Tsvangirai to deliver state of the nation address

Zim Online

by Cuthbert Nzou Friday 30 May 2008

HARARE – Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says its
leader Morgan Tsvangirai will today deliver what the party called a “state
of the nation address” in which he would outline a new agenda for the
country.

Party spokesman Nelson Chamisa said: “President Tsvangirai will deliver his
first state of the nation address in Harare. He will address
parliamentarians, councillors and the civil society. The new Zimbabwe agenda
will be outlined.”

Tsvangirai defeated Mugabe in a March 29 presidential election but failed to
garner more than 50 percent of the vote required under Zimbabwe’s electoral
laws for him to takeover the presidency.

The MDC leader, who polled 47.8 percent of the vote against Mugabe’s 43.2
percent starts as favourite to win a June 27 run-off election. But analysts
say a blistering campaign of political violence against the MDC that has
killed at least 50 of the party’s supporters might just tilt the scales in
favour of Mugabe. – ZimOnline

Police order artists to stop human rights satire

Zim Online

by Tafirei Shumba  Friday 30 May 2008

HARARE – Police on Thursday stormed a theatre house in central Harare
ordering artists performing a human rights satire to stop the play and the
audience to disperse immediately.

The police said the play could only be staged with their approval – an order
that is unprocedural and against artistic freedom and expression, according
to the artists.

The play entitled Sahwira (friendship) is set in an unnamed country and
depicts political leaders intolerant of divergent political views while it
also questioned dictatorship and explains how bad governance ruined or
curtailed fundamental human liberties.

Sahwira also pays tribute to human rights lawyers in Zimbabwe for fighting
for justice and equal rights in the increasingly repressive southern African
nation, where the main political opposition says at least 50 of its members
have been murdered in political violence as the country prepares to hold a
run-off presidential election next month.

The run-off election is being held because opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai defeated President Robert Mugabe in a March 29 presidential
election but failed to garner more than 50 percent of the vote required
under Zimbabwe’s electoral laws for him to takeover the presidency.

State security forces and ruling ZANU PF party militants have in recent
weeks tightened a crackdown against the political opposition, the media and
all voices of dissension.

Theatre buffs were arriving for the lunch time run of the production, at
Theatre-In-The-Park in the city centre, and were greeted by the police who
ordered them back and the artists to pack their costumes and leave.

The producer of the play, Silvanos Mudzvova, said: "They (police) ordered
the cast to stop forthwith saying the play had to be authorised first by the
police yet there is no standing law to that effect as far as artistic work
is concerned."

A police spokesman, who identified himself over the phone only as assistant
inspector Mhondoro, confirmed to ZimOnline ordering the play stopped: "They
(artists) can't just wake up and decide to perform like that without our
approval."

Mhondoro did not cite the law under which he acted.

The government’s draconian Public Order and Security Act requires
Zimbabweans to seek permission from the police before holding public
political gatherings or marches. It does not cover artistic performances.

Only the state Censorship Board – and not the police – has authority to ban
or permit productions but the police have in the past years interfered in
artistic areas, banning several plays and arresting artists.

By late afternoon yesterday the play producers were frantically trying to
appeal at Harare Central police station to have the production resumed.

The play premiered without trouble on Wednesday evening before about 100
invited fans. Yesterday’s performance was open to the public.

Artists said the police action came somewhat as a surprise considering that
the force had appeared in recent months to be softening up on critical
theatrical satires that clearly put Zimbabwe's rulers against the wall.

Said one theatre fan, Cuthbert Shonhiwa, after being turned away from the
venue: "We have always been suspicious of the police tolerance of
hard-hitting plays of late but we now realise their tolerance was simply to
hoodwink the world that Zimbabwe enjoyed freedom of expression because of
the elections that we were having here."

At least a dozen plays were banned by the police last year alone with even
more plays being stopped in 2006 and several artists arrested and detained
without being charged some of them tortured and beaten up in police cells.

Only two artists have been charged and brought before the courts. The trial
of the artists – the first known case since independence in 1980 that
artists have been tried for performing without state approval – was set to
open at the Harare magistrates courts yesterday. – ZimOnline

Zimbabwe Political Violence Continues Despite Police Assurances Of Order

VOA

By Jonga Kandemiiri
Washington
29 May 2008

Political violence continued to flare in various parts of Zimbabwe this week
despite an assurance from a police spokesman in Harare that the situation
was under control.

In the Buhera North constituency of Manicaland, sources reported violent
clashes between supporters of the ruling ZANU-PF party of President Robert
Mugabe and the Movement for Democratic Change formation of Morgan
Tsvangirai.

Mugabe and Tsvangirai will face each other June 27 in a presidential runoff
election, the March 29 first round having been deemed inconclusive by the
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. The commission said Tsvangirai took 47.9% of
ballots, short of a majority, while Mr. Mugabe was said to have claimed a
43.2% share.

Tsvangirai's MDC formation and the MDC grouping led by Arthur Mutambara
between them claimed a majority in the lower house of parliament in a
stinging setback for the ruling party. Violence against MDC supporters in
rural areas quickly ensued.

The state-controlled Herald newspaper said six ZANU-PF supporters were in
serious condition at Murambinda Hospital after clashing with suspected
opposition members. The newspaper said 10 homes were burned along with other
property.

Another Manicaland source said opposition organizing secretary for Makoni
West constituency Aaron Gandanga was abducted from Masvosva Business Center
late Wednesday by armed militia in two trucks. His whereabouts were
undetermined.

Despite such incidents, police spokesman Oliver Mandipaka told party
representatives meeting in Harare Wednesday that authorities had the
situation under control.

Elsewhere, the Chiweshe area of Mazowe Central constituency, Mashonaland
Central province, remained a no-go area following violent clashes this week
which left at least two ZANU-PF supporters dead. Sources familiar with
events in the area said soldiers and riot police had sealed off the district
and were arresting all males.

Newly elected member of parliament for Mazowe Central constituency Shepherd
Mushonga told reporter Jonga Kandemiiri of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that
soldiers and ZANU-PF youth militia on Thursday forced villagers to a ruling
party political meeting, obliging schools in the area to close in the
process.

Zimbabwe Electoral Body Tweaks Polling Process; Opposition Agrees

VOA

By Patience Rusere
Washington
29 May 2008

With a presidential run-off election coming up on June 27, The Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission this week gazetted new regulations allowing ward
election officers as well as presiding officers at polling places to endorse
results in the presence of candidates or their agents, the latter signing
the same forms as witnesses.

In the last election, presiding officers signed the forms alone. The
state-controlled Herald newspaper on Thursday quoted ZEC Deputy Chief
Election Officer Utloile Silaigwana as saying the change was meant to speed
the release of results.

Elections officer Dennis Murira of the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change told reporter Patience Rusere of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that he
welcomes the rule change, but is wary because presiding officers are likely
to be Central Intelligence Organization agents now that teachers have been
excluded from the process.

Elsewhere, the Zimbabwe Election Support Network, a respected
non-governmental election monitoring group, urged the government not to
oblige local observers to re-apply for accreditation for the run-off
election even if they were accredited to observe the March 29 elections. It
said doing so will be time-consuming and expensive.

Zimbabwe Election Support Network Executive Director Rindai Chifunde-Vava
said the government should recognize credentials issued for the March 29
first round of the presidential election, as the runoff merely continues
that process.

Mugabe presides over decline in Zimbabwe's wildlife parks

Elephants in Zimbabwe's Hwange national park

"The lions went into the bush here. They're hungry, so they'll be irritable. Let's follow them," says Nigel the guide.

If it sounds foolhardy to camp and walk in a big game park, doing so in Zimbabwe must be crazy as Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF militias roam the country beating and killing.

But Zimbabwe's enormous national parks are generally peaceful havens from the violence. And with Nigel and Xolani the bush tracker to look after me, I feel much safer on the trail of the lions than, say, a Zimbabwean refugee living in Johannesburg.

I've taken the long weekend off to camp in Hwange national park - a pristine area for wildlife, the size of Belgium, on the edge of the Kalahari. The "big five" - lions, leopards, elephants, rhinos and buffaloes - are all here.

Yellow-billed hornbills loop overhead, like whirling bananas. Long-tailed shrikes, dark with elegant trailing tail feathers, hover like miniature angels of death over their insect prey.

But, of course, the parks cannot resist the steady negative effects of the economic crisis. I hardly see any other people during the weekend - a contrast to safaris in South Africa or Tanzania where dozens of vehicles form rings around sightings.

Zimbabwe used to attract tens of thousands of tourists. Now all but a handful are deterred by news reports of Mugabe's atrocities. Most lodges have closed. Guides such as Nigel spend much of their time in neighbouring countries, where they can earn a great deal more. The collapse of tourism has destroyed jobs and denied the country an estimated US$1bn (£500m) in revenue since 2002.

As environmentally minded tourists have looked elsewhere, Zimbabwean operators have turned to the shadier hunting sector. According to Nigel, gun enthusiasts will pay up to US$50,000 in "trophy fees" to slaughter an elephant, in addition to large amounts for lodges, guides, taxidermy and transport.

Incredibly, lions were also hunted in Zimbabwe until 2005, when an Oxford University study demonstrated that populations were declining as a result.

Most hunters are American or Spanish. The US government has reportedly become concerned about the support the hunters' dollars - usually paid to operations run by Mugabe sympathisers - give to the regime. The state department's travel advice for Zimbabwe does as much as it can to deter hunters, warning them of the dangers of deportation, political harassment and animal attack.

Worse, the collapse of funding for the public sector is dramatically reducing the capability of Zimbabwe's formerly prestigious national park rangers, who defeated a concerted assault from Zambian poachers in the 1980s. Rangers now lack the fuel, equipment and training to deal with well-armed poachers targeting elephants and rhinos.

National parks officials do not like to disclose the number of rhinos poached or their location, but will admit they have a problem. And rangers themselves - now paid less than £5 per month - have little option but to shoot impala and warthogs to feed their families.

So Zimbabwe's parks are under siege but hanging on. It is vital for the country's medium-term welfare that the parks are not trashed further, as tourism is a sector that could recover quickly and begin generating jobs and export revenue within months, if only Mugabe is replaced as president in the June 27 presidential run-off.

Nigel, Xolani and I track the lions for several hours. Even without seeing the animals, the experience of walking through African bush, enjoying the sun, listening for animal sounds, is an antidote to the stress of Harare life. Ultimately, we do not find the predators, only their prey - a disembowelled buffalo lying dead by a waterhole. The lions had to abandon their kill quickly when the herd returned, as if to reclaim the carcass of their fallen brother.

The long weekend cannot last forever and it is back to the grim reality of Zimbabwe. The opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, has finally returned to the country and is visiting his beaten supporters in hospital. It is too late to visit some.

The father of the murdered Movement for Democratic Change activist Godfrey Kauzani said at his son's funeral: "He did not have a tongue, his eyes had been plucked out, he was half burned and had a wire around his neck. I do not know what sin my son committed to deserve such a painful death."

And, with my mind still on the impact of Zimbabwe's collapse on animal welfare, a report from the human rights monitors Zimbabwe Peace Project leaps out at me. It recorded 4,359 human rights abuses in April and has heard of hundreds more incidents that cannot be readily verified.

It reports: "In some cases, perpetrators kill livestock such as cattle and goats. In one cruel case, the eyes of goats were poked out before they were killed. The perpetrators believe that anything associated with the MDC should be killed."

It is an indication of the degree of hatred instilled into Zanu-PF youth militias that their taste for torture extends even to the animals of opposition supporters.

Sophie Shaw is a pseudonym

Bulawayo Businessman Arrested Over Detained SA Journalists

SW Radio Africa (London)

29 May 2008
Posted to the web 29 May 2008

Lance Guma

Armed police on Wednesday morning swooped on the premises of a Bulawayo
based trucking company, Tribal Logistics, before arresting owner Craig Eddy.

The police claim a truck containing broadcast equipment for British
broadcaster Sky News was parked at the company workshop for a long time and
accused Eddy of helping journalists who were arrested last week for
allegedly working without accreditation and possessing broadcast equipment.
Police entered the premises and closed all the doors telling employees no
one could work until police had seen the owner. They also temporarily
confiscated all the mobile phones belonging to the workers. One of them was
then told to call Eddy onto the site.

Although state media reports say three people, including two South Africans,
were arrested Friday last week, our Bulawayo correspondent Lionel Saungweme
insists he saw the arrested trio Thursday of the same week, in a police
Peugeot car. This brings to seven the number of days the journalists have
spent in custody. So far their names have not been released and questions
have been raised as to why the state media took their time in reporting the
story. Allegations are that the three were detained when police found a
factory in Bulawayo's Belmont suburb that had 'Sky television broadcasting
equipment' including computers, laptops, disks, tapes and 'a South African
bound car.'

Tavengwa Hara a lawyer for the journalists, says they were detained at a
roadblock in Gwanda and he only managed to locate them Tuesday this week. In
their defence the trio say they were asked to collect the equipment from
Bulawayo and return it to South Africa. The lawyer confirmed the charges
were related to telecommunications legislation for, 'being in possession of
equipment believed to be used for broadcasting without a licence.' Hara
proceeded to say, 'It's a small matter, they didn't know what was in the
boxes. It's a fineable offence. I expect them to plead guilty and to pay a
fine. There is no proof they were broadcasting.'

Despite reports the trio would appear in court Thursday, Saungweme was at
the courts in Bulawayo and says the case was not even on the court's roll.
Eddy was also due to appear in court, but the case was also not on the court
roll.

Harare diary: Campaigns kick-off

09:49 GMT, Thursday, 29 May 2008 10:49 UK

Esther (not her real name), 28, a professional living and working in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, is writing a regular diary on the challenges of leading a normal life. Zimbabwe is suffering from an acute economic crisis. The country has the world's highest rate of annual inflation and just one in five has an official job. I watched [opposition Movement for Democratic Change leader] Morgan Tsvangirai's return to Zimbabwe on Saturday's news broadcasts (Western media, of course). He was all smiles, and his campaigning started right there at the airport, condemning the violence that has been going on in the rural areas. Not that it will change anything. President Mugabe blames the opposition for inciting violence After all the government denies orchestrated violence is taking place, and the war veterans blamed for it were on the front page of The Herald newspaper, saying they are not to blame. Zanu-PF [the ruling party] launched their campaign over the weekend as well, they are calling for an end to MDC sponsored violence, and an end to support for Tsvangirai - "a stooge" who was told by his "puppet masters" it was time to go back to Harare. So there we are, with living in one country, yet not quite. The reality though, aside from the politics, is that life here is getting more expensive and more frustrating everyday. Using the Visa debit machines to pay for purchases for example has become an exercise in patience. Mind-boggling cash machines These machines were designed to process transactions with a maximum value of Z$990m at a go. I am sure the esteemed designers never dreamt that some time in the future, users of their innovation would need it to go up to and beyond a billion dollars. An example - it is almost winter here, and I noticed a heater selling for Z$33bn in town. If I were to walk into the shop to buy the heater using my bank card on the Visa machine, it will take 34 transactions, 33 times z$990m, and then one for the balance. Mind boggling? Yeah, thought as much. You can only get Z$5bn a day from the bank, which is why we have to bear the Visa queues. So buying the heater for cash would mean queuing at the bank everyday for seven days before you had enough, and that is assuming you would find it at the same price then. Z$5bn for dinner - we were pleasantly surprised Well one does not buy a heater everyday, but a trip to the supermarket will set you back at least Z$1bn, after all, that is the price of a kilogramme of meat, a 750ml bottle of toilet cleaner, a can of air freshener, a litre of imported long life milk. So almost everyone in the Visa queue is going to have at least two transactions, so you can imagine how long people have to spend waiting. I have a friend who I talk to practically everyday. She went quiet last week, and I could not reach her on her mobile. When she finally called, she told me she'd working overtime at all week, trying to re-programme their accounting package so that it could accept their trillion-dollar bank balance. They failed, and in the end had to drop off three zeroes from all their transactions, creating their own kilo dollar. So if they write a cheque for Z$1.5bn they record it in the system as having a value of Z$1.5m. She says that should give them some breathing space. All this is hardly surprising, news on the street is that inflation has hit 1,000,000%. What I don't understand is, why not just say its off the chart? I mean, how do you measure 1,000,000%? But then I went out for dinner this past week (Z$5bn - we were pleasantly surprised at how cheap it was). I was told that in some country inflation was so bad that you'd have one cup of coffee at one price, and the second at a higher one. So by that standard, we are still okay, we are hanging in there. Read Esther's last diary

Mbeki to meet SADC on Zimbabwe poll

SABC

May 29, 2008, 20:45

President Thabo Mbeki is due to meet with the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) members to discuss the run-off election in Zimbabwe in four
weeks time.

Mbeki is on his way back to South Africa from Japan after attending the
Tokyo International Conference on African Development. He cut short his
visit in a bid to focus his attention on the xenophobic attacks in the
country. Earlier, Mbeki brushed off criticism that he failed to show
compassion by not visiting areas affected by violent attacks against
foreigners around the country.

Mbeki has urged SADC observers to go back to Zimbabwe as early as possible.

Harare churches lock-out

Church Times, UK
Issue 7576 - 30 May, 2008

by Pat Ashworth

ALL Anglican churches in the diocese of Harare have now been barred to
all except the handful of “worshippers” who support the excommunicated
bishop, Nolbert Kunonga.

Police interference and obstruction of services over the past months
has escalated into violence against congregations in recent weeks. The
Bishop of Harare, Dr Sebastian Bakare, has appealed to the Zimbabwean police
to stop brutalising Anglicans, and for “sanity to prevail” in the face of
total disregard of a Supreme Court ruling that the church buildings should
be shared.

“Our struggle to worship without harassment continues,” he wrote in a
pastoral letter to parishes last week. “We are not, however, deterred by
this lawlessness, and will continue to seek justice through the courts. . .
As a diocese, we will look for alternative worship places to ensure that
members of our congregations remain united as we struggle for freedom of
worship.

“We will never cease to worship. We also believe, whether the police
like it or not, that God will intervene, maybe not today or tomorrow, but in
His own time. We will rejoice when this happens.”

Mr Kunonga has been circulating rumours that Dr Bakare is conspiring
with Britain against Zimbabwe. A British journalist, Peter Oborne, said in a
diary piece for The Spectator after visiting the Bishop last week: “Bishop
Sebastian told me that Kunonga is spreading the word that along with Gordon
Brown, he is seeking to bring down the government.”

Dr Bakare told Mr Oborne: “An undersecretary came to see me to say he
understood that I was organising a coup. I told him that really I didn’t
know that I had the power. Nor did I have access to Gordon Brown.”

In a worsening situation, as the re-run election approaches on 27
June, the Roman Catholic Church reports that many priests are on ZANU-PF’s
wanted list, and are being hunted down by soldiers and militia groups. The
charity Aid to the Church in Need said on Monday that reprisals had come
after the RC Church had joined other denominations on 8 May to protest
against the deteriorating human-rights situation and the “organised
 violence” in areas that did not vote for ZANU-PF.

A priest speaking anonymously told the charity that hospitals
overwhelmed with victims of the political violence now lacked even basic
painkillers to treat the injured and maimed; the streets were full of people
living rough after their houses had been looted and burned; and food was
being withheld from those who did not vote for ZANU-PF. “Despite their best
efforts, Catholic dioceses are unable to obtain any food for the hungry,” he
said.

Farmers Miss Wheat Target

The Herald (Harare)  Published by the government of Zimbabwe

29 May 2008
Posted to the web 29 May 2008

Harare

Wheat farmers have failed to meet their target with only 13 percent of the
original target having been met.

In an interview yesterday, Agriculture Minister Mr Rugare Gumbo said as of
last Friday, only 8 963ha had been planted, lower than 18 989ha a year
earlier, which translate to 13 percent of the targeted hectarage.

Authorities had set the target at 70 000ha.

"We have missed the target with challenges being shortages of fertilisers
and fuel as well as frequent breakdowns of tillage facilities," said Mr
Gumbo.

The minister said power cuts also affected preparations. May 10 is the
recommended planting deadline for winter wheat.

"We should not expect much from any plantations after the deadline. In fact
there are higher prospects of losing the entire crop that would be planted
after the deadline," said an agriculture economist with a local bank.

About 22 000ha had been targeted in Mashonaland West Province and 1 798ha
has been planted.

In Mashonaland Central, a target of 17 000ha had been set and 2 635ha has
been planted so far. From the targeted hectarage of 12 000ha in Mashonaland
East, 1 784ha were planted.

Manicaland target was 9 000ha but 1 110ha had been put under the crop by
last Friday. Masvingo target was 2 500ha and only 348ha had been planted by
last Friday.

Matabeleland North and South had a combined target of 3 500ha but 749ha have
been planted so far.

"We will continue planting but it's too late," Mr Gumbo said.

Some critics have already pointed out the target was likely to be missed
citing poor preparations.

SA to accord foreign nationals legal status

Zim Online

by James Mombe Friday 30 May 2008

CAPE TOWN – South Africa said on Thursday it would review its immigration
policy to accord some legal status to millions of foreigners living in the
country illegally as Africa’s economic powerhouse looks for ways to prevent
a recurrence of xenophobic violence.

Mobs of South African men armed with machetes, axes, spears and guns
attacked and killed at least 50 foreign immigrants and displaced at least 25
000 others in an unprecedented wave of xenophobic violence over the past
three weeks that shocked South Africa’s leadership and unsettled foreign
investors.

Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula told a parliamentary special
committee that the government might issue identification documents to
foreign immigrants, in a review of policy she said could begin once normalcy
had been restored to the immigrant community after the violence of the past
weeks.

"For the security of our country it's important to have a record of
everybody in the country. For those who are already in the country
government will have to look at various options," Mapisa-Nqakula told the
National Assembly's home affairs committee.

Mapisa-Nqakula said illegal immigrants posed a serious security threat to
the country if they remained undocumented, adding that for example it was
difficult for police to track illegal immigrants wanted for crimes because
home affairs did not have their records.

"Whether it's temporary permits, or some other form of identification, it is
important to have them documented," she said.

Human rights groups and refugee agencies have cited South Africa’s lack of a
coherent policy to deal specifically with millions of immigrants flocking to
the country from President Robert Mugabe’s strife-torn Zimbabwe and other
African countries as one of the chief causes of the xenophobic violence of
the past weeks.

At least three million Zimbabweans are living in South Africa the majority
of them as illegal immigrants after fleeing their home country because of
political violence and economic hardships.

President Thabo Mbeki’s government has consistently rejected calls to build
refuge camps for the fleeing Zimbabweans or to grant some formal residence
status to the Zimbabweans as well as the millions of other immigrants in the
country.

A total of five million immigrants are estimated to be living in South
Africa. An overwhelming majority of the illegal immigrants lives in the
country’s poorest townships, competing for limited resources with the local
population, which according to some analysts has fed hatred of foreigners. –
ZimOnline.

UN jets in to help terrorised South African refugees

The Scotsman

Published Date: 30 May 2008
By Fred Bridgland
THE South African cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria were declared a
disaster area yesterday in the wake of anti- foreigner violence that has
left some 80,000 citizens of the two cities homeless.
The decision enables extraordinary measures to be taken under the country's
Disaster Management Act, including permitting the United Nations High
Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to manage ten camps for Zimbabweans,
Malawians, Mozambicans, Ethiopians,

Somalis, Eritreans and Nigerians who have been driven from their homes.

Both cities are in Gauteng, South Africa's richest province.

Senior UNHCR officials have arrived from Geneva and will begin intervening
today. There have been reports of disease, fighting and rape among refugees
sheltering in police compounds, churches, community halls and makeshift
shelters on waste land, where sanitation has broken down and there are few
doctors to treat the sick.

The UNHCR sites will include tents, latrines, medical workers and food, but
the government will not allow them to be classified as "refugee camps" –
they should be described as "temporary shelters", it said.

The government is aiming to reintegrate the foreigners into the communities
from which they were driven, with the loss of at least 56 lives and some 700
wounded. But critics said it was being hopelessly unrealistic. The facts on
the ground are "ethnic cleansing" by poor South Africans suffering 40 per
cent unemployment and poor service delivery, and it will be impossible for
the foreign migrants to return to homes that have been looted and burned.

A typical attitude is that of South African factory worker Jan Mahlaba, 33,
a resident of the Ramaphosa settlement east of Johannesburg, where a young
Mozambican, Ernesto Nhamuave, was publicly burned to death in a so-called
"necklace killing". Mr Mahlaba said immigrants undercut wages and
contributed to the country's high rate of violent crime. "I'm happy they are
being killed because their lives are full of crime," he said.

The first task for the UNHCR, under the three-month disaster decree, will be
to end the violence that has gripped an open-air camp of some 800 displaced
Somalis, Ethiopians and Eritreans near Pretoria. Police opened fire with
rubber bullets on the refugees when they refused to be moved. "People were
killed here and they (the police] were looking," said a young Somali. "We
don't want any help from the government. We don't trust them any more. We
want the UN to help us."

Hope for Zimbabwe, Fear for South Africa

Focus Media (Kigali)

OPINION
28 May 2008
Posted to the web 29 May 2008

Sam Ruburika

The Rwandan representatives to the Pan-African Parliament last week
explained to the press what had been discussed during the ninth session in
South Africa. The Pan-African Parliament, which was set up four years ago,
is composed of 47 member states out of the 52 African states. Each member
state has five representatives in the parliament.

During a press conference held at the parliament last week, the
vice-president of the senate Prosper Higiro, who heads the Rwandan
Pan-African parliamentarians discussed the motion which was adopted by the
parliament on the indictments by judge Jean Louis Bruguière and more
recently, Spanish judge Fernando Andreu Merrelles against forty civilian and
military leaders of Rwanda. Senator Higiro said that Rwanda had the support
from the member states.

"Even the French speaking countries are backing us," senator Higiro said.
The Pan-African Parliament condemned the actions of both judges, saying that
it was a blatant affront to the sovereignty of an African Union member
state.

Therefore, the Parliament urged AU heads of state to add their voice in
denouncing the attempt by both judges at derogating on the well-established
international standards of natural justice and self-determination within a
sovereign State.

The resolution also urges the African Union commission to take up the case
through a comprehensive study on the subject and to come up with appropriate
mechanisms to safeguard the sovereignty of its member states from the
consequences of undue abuse and misinterpretation of principles of
international law by some states for political gain.

Reacting to a question asked by a journalist on whether Rwanda would
cooperate in a private investigation on the death of 10 Spanish nationals,
Senator Higiro said that there would be no point in helping them to justify
cause after they had violated the international laws.

Deputy Juliana Kantengwa argued that the deaths of the Spanish nationals
could not trigger off a private investigation, saying that after their death
a Spanish investigative team had been given excerpts from the investigations
that had been conducted by the local team.

Nowhere to vote

The Rwandan Pan-African parliamentarians also discussed various issues
affecting the continent. Concerning Zimbabwe's election crisis, Senator
Agnes Mukabaranga, who was among the foreign observers of the elections,
said that there had been mechanisms to hinder the overall electoral process
and voting.

She said that voting lists had been changed leaving some people unable to
vote since they did not know where they were supposed to be voting from.
"When people showed up at polling stations they were told that they were
supposed to vote elsewhere, yet no clear information was given," Senator
Mukabaranga said.

She further quoted Robert Mugabe saying that he would not let the MDC take
power as long as he lived. Yet she pointed out that the Pan-African
Parliament was optimistic after both parties had agreed on the run-off
election.

Senator Higiro remarked that the Pan-African parliamentarians had worked to
resolve the post election crisis in Kenya through mediation by John Koffour,
Jakaya Kikwete, and Koffi Annan.

"It was the hard work of the Pan-African Parliament that led to the efforts
to resolve Kenya's post election crisis," Senator Higiro said

On the xenophobic violence in South Africa where immigrants' human rights
are being violated, senator Higiro said that it is an alarming situation and
added that if it would continue it might be disastrous.

More budget for agriculture

Concerning the high prices of food that are affecting most African
economies, Senator Higiro, who is a member of the socio-economic development
commission at the Pan-African parliament, said that the increase in food
prices is caused by the consumption that has increased in countries such as
China and India.

He further explained that in the search of alternative source of fuel large
quantities of corn are used, thus making less available for consumption. He
also pointed to the rather limited portion of budgets allocated to the
agricultural sector to improve it.

"Consider a country like the Democratic Republic of Congo, where only 8% of
the land is used for agricultural purposes, yet analysts say that if the 8%
is exploited properly, it could feed about 2 billion people," Senator Higiro
said.

According to Senator Augustin Iyamuremye who sits in the commission on rural
development and agriculture, only six countries among member states have
invested 10% of the their budget money in agriculture. Rwanda has so far
allocated only 4.2%.

The Pan-African Parliament therefore urged member states to allocate more
funds in the agricultural sector so as to increase production and be able to
increase surpluses that might effectively reduce food prices.

Despite the efforts by the parliamentarians to find solutions for African
issues, there is still lack of political will in some of the countries.
"Sometimes lack of political will and resources hinder the solution of some
of the crises that African states face," Senator Higiro said.