brought Nkomo into the
government
once again as a vice-president.
6. Robert Gabriel Mugabe in
1987 eliminated the position of Prime Minister
and Mugabe assumed the new
office of executive President of
Zimbabwe gaining additional powers in the
process. He was re-elected in
1990 and 1996, and in 2002 amid claims of
widespread vote-rigging and
intimidation. Mugabe's term of office expired at
the end of March 2008.
INDICTMENT II
Plaintiffs: Philemon Matibe a
citizen of Zimbabwe, National Registration
Number
32.058333-N02, on his
own behalf and on behalf of all others similarly
situated,
pursuant to
his rights under the United Nations, African Union, European
Union,
International Criminal Court and other relevant charters and
covenants
charges:
Constantine Chiwenga (1), Perence Shiri (2), Augustine
Chihuri (3),Happytone
Bonyongwe (4), Elisha Muzonzini (5), Maynard Muzariri
(6), Paradzayi
Zimhondi
(7), Didymus Mutasa (8), Ignatius Chombo (9),
Emmerson Mnangagwa (10),
Webster Shamhu (11), Nicholas Goche (12), Patrick
Chinamasa (13), Elliot
Manyika (14), Chris Mutsvanga (15), Gideon Gono (16),
Bright Matonga (17),
Jonathan Moyo (18), Sydney Sekeramayi (19),Kembo Mohadi
(20) , Saviour
Kasukuwere (21), Nathan Shamuyarira (22), Vitalis Zvinavashe
(23), Chenhamo
Chimutengwende (24), Edward Chindori-Chininga (25),Paul
Mangwana (26),
Kumbirai Kangai (27), Joseph Made(28), Francis Nhema (29),
Tobaiwa Mudede
(30), Philip Chiyangwa (31), Joyce Mujuru (32), Solomon Mujuru
(33), Joseph
Msika (34), Samuel Mumbengegwi (35), Obert Mpofu(36), Amos
Midzi(37), David
Karimanzira (38), Leo Mugabe (39), Sylvester Nguni (40),
Cain Mathema (41),
Sikhanyiso Ndhlovu (42), Edna Madzongwe (42), David
Parirenyatwa (43),
Tshinga Dube (44), Oppah Muchinuri (45), Shuvai Mahofa
(46), Peter Chanetsa
(47), George Charamba (48), David Parirenyatwa (49),
Joseph Chinotimba (50)
Sylvester Nguni (51), Shuvai Mahofa(52), and others
unknown;
with CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY (PERSECUTION, MURDER, and INHUMANE
ACTS),
BREACHES OF THE GENEVA CONVENTIONS, and VIOLATIONS OF THE LAWS
OR
CUSTOMS OF WAR set forth in this indictment.
INDIVIDUAL CRIMINAL
RESPONSIBILITY
8. Robert Gabriel MUGABE is individually criminally
responsible for the
crimes
referred to and described in this indictment,
which he planned, instigated,
ordered, committed, or in whose planning,
preparation, or execution he
otherwise aided and abetted. By using the word
committed in this indictment
the Prosecutor does not intend to suggest that
the accused physically
committed any of the crimes charged personally.
Committing in this
indictment
refers to participation in a joint criminal
enterprise as co-perpetrator.
9. Robert Gabriel MUGABE participated in a
joint criminal enterprise as set
out in
paragraph 16. The purpose of this
joint criminal enterprise was the murder
of 20
000 people in
Matabeleland, Zimbabwe, during Gukurahandi massacres
between 1982 and 1985,
plunder of the DRC resources under Operation
Sovereign Legitimacy from 1998
to 2000, the death of Zimbabwe National Army
officers and men in an illegal
war in the DRC under Operation Sovereign
Legitimacy, the murder of farmers
and farm workers, theft of private
property
and displacement of over 600
000 farm workers under Operation Hondo ye
Minda from 2000 to 2008, the
destruction of the homes of 700 000 people
under
Operation Murambatsvina
in 2005, the disappearance of numerous citizens of
Zimbabwe.
10. This
joint criminal enterprise came into existence before April 18, 1980
and
continued until at least April 2008. Individuals participating in
this joint
criminal
enterprise included Constantine Chiwenga, Perence
Shiri, Augustine Chihuri,
Happytone Bonyongwe, Elisha Muzonzini, Maynard
Muzariri, Paradzayi Zimhondi,
Didymus Mutasa, Ignatius Chombo, Emmerson
Mnangagwa, Webster Shamu,
Nicholas Goche, Patrick Chinamasa, Elliot Manyika,
Gideon Gono, Bright
Matonga, Jonathan Moyo, Sydney Sekeramayi, Kembo Mohadi,
and other
known and unknown participants.
11. The crimes enumerated in
Counts 00 to 00 of this indictment were within
the
object of the joint
criminal enterprise. Alternatively, the crimes
enumerated in
Counts 1 to
21 and 22 to 32 were the natural and foreseeable consequences of
the
execution of the object of the joint criminal enterprise and the accused
was
aware that such crimes were the possible outcome of the execution of
the
joint
criminal enterprise.
12. In order for the joint criminal
enterprise to succeed in its objective,
Robert
Gabriel MUGABE worked in
concert with or through several individuals in the
joint
criminal
enterprise. Each participant or co-perpetrator within the joint
criminal
enterprise played his own role or roles that significantly
contributed to
the overall
objective of the enterprise. The roles of the
participants or
co-perpetrators
include, but are not limited to, the
following:
13. General Constantine CHIWENGA, born 25 August 1956, holding the
position
of
Commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces from December 2003,
a member
of the Joint Operations Command (JOC), in the relevant period,
together with
others, commanded, directed, or otherwise exercised effective
control over
the
ZDF, War Veteran Reserves, the Youth Militia and the
volunteer units acting
in co-ordination and under supervision of the
(JOC).
14. Air Marshal Perence Shiri, a.k.a. Black Jesus, born 11 Jan 1955,
as the
Commander of the Airforce of Zimbabwe (AFZ) from 1992, a member of
(JOC),
commanded, directed, or otherwise exercised effective control over the
AFZ
and the War Veteran Reserves, the Youth Militia units and the volunteer
units
acting in co-ordination and under supervision of the AFZ.
15.
Commissioner-General Augustine CHIHURI, born 10 March, 1953, in his
capacity
as the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), Commissioner from and a
member of the
Joint Operations Command (JOC), together with others
commanded, directed, or
otherwise exercised effective control over the ZRP
and the War Veteran
Reserves, the Youth Militia units, Para Military Police
units
and the
volunteer units acting in co-ordination and under supervision of the
ZRP.
16. Robert Gabriel MUGABE, acting alone and in concert with other
members of
the joint criminal enterprise, participated in the joint criminal
enterprise
in the
following ways:
a) Provided direction and assistance
to the political leadership of (JOC),
ZANU(PF), War Veterans, and Youth
Militia on the destruction of private
property in Zimbabwe and the subsequent
forcible removal of the
opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
supporters
and other non- ZANU(PF) supporters.
b) Provided financial,
material, and logistical support for the regular and
irregular military
forces necessary for the take-over of these areas and the
subsequent forcible
removal of the opposition party, Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC)
supporters and other non- ZANU(PF)
supporters.
c) Directed organs of the
government of the Republic of Zimbabwe to
create armed forces separate from
the Zimbabwe Defence Forces to
engage in combat activities against unarmed
civilians, in particular in the
areas the population voted for the MDC and
the subsequent forcible
removal of the opposition party, Movement for
Democratic Change
(MDC) supporters and other non- ZANU (PF) supporters.
d)
Participated in the formation, financing, supply, support and direction
of
ZANU (PF) Militias and War Veteran Auxiliary forces. These forces
were
created and supported to assist in the execution of the purpose of
the
joint criminal enterprise through the commission of crimes which are
in
violation of international humanitarian law.
e) Participated in
providing financial, logistical, political support and
direction to
Zimbabwean irregular forces and paramilitaries. Such support
was given in
furtherance of the joint criminal enterprise through the
commission of crimes
which are in violation of international humanitarian
law.
f) Effectively
ordered the passage of laws and regulations relative to the
involvement of
the ZDF, ZNA, ZDF, CIO, ZANU (PF), War Veterans, Youth
Militia and other
volunteer units in Zimbabwe
g) Financed the Zimbabwean military, police, and
irregular soldiers in the
rural areas who perpetrated crimes as specified in
this indictment.
h) Controlled, contributed to, or otherwise utilised
Zimbabwean state-run
media outlets to manipulate Zimbabwean public opinion by
spreading
incendiary messages against the MDC and its supporters in order
to
create an atmosphere of fear and hatred. The propaganda generated
by
the media was an important tool in contributing to the perpetration of
crimes
in Zimbabwe.
17. Robert Gabriel MUGABE knowingly and willfully participated
in the joint
criminal enterprise, sharing the intent of other participants in
the joint
criminal
enterprise, or aware of the foreseeable consequences
of their actions. On
this
basis, he bears individual
criminal
esponsibility for these crimes, in addition to his
responsibility
for having planned, instigated, ordered or otherwise aided
and
abetted in
the planning, preparation, and execution of these crimes.
18. The accused and
other participants in the joint criminal enterprise
shared the
intent and
state of mind required for the commission of each of the crimes
charged in
the counts.
19. Robert Gabriel MUGABE, while holding positions of superior
authority, is
also
individually criminally responsible for the acts or
omissions of his
subordinates. A
superior is responsible for the criminal
acts of his subordinates if he
knew, or had
reason to know, that his
subordinates were about to commit such acts or had
done so, and the superior
failed to take the necessary and reasonable
measures
to prevent such acts
or to punish the perpetrators.
COUNT 1
(PERSECUTIONS)
20. Robert
Gabriel MUGABE ,from on or about March 1980 to May 15 2008,
acting
alone
or in concert with other known and unknown members of a joint
criminal
enterprise, planned, instigated, ordered, committed, or otherwise
aided and
abetted the planning, preparation, or execution of the persecutions
of
opposition party supporters and other non- ZANU(PF) supporters in
the
Zimbabwe.
21. Throughout this period, ZANU (PF) forces, comprised of
ZNA units, local
Militia
units, War Veteran units, local and ZRP police
units, and paramilitary
units,
attacked and took control of farms,
villages, and settlements in Zimbabwe.
After
the take-over, the ZANU (PF)
forces in co-operation with the local
authorities
established a regime of
persecutions designed to drive the MDC supporter and
other non- ZANU (PF)
supporters from these areas.
22. These persecutions were based on political,
racial, or ethnic grounds
and
included the following:
1985 the
military crushed armed resistance from Ethnic Ndebele people
groups in the
provinces of Matabeleland and the Midlands, leaving
Mugabe's rule secure. A
peace accord was negotiated in 1987. ZAPU
merged into the Zimbabwe African
National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-
PF) on December 22, 1988. Mugabe
brought Nkomo into the government
once again as a vice-president.
6.
Robert Gabriel Mugabe in 1987 eliminated the position of Prime Minister
and
Mugabe assumed the new office of executive President of
Zimbabwe gaining
additional powers in the process. He was re-elected in
1990 and 1996, and in
2002 amid claims of widespread vote-rigging and
intimidation. Mugabe's term
of office expired at the end of March 2008.
INDICTEMENT II
II.
INDICTMENT
Plaintiffs: Philemon Matibe a citizen of Zimbabwe, National
Registration
Number
32.058333-N02, on his own behalf and on behalf of all
others similarly
situated,
pursuant to his rights under the United
Nations, African Union, European
Union,
International Criminal Court and
other relevant charters and covenants
charges:
Constantine Chiwenga (1),
Perence Shiri (2), Augustine Chihuri (3),Happytone
Bonyongwe (4), Elisha
Muzonzini (5), Maynard Muzariri (6), Paradzayi
Zimhondi
(7), Didymus
Mutasa (8), Ignatius Chombo (9), Emmerson Mnangagwa (10),
Webster Shamhu
(11), Nicholas Goche (12), Patrick Chinamasa (13), Elliot
Manyika (14), Chris
Mutsvanga (15), Gideon Gono (16), Bright Matonga (17),
Jonathan Moyo (18),
Sydney Sekeramayi (19),Kembo Mohadi (20) , Saviour
Kasukuwere (21), Nathan
Shamuyarira (22), Vitalis Zvinavashe (23), Chenhamo
Chimutengwende (24),
Edward Chindori-Chininga (25),Paul Mangwana (26),
Kumbirai Kangai (27),
Joseph Made(28), Francis Nhema (29), Tobaiwa Mudede
(30), Philip Chiyangwa
(31), Joyce Mujuru (32), Solomon Mujuru (33), Joseph
Msika (34), Samuel
Mumbengegwi (35), Obert Mpofu(36), Amos Midzi(37), David
Karimanzira (38),
Leo Mugabe (39), Sylvester Nguni (40), Cain Mathema (41),
Sikhanyiso Ndhlovu
(42), Edna Madzongwe (42), David Parirenyatwa (43),
Tshinga Dube (44), Oppah
Muchinuri (45), Shuvai Mahofa (46), Peter Chanetsa
(47), George Charamba
(48), David Parirenyatwa (49), Joseph Chinotimba (50)
Sylvester Nguni (51),
Shuvai Mahofa(52), and others unknown;
with CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
(PERSECUTION, MURDER, and INHUMANE ACTS),
BREACHES OF THE GENEVA CONVENTIONS,
and VIOLATIONS OF THE LAWS OR
CUSTOMS OF WAR set forth in this
indictment.
INDIVIDUAL CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY
8. Robert Gabriel MUGABE is
individually criminally responsible for the
crimes
referred to and
described in this indictment, which he planned, instigated,
ordered,
committed, or in whose planning, preparation, or execution he
otherwise aided
and abetted. By using the word committed in this indictment
the Prosecutor
does not intend to suggest that the accused physically
committed any of the
crimes charged personally. Committing in this
indictment
refers to
participation in a joint criminal enterprise as co-perpetrator.
9. Robert
Gabriel MUGABE participated in a joint criminal enterprise as set
out
in
paragraph 16. The purpose of this joint criminal enterprise was the murder
of 20
000 people in Matabeleland, Zimbabwe, during Gukurahandi
massacres
between 1982 and 1985, plunder of the DRC resources under
Operation
Sovereign Legitimacy from 1998 to 2000, the death of Zimbabwe
National Army
officers and men in an illegal war in the DRC under Operation
Sovereign
Legitimacy, the murder of farmers and farm workers, theft of
private
property
and displacement of over 600 000 farm workers under
Operation Hondo ye
Minda from 2000 to 2008, the destruction of the homes of
700 000 people
under
Operation Murambatsvina in 2005, the disappearance
of numerous citizens of
Zimbabwe.
10. This joint criminal enterprise came
into existence before April 18, 1980
and
continued until at least April
2008. Individuals participating in this joint
criminal
enterprise
included Constantine Chiwenga, Perence Shiri, Augustine Chihuri,
Happytone
Bonyongwe, Elisha Muzonzini, Maynard Muzariri, Paradzayi Zimhondi,
Didymus
Mutasa, Ignatius Chombo, Emmerson Mnangagwa, Webster Shamu,
Nicholas Goche,
Patrick Chinamasa, Elliot Manyika, Gideon Gono, Bright
Matonga, Jonathan
Moyo, Sydney Sekeramayi, Kembo Mohadi, and other
known and unknown
participants.
11. The crimes enumerated in Counts 00 to 00 of this indictment
were within
the
object of the joint criminal enterprise. Alternatively,
the crimes
enumerated in
Counts 1 to 21 and 22 to 32 were the natural and
foreseeable consequences of
the execution of the object of the joint criminal
enterprise and the accused
was
aware that such crimes were the possible
outcome of the execution of the
joint
criminal enterprise.
12. In
order for the joint criminal enterprise to succeed in its objective,
Robert
Gabriel MUGABE worked in concert with or through several
individuals in the
joint
criminal enterprise. Each participant or
co-perpetrator within the joint
criminal
enterprise played his own role
or roles that significantly contributed to
the overall
objective of the
enterprise. The roles of the participants or
co-perpetrators
include, but
are not limited to, the following:
13. General Constantine CHIWENGA, born 25
August 1956, holding the position
of
Commander of the Zimbabwe Defence
Forces from December 2003, a member
of the Joint Operations Command (JOC), in
the relevant period, together with
others, commanded, directed, or otherwise
exercised effective control over
the
ZDF, War Veteran Reserves, the Youth
Militia and the volunteer units acting
in co-
ordination and under
supervision of the (JOC).
a. The extermination or murder of thousands of
Ethnic Ndebele people,
MDC, ZAPU and other non-ZANU(PF) supporters, civilians
including women
and elderly persons, in Nkayi, Dete, Maramba, Pfungwe,
Chegutu,
Murehwa, Hurungwe, Bikita, Bindura, Shamva, Lupane, Gwanda
and
neighbouring villages its environs, as described in detail in addendum
1.
b. The prolonged and routine imprisonment and confinement of
thousands
of Ethnic Ndebele people, MDC, ZAPU, and other non- ZANU
(PF) supporters, in
detention facilities within and outside of Zimbabwe,
including prison camps
located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
(DRC), as described in detail
in addendum 2.
c. The establishment and perpetuation of inhumane living
conditions for
Ethnic Ndebele people, MDC, ZAPU and other non- ZANU (PF)
supporters
and other non-ZANU (PF) civilian detainees within the
mentioned
detention facilities.
d. The repeated torture, beatings, and
killings of Ethnic Ndebele people,
MDC, ZAPU and other non- ZANU (PF)
supporters and civilian detainees in
the mentioned detention
facilities.
e. The repeated sexual assaults of Ethnic Ndebele people, MDC,
ZAPU
and other non- ZANU (PF) supporters and other civilians by ZANU
(PF)
members during arrest and in the mentioned detention facilities.
f.
The unlawful attacks on undefended ZAPU and MDC supporters
villages
throughout Zimbabwe as specified above.
g. The imposing of
restrictive and discriminatory measures against the
Ethnic Ndebele people,
MDC, ZAPU and other non- ZANU (PF) supporters
and the civilian population,
such as restriction of movement, removal from
positions of authority in local
government institutions and the police,
dismissal from jobs, and arbitrary
searches of their homes.
h. The beating and robbing of Ethnic Ndebele people,
MDC, ZAPU and
other non- ZANU (PF) supporters and civilians.
i. The
torture and beatings of Ethnic Ndebele people, MDC, ZAPU and
other non- ZANU
(PF) supporters and civilians during and after their arrest.
j. The forcible
removal of Zimbabwean citizens, Ethnic Ndebele people,
MDC, ZAPU and other
non- ZANU (PF) supporters and civilians from their
homes, villages and farms
specified above.
k. The deliberate destruction of homes, other public and
private property,
cultural institutions, historic monuments, and sacred sites
of the Ethnic
Ndebele people people, MDC, ZAPU and other non- ZANU(PF)
supporters
in Matebeleland and its environs, as described in addendum
4.
23. By these acts and omissions, Robert Gabriel MUGABE committed:
Count
1: Persecutions on political, racial, and ethnic grounds, a CRIME
AGAINST
HUMANITY, punishable under the Geneva Convention.
COUNTS 2 to
5
(EXTERMINATION, MURDER, WILFUL KILLING)
24. From March 1980 until May
2008, Robert Gabriel MUGABE, acting alone or
in
concert with other known
and unknown members of a joint criminal enterprise,
planned, instigated,
ordered, committed, or otherwise aided and abetted the
planning, preparation,
or execution of the extermination, murder and willful
killings of Ethnic
Ndebele people, MDC, ZAPU and other non- ZANU (PF)
supporters and civilians
in Zimbabwe, as specified above.
Matebeleland - (Gukurahundi)
25.
Beginning January 1982, the members of the Fifth Brigade were drawn from
3500
ex-ZANLA troops at Tongogara Assembly Point, named after Josiah
Tongogara,
the ZANLA general. There were a few ZIPRA (ZAPU) troops in the
unit
for a
start but they were withdrawn before the end of the training. The
training
of
5 Brigade lasted until September 1982, when Minister Sekeramayi
announced
training was complete.
The first Commander of Fifth Brigade was
Colonel Perence Shiri. Fifth
Brigade was
different from all other
Zimbabwean army units in that it was directly
subordinated to the Prime
Minister office, and not integrated to the normal
army
command
structures. Their codes, uniforms, radios and equipment were not
compatible
with other army units. Their most distinguishing feature in the
field
was
their red berets, although many reports note that on occasions Fifth
Brigade
soldiers would operate in civilian clothes. Fifth Brigade seemed to
be a law
unto
themselves once in the field.
Most of their operations
were targeted at
defenceless civilians, who Mugabe referred to as supporters
of dissidents.
Within weeks, the Fifth Brigade had murdered more than two
thousand
civilians,
beaten thousands more, and destroyed hundreds of
homesteads. Most of the
dead were shot in public executions, often after
being forced to dig their
own
graves in front of family and fellow
villagers. The largest number of dead
in a
single killing involved the
deliberate shooting of 62 young men and women on
the banks of the Cewale
River, Lupane, on 5 March 1983. Seven survived with
gunshot wounds, the other
55 died. Another way Fifth Brigade killed large
groups
of people by
burning them alive in their huts. They did this in Tsholotsho
and also
in
Lupane. They would routinely round up dozens, or even hundreds, of
civilians
and march them at gun point to a central place, a school or
bore-hole. There
hey would be forced to sing Shona songs praising ZANU, at
the same time
being
beaten with sticks. These gatherings usually ended
with public executions.
Those
killed could be ex-ZIPRAs, ZAPU officials,
or anybody chosen at random.
The only survivors were those in hiding, whom
the Fifth Brigade did not
find. The
names of the victims are set out in
Annex I attached to this indictment.
Operation Mavhoterapapi (Who did you
vote for?)
26. About late April 2008, the (JOC) and ZANU(PF) forces,
comprising of the
Youth Militia (also known as Green Bombers or Boys in
Blue), members of the
War
Veteran auxiliary and members of the ZRP
Militia, were in control of the
various
rural areas in Zimbabwe which the
MDC had garnered support in the elections.
Following the elections in
Zimbabwe on 29 March
2009, Mugabe's ZANU-PF party
unleashed a campaign of
state-sponsored terror to punish MDC activists and
voters who are suspected
of having voted for the opposition. The violence is
resulting in new waves of
internal displacement in Zimbabwe.
ZANU-PF officials refer to the campaign of
violence and intimidation as
Operation Mavhoterapapi (Shona for "Where did
you put your cross?"). The aim
of the organized violence appears to be to
intimidate voters to vote for
ZANU-PF
should there be a run-off in the
presidential election
At approximately the same time the Youth Militia took
away five civilians
from
Uzumba and four from the village of Maramba
Pfungwe into an unknown
location where they killed them. The names of the
victims are set out in
Annex I
attached to this indictment.
26. On
April 9, armed men backed by ZANU-PF activists went to the houses of
known
MDC activists in Mutoko, 160 kilometres to the north of Harare, and
chased
them from the town. The following weekend, 20 houses of suspected
MDC
supporters were burned in Mutoko.
27.People in the constituency of Murehwa
West, in Mashonaland East, reported
that a number of ZANU-PF officials -
including the Health Minister, Dr David
Parirenyatwa, and the Deputy Rural
Housing Minister, Joel Biggie Matiza, who
is a
ZANU-PF MP for the area -
threatened local people who had been forced to
attend a political meeting on
10 April. A witness at the meeting said:
"These MPs
had guns, they were
intimidating people. They said, 'This city is ours.
There is no
room for
sell-outs to the whites. If you support the opposition, you must
leave
or
we will kill you.'" At least one shot was fired into the air to intimidate
people.
28. About 28 people from Mutata, Mukango, and Matumbura villages
are
reported to have fled after ZANU-PF youth militias and war veterans
attacked
people in Mutata village on 12 April 2008 with axes and burned down
an
unknown number of houses in Mutata village
29.More than 450
people are reported to be sleeping in the bush around the
village of
Kazangarare, near Karoi, following the murder on Sunday 13 April
of
an
MDC activist, Tapiwa Mubwanda, allegedly by ZANU-PF youth militia.
30.
In Mt Darwin East, Chibara village, David Tonde Nhapera of the MDC
was
allegedly picked up on Saturday, April 20 2008. Zanu PF supporters
reportedly
marched and beat people at night in Pote and Tengwe villages
4, 5, 14, and
15.
Aaron Magweva (33) of Kenzamba village was attacked by
four Zanu PF youths
accusing him of being an MDC polling agent. He said was
stationed at Kasonde
polling station. The ruling party youths allegedly burnt
all the victims'
property
and ZW$50 billion and he later got help after
about a week.
31. Sakina Maguma (F) of between 40-45yrs of Chikawa village in
Mudzi South
Constituency and more than ten MDC-T supporters were tortured by
war
veterans and Zanu PF youths accused of having voted for opposition party
MDC-
T. They were informed that they were sell outs that wanted to bring
back the
colonial era. They were told to lie down on their stomachs, beaten
with logs
and
fists.
32. Eight Zanu PF youths and two war veterans
identified as Cloud Mashoko a
soldier, Oswell Kasakura a soldier, and a war
veteran Aaron Jack Kadande
nicknamed Zizi, Zanu PF youth vice chair Raphel
Chimhandu, Tichafa Chimunhu,
Wellington Chimunhu, Dova Mutekede, Nyepanai
Mutekede, Marisa Mapika
and Ian Makonde, beat up Portia Pfiramata, Demius
Dombo, and Happiness
Mutata (30) of Mutata village on Saturday, 12 April 2008
around 10pm. The
victims were allegedly attacked with logs and axes.
Happiness Mutata was
beaten together with his wife Kudakwashe Chakasviba, he
was attacked three
times with an axe. The husband and wife ran away but three
rooms from the
main house were destroyed. A kitchen was burnt and a two room
house was
damaged together with property worth ZW$1billion. Mutata is
employed as a
cotton grader and he alleged that he was informed that both his
hands would
be broken so that he would never work again. His harvested cotton
was burnt.
He alleged that other villager's houses were burnt and about 28
people ran
away from the village. The affected villagers are from Mutata,
Mukango, and
Matumbura villages. Matata is hospitalised at a local
hospital.
The names of the victims are set out in Annex I attached to this
indictment.
WARD 8, SHAMVA
33. On or about 10 April 2008, as part of the
overall persecution campaign,
(JOC) and ZANU (PF) military forces under the
command, control, or
influence, of
Robert Gabriel MUGABE and other
participants of the joint criminal
enterprise,
descended on the home of a
village head in Ward 8 Shamva and attacked the
traditional leader and his
wife with axes. Sabhuku Elias Madzivanzira, who
was
over 70 years old,
died on the spot.
His wife suffered severe injuries but has been blocked from
getting medical
treatment. Muchemwa said she may die soon if nothing is done.
He explained
that Madzivanzira was targeted because his Ward produced a
majority of
opposition councillors in the March 29 election.
The youths
went on to burn down about 80 homes in the area, which is run by
Chief
Mutumba. Muchemwa said all 80 of the families have fled and it is not
clear
where they are living. The Shamva area is where we reported that 100
families
were camping outside the police station after their houses were
burnt
down.
In April 2008, ZANU-PF youths were given blue uniforms and
are now known as
the "Boys in Blue". Since then violence has escalated
drastically in the
Mashonaland Central and Mashonaland East areas. The youth
now travel in
larger teams of 500 to 1,000 in order to make sure they
outnumber opposition
groups that were forming groups to defend
themselves.
Muchemwa said the locals have implicated the Deputy Youth
Minister and Mt
Darwin MP Saviour Kasukuwere as the chief architect of the
violence in these
areas. Our correspondent spoke to one of the ZANU-PF youth
members who fled
from their militia camp and he confirmed that they were
being paid to carry
out
these brutal attacks.
Each targeted opposition
supporter is rated by the chief organisers
according to
a "star" system.
A target with 5 stars is the highest rating, meaning most
wanted
and is
to be killed; 4 stars mean you rate a severe beating and torture; 3
stars
will
get you serious intimidation and mild assault. Muchemwa said the youth
are
being paid Z$10 billion if the target dies instantly. They get Z$5
billion
if the target
suffers serious injuries that could lead to death
and Z$1 billion if they
flee from
their home.
Election 2000 State
Sponsored Violence
34. On 20 December, Milton Chambati, 45, was stabbed to
death and his head
was hacked off by a group of about 50 suspected members of
the Zanu PF
Youth Brigade who had besieged Magunje town in northwest
Zimbabwe, and
started beating up opposition party members. Police have not
arrested anyone
in connection with the killing and failed or refused to
investigate the
matter.
35. On 21 December, ZANU-PF youth in Karoi
stabbed to death Titus Nheya, 56,
a
veteran politician and trade unionist
who had contested the Zvimba South
parliamentary seat for the opposition. The
group was reportedly led by a
well
known war veteran. When MDC reported
the incident to the police, the war
veteran was arrested but later released
without charge. The case appeared to
have been closed.
36. Opposition
political member Rambisai Nyika was killed December 24 in
Gokwe, western
Zimbabwe, allegedly by militant supporters of ZANU-PF. To
Amnesty
International's knowledge, no investigation into the killings has
been
carried out.
37. Opposition activist Laban Chiweta died in
hospital on 26 December from
burns and head injuries. National Youth Service
members allegedly attacked
him
in the town of Trojan Mine near Bindura on
6 December. Opposition officials
said
the attack on Chiweta and others
took place in the presence of police
officers
who neither intervened nor
arrested the assailants.
38. On New Year's Eve, some 200 ZANU PF supporters
organized into a militia
stabbed to death Mr. Jena, a schoolteacher in Shamva
district of Mashonaland
Central province. The mob first raided Kamujariwa
village, where houses were
burnt and villagers assaulted. Police did not
intervene when called, and
apparently have not taken steps to investigate the
killing
39. Trymore Midzi, 24, died on 31 December at the Avenues Clinic in
Harare
after
allegedly being stabbed on 29 December in Bindura by Zanu PF
supporters and
young trainees from the Border Gezi Youth Training Centre.
Police have
reportedly arrested suspects.
40. Moffat Soko Chivaura
''disappeared'' on Saturday 29 December 2001 in
same
incident in Bindura.
He is feared dead after failing to escape from machete
and
club-wielding
Zanu PF supporters who attacked the family of Trymore Midzi at
the
cemetery.
41. Sylvester Kuveya is severely beaten and burnt with
fire wood and plastic
near
the Chegutu beerhall. Kuveya sells the
independent Daily News and is a
supporter of MDC; he is beaten up and taken
to a roasted maize vendor and
burnt with firewood and plastic. Tunga Mozalani
is also beaten up by ruling
Zanu
PF supporters and stabbed. The two are
in serious condition in Harare and
Parirenyatwa Hospitals.
Their bodies of
the deceased were buried in a various villages. The names of
the
victims
are set out in Annex I attached to this indictment
COUNTS 6 to
13
(UNLAWFUL CONFINEMENT, IMPRISONMENT, TORTURE and INHUMANE ACTS)
42.
From April 1980, Robert Gabriel MUGABE, acting alone or in concert with
other
known and unknown members of a joint criminal enterprise,
planned,
instigated, ordered, committed, or otherwise aided and abetted the
planning,
preparation, or execution of the unlawful confinement or
imprisonment under
inhumane conditions of the Ethnic Ndebele people people,
ZAPU and MDC
supporters and other perceived political enemies.
43. ZANU
(PF) militia forces, comprised of War Veterans, ZNA, AFZ, ZPS, CIO
and
PISI (Police Internal Security) units acting in co-operation with
local and
ZRP staff
and local ZANU (PF) authorities, arrested and
detained thousands of Ethnic
Ndebele people people, ZAPU and MDC supporters,
other non- ZANU (PF)
civilians from the place specified in the following
short- and long-term
detention
facilities:
a. Military barracks, KG VI
(Harare) - Defence Forces HQ, building in
Harare,
Zimbabwe, run by the
ZNA, approximately fifty detainees.
b. Military barracks, Kabrit (Harare) -
Military Intelligence, in Harare, a
transit
detention facility run by the
ZNA that also included scores of long-term
detainees.
c. Military barracks
in Connemara (Gweru) - run by the ZNA, approximately
one
hundred
detainees
d. Border Gezi Training Camp, Bindura- run by the government of
Zimbabwe,
approximately 200 detainees
e. Goromonzi CIO interrogation
centre, run by the CIO, approximately 200
detainees
f. Harare Central
Remand Prison run by the ZPS, hundreds of detainees
g. Chikurubi Maximum
Security Prison Military prison in Harare run by the
ZPS,
hundreds of
detainees
44. The living conditions in these detention facilities were brutal
and
characterised by inhumane treatment, overcrowding, starvation, forced
labour,
inadequate medical care, and constant physical and psychological
assault,
including mock executions, torture, beatings, and sexual
assault.
45. By these acts and omissions, Robert Gabriel MUGABE
committed:
Count 6: Imprisonment, a CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY punishable under
THE
GENEVA CONVENTION and INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT STATUTES.
Count 7:
Torture, a CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY punishable under THE
GENEVA CONVENTIONS and
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT STATUTES.
Count 8: Inhumane acts, a CRIME
AGAINST HUMANITY punishable under
THE GENEVA CONVENTIONS and INTERNATIONAL
CRIMINAL COURT
STATUTES.
Count 9: Unlawful confinement, a GRAVE BREACH OF
THE GENEVA
CONVENTIONS OF 1949 punishable under THE GENEVA CONVENTIONS
and
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT STATUTES.
Count 10: Torture, a GRAVE
BREACH OF THE GENEVA CONVENTIONS OF
1949 punishable under THE GENEVA
CONVENTIONS and INTERNATIONAL
CRIMINAL COURT STATUTES.
Count 11: Wilfully
causing great suffering, a GRAVE BREACH OF THE
GENEVA CONVENTIONS OF 1949 and
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
STATUTES.
Count 12: Torture, a VIOLATION OF
THE LAWS OR CUSTOMS OF WAR as
recognised by Common Article 3 (1)(a) of the
Geneva Conventions of
1949 and INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL
COURT
STATUTES.
Count 13: Cruel treatment, a VIOLATION OF THE LAWS OR CUSTOMS
OF
WAR as recognised by Common Article 3 (1)(a) of the Geneva
Conventions
of 1949 and INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT STATUTES.
COUNTS 14 to
16
(DEPORTATION, FORCIBLE TRANSFER)
46. From April 1980 to April 2008,
Robert Gabriel MUGABE, acting alone or in
concert with other known and
unknown members of the joint criminal
enterprise,
planned, instigated,
ordered, committed, or otherwise aided and abetted the
planning, preparation,
or execution of the deportations or forcible
transfers of
the Ethnic
Ndebele people people, ZAPU and MDC supporters .
47. In order to achieve this
objective, ZANU (PF) militia Green Bombers,
Boys in
Blue, War Veteran
Auxiliary including the ZRP Para military in co-operation
with
the CIO
and others under the effective control of Robert Gabriel MUGABE, or
other
participants in the joint criminal enterprise, surrounded rural
villages
and
demanded their inhabitants to surrender their opposition party T-shirts
and
membership cards. Then, villages were attacked, even those inhabitants
who
had complied with the demands. These attacks were intended to compel
the
population to flee. After taking control of the villages, the ZANU (PF)
militia
sometimes rounded up the remaining opposition party supporters
and forcibly
transported them to unknown locations. On other occasions, the
ZANU (PF)
militia
in co-operation with the local government authorities
imposed restrictive
and
discriminatory measures on the non-ZANU (PF)
population and engaged in a
campaign of terror designed to drive them out of
their villages and farms.
48. By these acts and omissions, Robert Gabriel
MUGABE committed:
Count 14: Deportation, a CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY,
punishable under
Articles of THE GENEVA CONVENTIONS and INTERNATIONAL
CRIMINAL
COURT STATUTES.
Count 15: Inhumane Acts (Forcible Transfers), a
CRIME AGAINST
HUMANITY, punishable under Articles of THE GENEVA CONVENTIONS
and
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT STATUTES.
Count 16: Unlawful Deportation
or Transfer, a GRAVE BREACH OF THE
GENEVA CONVENTIONS OF 1949, punishable
under Articles of THE GENEVA
CONVENTIONS and INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
STATUTES.
COUNTS 17 to 20
(WANTON DESTRUCTION, PLUNDER OF PUBLIC OR
PRIVATE PROPERTY)
49. From April 1 to April 2008, Robert Gabriel Mugabe,
acting alone or in
concert
with other known and unknown members of the
joint criminal enterprise,
planned, instigated, ordered, committed, or
otherwise aided and abetted the
planning, preparation, or execution of the
wanton destruction and plunder of
the public and private property of the
Ethnic Ndebele people people, ZAPU
and MDC supporters and other non- ZANU
(PF) supporters, within the borders
of
Zimbabwe although these actions
were not justified by military necessity.
This
intentional and wanton
destruction and plunder included the plunder and
destruction of homes and
religious and cultural buildings, and took place in
the
following towns
and villages:
Lupane, Tsholotsho, Gweru, Kwekwe
Bindura, Chegutu, Zvimba,
Hurungwe
Mutare, Marondera, Murehwa, Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe
50. By these
acts and omissions, Robert Gabriel MUGABE committed:
Count 17: Extensive
destruction and appropriation of property, not justified
by military
necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly, a GRAVE
BREACH OF THE
GENEVA CONVENTIONS OF 1949, punishable under of THE
GENEVA CONVENTIONS and
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT STATUTES.
Count 18: Wanton destruction of
villages, or devastation not justified by
military necessity, a VIOLATION OF
THE LAWS OR CUSTOMS OF WAR,
punishable under Articles of THE GENEVA
CONVENTIONS and
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT STATUTES.
Count 19:
Destruction or wilful damage done to institutions dedicated to
education or
religion, a VIOLATION OF THE LAWS OR CUSTOMS OF WAR,
punishable under
Articles of THE GENEVA CONVENTIONS and
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
STATUTES.
Count 20: Plunder of public or private property, a VIOLATION OF THE
LAWS
OR CUSTOMS OF WAR, punishable under Articles of THE
GENEVA
CONVENTIONS and INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT STATUTES.
Matebeleland
and Midlands Provinces (Gukurahundi)
COUNTS 21 to 27
(MURDER, WILFUL
KILLING, WILFULLY CAUSING GREAT SUFFERING,
CRUEL TREATMENT, ATTACKS ON
CIVILIANS)
51. From April 1980 to April 2008, Robert Gabriel MUGABE, acting
alone or in
concert with other known and unknown members of the joint
criminal
enterprise,
planned, instigated, ordered, committed, or
otherwise aided and abetted the
planning, preparation, or execution of a
military campaign directed at the
villages of Matebeleland and Midlands
Provinces and their surroundings in
order
to achieve the forcible removal
of Ethnic Ndebele people speaking people.
52. In this time period, ZNA forces
comprised of Fifth Brigade land and air
units, as
well ZANU (PF) militia
units, ZRP Para military units and volunteer units,
subordinated to the Prime
Minister's Officer and under the effective control
of
Robert Gabriel
MUGABE and other members of the joint criminal enterprise, in
particular
Perence Shiri, launched an extensive military attack on the
rural
villages.
53. During an unlawful extensive military campaign,
civilians were killed
and
numerous others wounded. The incidents and the
names of the killed civilians
are
set out in Annex II attached to this
indictment.
54. By these acts and omissions, Robert Gabriel MUGABE
committed:
Count 21: Murder, a CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY, punishable under
Articles
of THE GENEVA CONVENTIONS and INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL
COURT
STATUTES.
Count 22: Wilful killing, a GRAVE BREACH OF THE GENEVA
CONVENTIONS
OF 1949, punishable under Articles of THE GENEVA CONVENTIONS
and
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT STATUTES.
Count 23: Murder, a VIOLATION
OF THE LAWS OR CUSTOMS OF WAR, as
recognised by Common Article 3(1)(a) of the
Geneva Conventions of
1949, punishable under Articles of THE GENEVA
CONVENTIONS and
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT STATUTES.
Count 24: Inhumane
acts, a CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY, punishable under
Articles of THE GENEVA
CONVENTIONS and INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL
COURT STATUTES.
Count 25: Wilfully
causing great suffering, a GRAVE BREACH OF THE
GENEVA CONVENTIONS OF 1949,
punishable under Articles of THE GENEVA
CONVENTIONS and INTERNATIONAL
CRIMINAL COURT STATUTES.
Count 26: Cruel treatment, a VIOLATION OF THE LAWS
OR CUSTOMS OF
WAR, as recognised by Common Article 3(1) (a) of the
Geneva
Conventions of 1949, punishable under Articles of THE
GENEVA
CONVENTIONS and INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT STATUTES.
Count 27:
Attacks on civilians, a VIOLATION OF THE LAWS OR CUSTOMS OF
WAR, as
recognised by Article 51(2) of Additional Protocol I and Article
13(2) of
Additional Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions of 1949,
punishable under
Articles of THE GENEVA CONVENTIONS and
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
STATUTES.
COUNTS 28 to 32
(WANTON DESTRUCTION, PLUNDER OF PUBLIC OR
PRIVATE PROPERTY)
55. From April 1980 to April 2008, during these military
attacks, Robert
Gabriel
MUGABE , acting alone or in concert with other
known and unknown members
of the joint criminal enterprise, planned,
instigated, ordered, committed,
or
otherwise aided and abetted the
planning, preparation and execution of the
wanton destruction or wilful
damage and plunder of the public and private
property of the supporters of
the MDC, ZAPU and other non- ZANU(PF)
supporters
within the Republic of
Zimbabwe This campaign included the destruction,
damage or plunder of homes,
religious, historical and cultural buildings and
other
civilian public or
private buildings, not justified by military necessity.
56. During the terror
campaign on April 18 2008 in the city of Harare, a
building,
Harvest
House was damaged during a raid by paramilitary police in pursuit
of
internally displaced refugees housed there.
57. By these acts and
omissions, Robert Gabriel MUGABE committed:
Count 28: Extensive destruction
and appropriation of property, not justified
by military necessity and
carried out unlawfully and wantonly, a GRAVE
BREACH OF THE GENEVA CONVENTIONS
OF 1949, punishable under Articles
of THE GENEVA CONVENTIONS and
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
STATUTES.
Count 29: Wanton destruction of
villages, or devastation not justified by
military necessity, a VIOLATION OF
THE LAWS OR CUSTOMS OF WAR,
punishable under Articles of THE GENEVA
CONVENTIONS and
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT STATUTES.
Count 30:
Destruction or wilful damage done to historic monuments and
institutions
dedicated to education or religion, a VIOLATION OF THE LAWS
OR CUSTOMS OF
WAR, punishable under Articles of THE GENEVA
CONVENTIONS and INTERNATIONAL
CRIMINAL COURT STATUTES.
Count 31: Plunder of public or private property, a
VIOLATION OF THE LAWS
OR CUSTOMS OF WAR, punishable under Articles of THE
GENEVA
CONVENTIONS and INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT STATUTES.
Count 32:
Unlawful attacks on civilian objects, a VIOLATION OF THE LAWS
OR CUSTOMS OF
WAR, as recognised by Article 52(1) of Additional
Protocol I to the Geneva
Conventions of 1949 and customary law,
punishable under Articles of THE
GENEVA CONVENTIONS and
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT STATUTES.
GENERAL
ALLEGATIONS:
58. All acts and omissions alleged in this indictment between
April 1980 and
April
30 2008 occurred in the Republic of Zimbabwe.
59.
Between at least 1 April 1980 and at least April 1980, a state of armed
conflict
existed in Zimbabwe, this armed conflict was internal and a low
intensity
state
sponsored conflict in nature.
60. All acts and
omissions charged as Grave Breaches of the Geneva
Conventions of 1949
occurred during the internal armed and low intensity
conflict.
61. At all
times relevant to this indictment, the victims of Grave Breaches
of
the
Geneva Conventions of 1949 were persons protected under the provisions of
the
relevant Geneva Conventions.
62. All acts and omissions charged
relative to the destruction of property
as
Grave Breaches of the Geneva
Conventions of 1949 involved "protected
property" under the relevant
provisions of the Geneva Conventions.
63. At all times relevant to this
indictment, Robert Gabriel MUGABE was
required
to abide by the laws and
customs governing the conduct of armed conflicts,
including the Geneva
Conventions of 1949 and the additional protocols
thereto.
64. All acts
and omissions charged as Crimes against Humanity were part of a
widespread
and systematic attack directed against the Ethnic Ndebele people
of
Matebeleland and Midlands Provinces, ZAPU, MDC supporters and other
non-
ZANU(PF)civilian population of large rural areas of
Zimbabwe
ADDITIONAL FACTS:
65. The Republic of Zimbabwe, formerly
Rhodesia, is located in southern
Africa
and borders Zambia and Malawi to
the north and north-east, and Mozambique
to the east, Botswana to the west,
and South Africa to the south.
66. The provinces are indicated in the
attached Annex III.
Dated this 25th day of June ,2008
Independent, UK
Leading article:
Monday, 30 June 2008
Robert Mugabe is moving at
lightning speed to ensure that his fraudulent
re-election as Zimbabwe's
president wins the crucial endorsement of fellow
African leaders. Hence the
decision to race from the coronation ceremony in
Zimbabwe - even before the
election results are declared - to the African
Union summit in Egypt, where
the old gambler intends to bounce Africa's
leaders into accepting his
victory.
If all goes to plan, dissenting voices at the summit will be
muffled,
enabling Mugabe to return home in glory. Vowing defiance of Western
colonialists, this will be the cue to throw paltry and insincere concessions
in the direction of Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change,
purely for the sake of publicity.
This dismal scenario is not
far-fetched. African leaders have proved loath
to criticise the guerrilla
leader who toppled Ian Smith's white Rhodesia,
and feelings of racial and
political solidarity have traditionally trumped
concerns over Zimbabwe's
breathtaking collapse under Mugabe's brutal but
cack-handed rule.
Yet
there is still hope that this dreadful vision may be confounded, Mugabe
deprived of a diplomatic triumph and his iron grip on power shaken. A
misplaced instinct for solidarity among African leaders is breaking down,
not before time. Kenya's leaders have spoken out against the nonsense of an
election in which only one candidate took part and the opposition was driven
from the field by terror. Botswana has also made known its deep unhappiness
over the state of its neighbour. Pan-African observers of the Zimbabwe
election have declined to bless the poll, insisting it was neither free nor
fair. Clearly, they were swayed by the defiance of many Zimbabweans who
refused to vote, spoiled their ballot papers, or even cast votes for the
opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, though he had by then withdrawn as a
candidate.
Until now, Mugabe has been able to rely on nods and winks
from Thabo Mbeki
in South Africa, the only country with real leverage over
Zimbabwe. It would
be too much to expect a change of heart from Mbeki at
this late stage; but
sharp criticism of the Mugabe regime from the new ANC
leader, Jacob Zuma, as
well as from Archbishop Desmond Tutu and, in recent
days, from Nelson
Mandela, shows that black South Africans no longer feel as
bound by ties of
loyalty to Zimbabwe's boss as they did. Of course, neither
Tutu, Mandela nor
Zuma will be attending the African Union summit, so their
voices will have
no direct impact on discussions. But we must hope the
growing chorus of
protest against the Harare regime from within Africa
itself will have an
effect on the deliberations.
This is indeed
Africa's moment, for good or ill. If the summit allows the
bloodstained
charade of Mugabe's election to pass unnoticed, hopes for the
continent's
democratic development will have been radically set back.
Similarly, if the
summit denies Mugabe the fig leaf of legitimacy that he
craves, his regime
will be embarrassed and forced on the defensive.
Resolution of Zimbabwe's
crisis is urgent. Discussion of its government as a
tyranny often misses the
point. This is not an otherwise economically
"normal" country, disfigured by
a politically repressive regime. It is a
country where the economy is
collapsing with such terrifying speed that a
large proportion of the
population faces only two options: flight, or death
by starvation. It is
still not too late to salvage something of Zimbabwe's
vanished prosperity
and prevent its further descent into hopeless turmoil.
But it depends on
Mugabe's speedy exit from the stage. If the Egyptian
summiteers disappoint
him, that day may come sooner than we think. The
African Union must do the
right thing.
By MATTHEW LEE - 20 minutes
ago
BEIJING (AP) - While China heaped praise on the United States for its
help
in recovering from a devastating earthquake, there was no sign Sunday
its
gratitude would extend to international matters.
Despite
unusually warm expressions of thanks for the quake aid, Chinese
officials
were cool at best to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's
attempts to
enlist Beijing's support to slap U.N. Security Council sanctions
against
Zimbabwe for a widely denounced election.
China, an ally and trading
partner of Zimbabwe, holds a veto in the Security
Council and its backing,
along with that of Russia, will be essential to any
move in the body to
penalize President Robert Mugabe and his top aides for
allegedly instigating
political violence.
The Bush administration wants to imposed an
international arms embargo on
Zimbabwe and place travel bans on Mugabe and
his cronies. But after meeting
Rice, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi
said Beijing favors negotiations
between Mugabe, who was sworn in for a new
term Sunday, and the opposition.
"The most pressing path is to stabilize
the situation in Zimbabwe," Yang
Jiechi said at a news conference with Rice.
"We hope the parties concerned
can engage in serious dialogue to find a
proper solution."
His comments hewed to China's standard line, but they
signaled that Beijing
had not been moved by the case Rice made for
sanctions.
"We believe that it is really now time for the international
community to
act more strongly" on Zimbabwe, Rice said. "Frankly, it makes
sense to deny
the government of Zimbabwe the means to use violence against
its own
people."
Rice says the U.S. plans to introduce a resolution
in the council this week.
The United States holds the council's presidency
until July 1, but appears
to face an uphill battle in getting several
important members to agree to
any penalties.
Speaking on Monday to
reporters traveling with her, Rice said, "When we go
to the U.N. we're going
to need something that is not just another
statement."
The Bush
administration, she said, agrees with China that African nations
need to
play a bigger role but additional action is needed.
"We'd like the
Africans to take the lead but it is not an African issue
alone. It is also
an issue for the Security Council," she said.
Rice planned to raise the
issue again with Chinese President Hu Jintao and
Premier Wen Jiabao. But in
brief comments before those meetings began the
subject was not
mentioned.
Instead, both Hu and Wen went out of their way to thank Rice
for U.S.
assistance in the wake of the May 12 quake in China's southwest
Sichuan
province that killed nearly 70,000 people.
Rice has said the
U.S. plans to introduce a resolution in the council this
coming week.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com
June 30, 2008
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE -The ruling Zanu-PF has won two of the three
by-elections that were
held concurrently with the presidential run off
election on June 27 while
the other seat was won by the mainstream MDC led
by Tsvangirai.
According to results released by ZEC Sunday afternoon,
Zanu-PF candidates
won the Gwanda South and the Redcliff constituencies
while the MDC won the
Mpopoma-Pelandaba seat.
The Gwanda South seat
went to Zanu-PF's Shakespeare Mlilo who polled 7 850
while Nephat Mdlongwa
of MDC (Tsvangirai) received 1 198 vote. Elizabeth
Ndlovu of the Arthur
Mutambara led faction of the MDC got 676 votes.
There were 204 spoilt
papers while the percentage poll was 40, 67 percent.
In Redcliff
Zanu-PF's Isheunesu Muza polled 6 661 votes while Aaron
Chinhara - one of
the two mainstream MDC candidates - got 3 189. Tapera
Hlongeni another MDC
candidate polled 2 096 votes. Pezuru Karigambe (MDC)
polled
210.
There were 235 spoiled papers. The percentage poll was 41, 18
percent.
In Pelandaba-Mpopoma Samuel Khumalo of the mainstream MDC won
the seat with
3 795 votes while Zimbabwe's information minister Sikhanyiso
Ndlovu of
Zanu-PF polled 1 555.
Milford Gwetu of the Arthur Mutambara
led MDC polled 646, Chamunorwa Mahachi
(Independent) 16, Fungai Mutukwa
(Independent) 22, Samuel Ndlovu (UPP) 60,
Leonard Nkala (PUMA) 18, Job
Sibanda (Independent) 172.
There were 104 spoilt papers. The percentage
poll was 22, 38 percent.
The by-election results now bring to 99, the
number of Zanu-PF elected MPs,
one short of the MDC's 100.
A total of
10 seats were won by the other MDC led by Arthur Mutambara while
one is
occupied by Professor Jonathan Moyo, an independent.
VOA
By Peter Heinlein
Sharm el Sheik
30 June
2008
Africa's leaders are grappling with the question of how to
treat Zimbabwe's
Robert Mugabe when he arrives to attend an African Union
summit beginning
Monday at the Egyptian resort Sharm el Sheik. From the
summit site, VOA's
Peter Heinlein reports Zimbabwe's political crisis has
overshadowed other
issues in the pre-summit negotiations.
Africa's
top diplomats and politicians met in closed session for several
hours
Sunday, and into the early hours Monday, debating how to respond to
Robert
Mugabe's challenge to democracy on the continent. But as heads of
state
arrive for the opening of a two-day summit, word from behind those
closed
doors is that the 53 African Union members are sharply divided.
Mr.
Mugabe was sworn in for a sixth term in office shortly before the
meeting
started, after winning a one-man election widely viewed as a farce.
The
question facing the African Union as it meets in this Red Sea resort is
whether to accept him as Zimbabwe's legitimate leader.
In a sign of
the sensitivity of the issue, Tanzania's Foreign Minister
Bernard Membe late
Sunday refused to answer reporters' questions about how
the African Union
would react to the vote. When asked whether he would
address Mr. Mugabe as
president when he arrives at the summit hall, Membe
cautioned journalists to
stop dwelling on titles.
"We are in a serious business here," said
Bernard Membe. "The question is
the people of Zimbabwe, what do we do for
the suffering people of Zimbabwe.
It's not a matter of the titles of the
people, and I would be surprised if
somebody would waste your time on trying
to look for a title. You can call
me a terrorist, you can call me anybody,
but as long as I address the issues
of my home country, I don't care. So it
would be none of this summit's
business to choose titles for
leaders."
Word from behind the closed doors of Sunday's meetings was that
several West
African nations are pushing for strong statement condemning
the conduct of
the runoff election, but that a number of other countries are
resisting.
America's top diplomat on African affairs made clear that Mr.
Mugabe is no
longer considered as a legitimate head of state. Speaking on
the summit
sidelines, Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazier noted
that African
observer groups, from the Pan African Parliament to the
Southern African
Development Community, were in broad agreement that the
election failed to
satisfy the standards of freedom and
fairness.
"Just a quote from the SADC report that has just come out,"
said Jendayi
Frazier. "They said, 'based on the above mentioned
observations, the mission
is of the view that the prevailing environment
impinged on the credibility
of the electoral process, the elections did not
represent the will of the
people of Zimbabwe.' That's a pretty definitive
statement from the Southern
African Development Community's observers, and
so I think that clearly says
what has been said, which is you can't have a
free and fair election, and
you can't have the outcome considered legitimate
or credible based on the
level of intimidation and violence going into that
election."
There remains strong resistance among many of Mr. Mugable's
African Union
peers to any strong action against him. But diplomats say
there appears to
be a new willingness among African leaders to break with
their long
tradition of not criticizing another member of the
club.
Some of those officials say they can trace the change to a summit
eve
comment made by Africa's elder statesman, Nelson Mandela . As he turned
90-years-old during the past week, Mandela spoke of a 'tragic failure of
leadership in Zimbabwe'.
Diplomats here point out, however, that only
23 of Africa's 53 heads of
state have been elected. Mr. Mugabe still has
many supporters among the AU's
leaders, and there are still tough meetings
ahead before the continental
body is ready to take a stand on this latest
challenge to African democracy.
Stuff, New Zealand
Nelson | Monday, 30 June
2008
It is easy to agonise from afar about the plight
Zimbabwe faces as Robert
Mugabe's tyranny towards his people runs unchecked,
the Nelson Mail said in
an editorial on Monday.
There are the
goon squads who, in his name, ran the lead-up to the weekend's
one-candidate
presidential election sham as if they were at war: beating,
even killing
Zimbabweans suspected of not supporting the 84-year-old
despot's rule. There
is the trashed economy: this month's annualised
inflation figure is
predicted to top 10.5 million percent. There is the
dismantling of a once
efficient food production system, driving Zimbabweans
in their hundreds of
thousands to seek food and shelter in neighbouring
countries. There is the
inept, despotic ruling administration which has
squandered millions of
dollars and stolen many millions more. And there is
the end of the
Zimbabwean dream as a thriving, idealistic blueprint for
post-colonial
Africa.
However, the reality is that there is little the world can do.
Neither the
United Nations, former colonial power Britain nor contemporary
African
leaders - many of them with an equally slippery grasp of the concept
of
democracy - have been able to exert influence over a corrupt regime led
by a
dictator hell-bent on retaining power. Mr Mugabe will not be swayed by
tut-tutting platitudes, by being stripped of an honorary knighthood, by the
isolation of his beloved national cricket team, by sanctions or by rare
unanimous condemnation by the UN security council, and can have no sympathy
for the plight of his people. Only if full-scale civil war breaks out - and
the weekend's events do take the nation of 12.4 million people a large step
closer to that horror - is any significant form of outside intervention
likely in a bid to break Mr Mugabe's grip. The world is understandably
reluctant to add another attempt at regime-change-by-invasion to the annals
of history.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's decision to pull
out of a presidential
run-off he rightly described as farcical was motivated
partly by
self-interest - and he should not be blamed for that. He had every
reason to
fear for his life, and his decision to shelter in the Dutch
embassy in
Harare reportedly followed a tip that Mr Mugabe's murderous
puppet police
were on their way to his house.
An equally compelling
reason for a decision he and his party agonised over
was fear for the fate
of those prepared to vote for change at any cost.
Reports of people being
forced to vote rather than abstain, thereby
indicating a lack of support for
their president, of threats to the lives of
anyone not voting for Mr Mugabe,
of individual serial numbers being taken so
their ballots could be checked
and of people being given voting
"assistance", show all too clearly the
wisdom of Mr Tsvangirai's stance.
Rather than the hero who liberated his
people from a hardline colonial
regime as he would have been viewed had he
chartered a more moderate course,
Mr Mugabe is being ranked alongside the
likes of former Ugandan strongman
Idi Amin as just another African
tyrant.
Zimbabwe may be on the brink of descending into the sort of chaos
seen in
Rwanda in 1994, where an estimated half a million people were slain
under
the lowered gaze of UN troops already in the country in a monitoring
role.
Its best hopes lie in true commitment from the African Union to
solving the
current crisis - which might require it to sideline South
African president
Thabo Mbeki - and in Mr Tsvangirai's continuing ability to
persuade his
supporters to exercise restraint and somehow find a little more
patience.
Mr Mugabe, sworn in Monday for his sixth term, says only God
will remove him
from office. Unfortunately, his maker shows no signs of
wanting him.
Tom Casey, Deputy
Spokesman
Washington, DC
June 29, 2008
Crisis in
Zimbabwe
The Government of Zimbabwe has followed a sham election with an
illegitimate
inauguration. As the Southern African Development Community
(SADC) Troika
and election observer mission, as well as many African leaders
have already
said, any outcome from this illegitimate runoff cannot be
considered
credible. We condemn the actions of the Mugabe regime, which
continues to
reject the will of the Zimbabwean people, abuse their human
rights, and deny
them humanitarian assistance.
As the nations of
Africa gather in Egypt for the African Union (AU) Summit,
the United States
calls upon all members of the AU to reject the June 27
election, to denounce
Robert Mugabe's inauguration, to support a joint
AU/United Nations/SADC
negotiating team that will work toward a resolution
of the political crisis
that reflects the will of the people as expressed on
March 29. We also call
upon SADC and UN Security Council to work closely
with the AU to help the
parties in Zimbabwe agree on a peaceful way forward.
As President
Bush stated yesterday, the United States will support a
legitimate,
democratically elected government of Zimbabwe with assistance in
the form of
debt relief, normalization of relations with international
financial
institutions, and development assistance. In the meantime, the
United States
will not abandon the people of Zimbabwe. We will continue to
provide direct
humanitarian assistance to feed more than one million people
and provide
treatment to more than 40,000 needy
patients.
2008/533
Released on June 29, 2008