The Times
April 21, 2008
Jonathan Clayton in Johannesburg
Zimbabwe’s opposition
party gave warning yesterday that the country was
descending into a “war
zone”, and appealed for international intervention to
resolve the escalating
crisis.
Tendai Biti, the Secretary-General of the Movement for Democratic
Change
(MDC), said that at least ten people had been killed and hundreds
injured in
postelection violence unleashed by Robert Mugabe’s regime. He
accused the
Government of engaging in a policy of “deliberate starvation” by
cutting off
food supplies to areas known to be opposition strongholds. About
400 MDC
activists had been rounded up and arrested, he added. “The situation
is
desperate. We are not able to function because of those
arrests.”
Speaking to journalists in neighbouring South Africa, where he
and the MDC
leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, have sought temporary refuge, he said
hundreds of
homes had also been burnt and at least 3,000 families displaced
since the
March 29 presidential and parliamentary polls in which Mr Mugabe’s
Government is believed to have been trounced.
Three weeks after the
vote, the country’s electoral authorities have still
not released the
results. Yesterday they announced further delays in a
partial recount of 23
parliamentary seats won by the Opposition and now
expected to be declared
for Mr Mugabe’s Zanu (PF) party, to give it back the
control of Parliament
it lost for the first time since independence in 1980.
Related Links
a.. Eight days of fear in Mugabe's machine
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Africa
Multimedia
a.. Audio slideshow: Zimbabwe's children
a.. Full
Zimbabwe crisis coverage
The MDC gave warning that political deadlock caused
by the failure to
announce the results had played into the hands of
hardliners around Mr
Mugabe who now intended to use violence to shore up
their positions. Mr Biti
said: “There is a war in Zimbabwe being waged by
Mugabe’s regime against the
people. The regime has unleashed violence on the
people. The police have
been turning a blind eye.”
Mr Tsvangirai has
not returned to Zimbabwe for almost two weeks because it
is feared he would
be arrested. Regional concern about the worsening crisis
has grown over the
past few days, with African leaders coming under
unprecedented pressure to
take a stand. Yesterday the 53-member African
Union – which goes to pains
not to criticise the internal affairs of member
states – finally added its
voice to those calling for the release of the
results.
“The African
Union wishes to express its concern over the delay observed in
the
announcement of Zimbabwe’s election results, which creates an atmosphere
of
tension,” it said in a statement.
Kofi Annan, the former UN
Secre-tary-General who, along with Ban Ki Moon,
his successor, was due to
attend a conference today in Ghana, has criticised
the continent’s leaders
for a muted response to the growing crisis, which he
termed “a rather
dangerous situation”. Mr Ban said he would raise Zimbabwe
at the
conference.
Mr Tsvangirai, who last week called for South Africa’s
President Mbeki to
step down as the officially appointed mediator for
Zimbabwe, left for
Nigeria and Ghana yesterday to lobby Africa’s leaders for
more support.
The Southern African Development Community, which appointed
Mr Mbeki last
year, is hopelessly split, with younger leaders from Botswana,
Zambia and
Malawi who did not fight in anticolonial liberation struggles
openly saying
that Mr Mugabe has to go for the good of the entire region.
Jacob Zuma, the
leader of South Africa’s African National Congress, has also
distanced
himself from the “quiet diplomacy” of Mr Mbeki, whom he hopes to
replace in
elections next year. He leaves on a trip to Germany, France and
Britain this
week and will again let it be known that he now favours
“change”.
Political analysts say that, even if Mr Mugabe is engineered
back into
power, his days are numbered. “The place is a ruin and the people
know who
is responsible,” a government official told The
Times.
Meanwhile, a Chinese ship carrying arms destined for the Zimbabwe
regime was
reportedly heading for Angola after South African unions refused
to unload
it.
Comments
What is the point of the UN? Isn't this the
very kind of situation where
concerted action by the imposition of sanctions
on Zimbabwe are put in
place? And maybe South Africa should also be acted
against as long as Mbeki
continues to give tacit support to
Mugabe.
Jerry Latham, Uttoxeter, England
How can the Zimbabwean
Electoral Commission be considered independent, when
ZANU-PF have had access
to the ballots (They must of otherwise how could
they call for a re-count
when the results haven't been announced yet and yet
they are saying there
were ireggularities in several counts.)
Stephen, St. Ives, England
PORT LOUIS, 20 April 2008 (IRIN) - Norway and
the European Union on Sunday
urged southern African leaders to resolve the
political crisis in Zimbabwe
as their credibility was at
stake.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg told heads of government
of the
14-member Southern African Development Community (SADC), meeting in
Mauritius, that “this situation should not be allowed to
continue”.
Louis Michel, EU commissioner for development and humanitarian
aid, called
on SADC to find a solution to the Zimbabwean government’s
refusal to accept
the initial results of the 29 March elections, in which
the opposition won
control of parliament, and according to provisional vote
returns, President
Robert Mugabe also lost his job.
"The dramatic
effects [of the crisis] will mainly hit the population of
Zimbabwe but they
will also hit the whole region," Michel said at the
Mauritius gathering,
billed as a ‘Development and Poverty’ summit. "I
understand that this is not
very easy to do … but this is an issue which is
important for [SADC's]
credibility."
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) on Saturday began a
recount of
ballots in 23 out of 210 constituencies, which could overturn the
opposition’s
parliamentary majority. The main opposition party, the Movement
for
Democratic Change (MDC), said the ballot boxes were being stuffed and it
would not accept the recount.
The result of the presidential poll has
yet to be released, three weeks
after voting centres closed. It is expected
that ZEC will order a runoff
between Mugabe and MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai, despite a growing climate
of fear, in which opposition
supporters are reportedly being persecuted by
the security forces and
militants of Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party.
Zimbabwe was discussed at an
extraordinary SADC summit in Zambia on 13
April. Then the region’s leaders
called on ZEC to verify and release
“expeditiously” the poll results “in
compliance with the rule of law” and
SADC’s electoral guidelines. Michel
said he had been told by heads of
government in Mauritius that no further
statement would be made before the
end of the vote recount.
Zimbabwe
slammed
SADC officials on Sunday repeated that Zimbabwe was not up for
discussion;
they said the gathering was preoccupied with poverty and
development issues,
especially in the face of rocketing global food
prices.
But Stoltenberg used his address to the summit to slam the
Zimbabwean
leadership. "The lack of results from the elections casts serious
doubt
about the willingness of the government to respect the voice of the
people,"
he told heads of government. "The economic and humanitarian crisis
in
Zimbabwe, seriously affects the country, its people and the whole
region."
Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, Zimbabwe's foreign minister, leading
his
country's delegation, rejected the criticism. "The vote counting is going
fine," he told IRIN at the sidelines of the conference. "We will announce
the results as soon we finish the count."
He later told reporters:
"[The Norwegian Prime Minister] is clearly
ill-informed. He is ignorant.
Totally ignorant … Zimbabwe is a democracy."
On Sunday the 53-member
African Union urged Zimbabwe to release the election
results "without any
further delay", and called for restraint from all
parties.
[ENDS]
[This report does not necessarily
reflect the views of the United Nations]
Daily Nation, Kenya
Story
by CHEGE MBITIRU
Publication Date: 4/21/2008 Southern Africa leaders during
the weekend
camouflaged a semi-vacation in Mauritius to ostensibly discuss
their l’enfant
terrible. In Durban, however, dock workers and a court
demonstrated how the
leaders should deal with the incorrigible.
The leaders head the Southern African Development Community member
states.
On the agenda was Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe. South African
President
Thabo Mbeki must have kept his head low. His diplomacy in Zimbabwe
long
became bankrupt.
A litany of woes Mr Mugabe has plastered Zimbabwe
with in a 28-year
isn’t necessary any more to prove the obvious: Zimbabwe
heads to being just
a cartographers’ lines that show a country. Mr Mugabe
offers a hackneyed
explanation: It’s all the fault of whoever happens to be
Britain’s prime
minister or US president.
Traitors among
them
To sweeten his charges, Mr Mugabe reminds Zimbabweans of
traitors
among them. One such is leader of the Movement for Democratic
Change, Mr
Morgan Tsvangirai. Some international pressure finally goaded
SADC leaders.
Last month’s general election became the
catalyst.
The Zimbabwe Election Commission announced results other
than
presidential. The MDC claimed victory. The ZEC declined to announce
presidential results because it discovered anomalies. Ordinarily, elections
officials announce results and then courts deal with arising
issues.
Things don’t work that way in Mr Mugabe’s fiefdom. In any
case, what
Nigerians used to call “AGIP”—officials who dance to tunes of Any
Government
in Power—dominate Zimbabwe’s judiciary.
One of Mr
Mugabe’s perpetual malaises is allergy to political
opposition. That became
obvious soon after independence in 1980. Mr Mugabe’s
ZANU-PF took on the
late nationalist, Mr Joshua Nkomo, and slaughtered as
many of his Ndebele
supporters as possible. Once the old man’s political
machine became a shell,
Mr Mugabe graciously offered him a sinecure. He died
a broken
person.
Unfortunately, Mr Tsvangirai and his MDC have turned to be
hydra-like.
Elections results showed ZANU-PF lost the majority in
parliament. Of course,
Mr. Mugabe didn’t win. He would have boasted to the
world the moment that
happened.
Ironically, one of the reasons
the MDC survives is Mr Mugabe’s
gluttonous squandering of political and
economic capital he had at
independence. As his reputation eroded, the more
Zimbabweans willed
alternative leadership.
As tension mounted
between Mr Mugabe and the opposition, it became
clear to SADC leaders Mr
Mugabe needed retooling. They named Mr Mbeki as
mediator last year. Mr Mbeki
opted for the so-called “quite and not
megaphone” diplomacy. Mr Mbeki and Mr
Mugabe seem to be the only ones aware
of the outcome of the quiet diplomacy.
That’s how come after visiting Mr
Mugabe the previous Saturday; Mr Mbeki
said no crisis exists in the country.
Few bought that. Business
Day, a South African magazine, dismissed Mr
Mbeki’s appearance as “clasping
Mugabe’s hand and grinning like and
awe-struck schoolboy.”
By
mid-last week, it was obvious Mr Mbeki’s ethereal diplomacy floated
without
leaving a whiff on Mr Mugabe On Thursday, South Africa urged ZEC to
release
presidential election results. The G8 group of major industrialised
countries and the European Union echoed the call.
US Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice kicked dirt, describing
Zimbabwe as an
“abomination.” She went on: “It’s time for Africa to step
up,” Ms Rice
said. “Where is the concern from the African Union and from
Zimbabwe’s
neighbours about what is going on in Zimbabwe?”
On Friday, Mr
Mugabe hit back. In a speech to mark the country’s
28-years of independence,
Mr Mugabe ranted about all manner of profound
issues. These included women
who exhibit sensuous anatomy, belly buttons, in
public.
The
core of his message, however, remained “Down with the British” and
a
chilling warning, “Nothing, absolutely nothing, is going to change.”
Something did, though.
From Durban, the same day, a Chinese
ship sailed away with Mr Mugabe’s
cargo of three million rounds of
ammunition, 1,500 rocket-propelled grenades
and 2,500 mortar
rounds.
Dockworkers refused to unload the cargo and a court backed
them up.
That’s what Mr Mugabe has always needed to moderate his ways:
touchable
action, not peer adoration for steadfastness in limping on
crutches called
colonialism.
Zim Online
by Lizwe Sebatha Monday 21 April
2008
BULAWAYO – Zimbabwe’s
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
party has written to the
country’s military and police chiefs urging them to
act to end political
violence against supporters of the opposition party.
MDC spokesman
Nelson Chamisa said the party also wanted Zimbabwe
Defence Forces commander
Constantine Chiwenga and police chief Augustine
Chihuri to explain why
soldiers and police have taken part in victimising
opposition
supporters.
Chamisa said: “We need clarification from Chiwenga why
members of the
army are beating up opposition activists and
supporters.
“We want Chihuri to explain why the police are not
acting to quell the
violence, the arson and the murders committed against
opposition supporters.
Chihuri should also explain why police are allowing
ZANU PF (ruling party)
militias to set up torture bases.”
Both
Chiwenga and Chihuri were not immediately available for comment
on the
matter.
The two men are considered hardliner backers of President
Robert
Mugabe and are said to be among a group of top security commanders
who
advised Mugabe not to concede defeat to the opposition.
Chiwenga declared just days before the March elections that the
military
would salute no one else except Mugabe, in what analysts said was a
clear
threat to stage a military coup in the event the veteran President
lost to
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
The MDC says hundreds of its
supporters have suffered serious injuries
while at least 10 supporters have
been murdered in an orgy of violence it
blamed on state security agents and
militant activists of Mugabe’s ZANU PF
party.
The opposition
party, which says the violence started almost
immediately after it defeated
ZANU PF in elections on March 29, says some of
its supporters in remote
rural areas were homeless after their homes were
looted and burnt down by
activists of Mugabe’s party.
ZANU PF lost its parliamentary
majority for the first time in 28 years
in last month’s election when it
garnered 97 seats compared to 110 won by
the MDC and other minor opposition
candidates.
But electoral officials are yet to issue the much
awaited results of a
parallel presidential vote, which ZANU PF acknowledges
Mugabe lost to
Tsvangirai, although they say a second round of voting is
required to settle
the contest. – ZimOnline.
Zim Online
by
Own Correspondent Monday 21 April 2008
JOHANNESBURG –
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai says he fears being
harmed or arrested
if he returns to Zimbabwe, while his Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC)
party said on Sunday that supporters of President
Robert Mugabe had murdered
10 of its members.
Tsvangirai, who has set up base in neighbouring
Botswana, told Canada’s The
Globe and Mail newspaper that he was not
returning to Zimbabwe soon for fear
he could be arrested and suggested he
could even be killed, although he did
not say by whom.
The Zimbabwean
opposition leader, who is believed to have defeated Mugabe in
a March 29
ballot, said he was using his time outside Zimbabwe to mobilise
the
international community to maintain pressure on Mugabe’s government.
“It
is no use going back to Zimbabwe and become captive. Then you are not
effective. What can you do?" he told the paper. "Do you want a dead hero?"
Tsvangirai said, suggesting his life could be in danger in
Zimbabwe.
"I'm mobilising international support, I'm being effective in
making sure
that the issue of Zimbabwe remains on the international radar,"
said
Tsvangirai, adding that he had faced increasing calls from his
supporters to
return home.
No official results have been released for
the presidential election that
the MDC leader claims he won with more than
50 percent of the vote, enough
to avoid a second round run-off against
Mugabe.
But Mugabe’s ruling ZANU PF party and independent election
observers say
Tsvangirai won with less than 50 percent of the vote,
warranting a rerun of
the ballot.
The MDC, which defeated ZANU PF in
the parliamentary poll, has accused the
ZEC of withholding results in a bid
to fix the vote and force a re-run of
the poll that it says Mugabe is
preparing to use violence and terror to win.
The opposition party said on
Sunday that 10 of its supporters have been
murdered to date in an orgy of
violence it says started almost immediately
after the MDC and other minor
opposition candidates won a combined 110 seats
against 97 won by ZANU PF in
last month’s election.
MDC secretary general Tendai Biti on Sunday
accused Mugabe of waging war
against Zimbabweans for having dared vote
against his government.
Biti told a press briefing in Johannesburg that
10 people had been killed
and 3 000 displaced from their homes by ZANU PF
militants and members of the
state security forces. Hundreds more opposition
supporters had been injured
while others had been arrested by police in the
crackdown, according to
Biti.
He said: "Ten people have so far been
killed in Zimbabwe since March 29. The
situation in Zimbabwe is desperate .
. . three thousand families have been
displaced. Over 400 of our activists
have been detained. At least 500 have
been hospitalised."
Both
Zimbabwe’s Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi and police spokesman
Wayne
Bvudzijena were not immediately available for comment on the matter.
The
MDC claims came as Human Rights Watch on Saturday accused Mugabe’s
supporters of embarking on a campaign of torture against opponents, while
Zimbabwe’s Lawyers for Human Rights group said it had documented 150 attacks
on opposition supporters since the election three weeks
ago.
Zimbabwe’s election crisis is expected to last for several more
weeks after
the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) said on Sunday it would
take longer
than the three days initially planned to recount votes in 23
constituencies.
The ZEC began recounting votes in 23 constituencies after
a High Court judge
rejected an opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) party
application to block the exercise.
The MDC says the
recount is an illegal ploy by ZEC aimed at restoring
control of Parliament
into ZANU PF hands.
The opposition party has said it will not accept
results of the recount, a
development certain to prolong an election crisis
that political analysts
have warned if left unresolved for too long could
lead to violence and
bloodshed. – ZimOnline.
The Times, SA
Sapa Published:Apr
21,
2008
The
Chinese ship carrying arms destined for Zimbabwe is mired in a legal
battle,
leaving many questions unanswered about SA’s moral obligations and
the
country’s maritime jurisdiction.
Questions have asked whether
the ship should be detained by the navy, the
Justice Alliance of South
Africa said yesterday.
It was very unlikely that the An Yue Jiang would
have sufficient fuel to
reach Angola without bunkering in another port en
route, Jasa said.
The An Yue Jiang did not bunker in Durban. She lifted
anchor and set sail
from Durban on Friday as the Sheriff of Durban
approached the vessel.
Barely an hour before the vessel set sail, the
Durban High Court ordered
that the ship enter Durban’s harbour and off-load
the armaments which had to
be held by the sheriff of Durban.
Jasa
yesterday urged the port authorities in East London, Port Elizabeth and
Cape
Town to be on their guard lest the ship try to obtain fuel
surreptitiously.
Jasa said when the case returns to the Durban High
Court on Friday, Judge
Kate Pillay must take judicial notice of the brutal
military campaign of
repression headlined in the media.
“There can be
no doubt, as the Sunday Times spells out, that the ship’s
cargo is designed
to strengthen this campaign of intimidation of voters.”
Questions still
remain on whether the ship should be boarded by the SA Navy,
escorted into
harbour, and the high court order taped to its mast.
The Canadian Press
Clare Nullis, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAPE TOWN, South
Africa - South Africa's powerful speaker of parliament
broke ranks with
President Thabo Mbeki's policy of quiet diplomacy toward
Zimbabwe on Sunday
and urged the international community to speak out.
National Assembly
Speaker Baleka Mbete, addressing the Inter-Parliamentary
Union's annual
congress, said Zimbabwean election officials' failure to
publish the results
of elections two weeks ago was an example of a
"democratic process gone
wrong."
"As parliamentarians we cannot remain silent when we witness
sufferings and
violation of human rights. We can also not remain silent
about the situation
in Zimbabwe," Mbete said.
Mbeki, who gave the
opening speech at the union's conference, did not
mention the escalating
crisis in neighbouring Zimbabwe - despite his
involvement in Saturday's
frantic diplomacy to try to persuade Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe to
publish the election results.
Mbeki focused his speech on the issues of
poverty and rising food prices.
The Inter-Parliamentary Union groups
lawmakers from around the world.
The agenda for its weeklong congress
ending Friday includes discussions on
foreign aid, xenophobia, human rights
and the balance between national
security and individual freedoms. Some
1,200 delegates were attending.
The meeting also aims to promote the role
of women in parliament.
The union presented delegates with a report that
said less than 18 per cent
of the world's lawmakers are women, and many
developing countries have more
women in the corridors of political power
than Western democracies.
Globally, the proportion of female lawmakers
jumped from 11 per cent to 17.7
per cent between 1995 and 2006, according to
the survey "Equality in
Politics," which was the union's most exhaustive
study to date on women in
parliament.
Rwanda has the highest
percentage of women in its lower house, with 48 per
cent, followed by
Sweden, Finland and Argentina, the report said.
The United States trailed
in 71st place, with women accounting for only 16
per cent of members in the
House of Representative. Sudan's lower house has
18 per cent.
"If
anybody is doing particularly well, it is not the old democracies," said
Anders Johnsson, secretary-general of the parliamentary union. "They may be
the countries who talk a lot about it, but they are not doing a lot about
it."
He said countries that showed the most progress toward sexual
equality in
politics were those that had experienced civil wars or
liberation struggles
where women had played a strong role - such as South
Africa, Burundi and
Mozambique.
In Rwanda, the influx of women in
parliament after 2003 elections led to a
marked change in policy in a
country still scarred by genocide, including
passage of a bill in 2006 to
combat gender-based violence that defined rape
for the first time in Rwandan
law.
Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar have no women in parliament and, in
Arab
countries in general, the average is just nine per cent - double the
level
of 1995.
Women lawmakers have different perspectives than their
male counterparts,
and emphasized social issues such as childcare, equal
pay, parental leave
and pensions, the report said.
A high proportion
of women in parliament leads to greater efforts to reach
common
understanding on political issues, and less confrontational debates,
it
said.
One-third of South Africa's lawmakers are women, and all the
speakers of
parliament have been women since the advent of multi-racial
democracy in
1994.
Mbete is the most powerful speaker to
date.
In December, she was elected to be chairwoman of the ruling African
National
Congress and is close to the party's new president, Jacob Zuma, who
is
Mbeki's rival.
Zuma is less sympathetic toward Zimbabwe's Mugabe
than Mbeki, and Mbete's
comments on Sunday indicated a hardening in attitude
toward South Africa's
crisis-stricken neighbour.
The East African, Kenya
By FRANCIS AYIEKO
Special Correspondent
The East
Africa Law Society has called an emergency Pan-African Citizens
consultative
meeting this Monday to urge the African Union to take action on
the election
crisis in Zimbabwe.
The meeting, to be held in Dar es Salaam, brings
together representatives of
civil society, the legal fraternity, trade
unions, academia and other
stakeholders in the East and Southern African
region and the rest of the
continent.
The one-day meeting will
discuss the impact of the recently concluded
Zimbabwe elections and the
delay in the release of presidential results.
Bringing together 70
participants drawn from 18 African countries, the
meeting also expects to
catalyse interventions by the African Union, the
Southern African
Development Community (SADC), and governments in the
region.
The
participants will be drawn from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda,
Burundi,
Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, Botswana, Angola and Democratic
Republic
of Congo.
Others will come from Mozambique, Namibia, Lesotho, Zambia,
Malawi,
Swaziland and South Africa. Regional organisations expected to
attend
include the SADC Lawyers Association, the Media Institute of Southern
Africa
and the Southern African Judges Commission.
Participants will
receive accurate and detailed update on the current
situation in Zimbabwe
and will reflect on the possible options available to
SADC, the Common
Market for Eastern and Southern Africa and the African
Union.
The
outcome of the consultation will be presented to Tanzanian President
Jakaya
Kikwete, who is the current chair of the African Union.
The lawyers will
also come up with up special messages to be delivered to
the Peace and
Security Commission of the African Union.
“The meeting will use the
opportunity to add its voice to the pressure on
the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission to release the results of the elections
held on March 29,” EALS
information and communications specialist Bodi Odiko
said last
week.
The people of East Africa, individually, and through various civil
society
organisations and caucuses have joined forces with the rest of the
continent
in expressing deep concern at the pace in which the ZEC has
handled the
election results.
The reflective consultation comes hot
on the heels of the recent SADC Summit
held in Lusaka, Zambia, which was
attended by political leaders from around
the Southern Africa region. The
meeting, however, did not produce quick
solutions to the crisis and instead
urged Zimbabweans to wait for the
electoral body to finish its
work.
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Zimbabwe’s leading
opposition
party, also filed an application in the High Court to force the
ZEC to
officially release the results.
But the High Court rejected
the application, saying the Electoral Commission
needed more time for
verification.
President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu-PF insist on a second
round of voting
even before the results are officially released, saying that
“none of the
candidates wholly won the polls,” although the MDC claims it
won the
presidential elections. It, however, won majority seats in
parliament.
According to EALS chief executive Don Deya, any further delay
in releasing
the results could lead to a situation where the country may
degenerate into
chaos, triggered by the fear that ZEC is manipulating or
tampering with the
presidential elections results.
“We applaud the
people of Zimbabwe for being patient yet very alert and
vigilant to avoid
the manipulation of results,” Mr Deya said last week.
HARARE - 21 April 2008
One
correspondent in Harare writes:
Please publish the latest report from
ZADHR (Zimbabwe Association of Doctors
for Human Rights). The people as
reported here are of course only those who
manage to reach the private
Hospital which takes some of the victims of
violence many others languish
untreated in the countryside. There is now a
de facto curfew in the
townships. Anyone seen outside after dark is beaten.
The army are patrolling
the streets.
In the Anglican Cathedral (St Mary's in Harare, now occupied
by Mugabe
approved 'Archbishop' Nolbert Kunonga and various hired thugs)
doors remain
locked, opened only for a 7am empty English Service and for the
main 9am
Shona Service attended by 60-80 people. I saw my dear friend who
looks after
the car park his week. He was supervising an empty space sitting
in his
usual place reading his bible. He gave me a hug and said he was fine.
I also
saw the elderly white lady with her bicycle who feeds the birds in
the
cloisters. It was business as usual for both of them.
Zimbabwe
Association of Doctors for Human Rights issued the following
statement:
ZADHR issued a statement on 15 April concerning 157 cases
of organised
violence and torture (OVT) documented by members of the
Association. As of
end of day on 17 April this total had reached 242. 42
cases were seen and
treated on 17 April alone; six of these were women, one
a boy of 12. Of the
42, 19 of the incidents occurred in Mashonaland East
(Murehewa, Mutoko,
Mudzi and Maramba) and a further 19 in or near Harare
(Dzivarasekwa,
Kuwadzana, Tafara, Budiriro, Glen Norah, Epworth and
Chitungwiza).
Most of these cases continue to be of soft tissue injury,
especially of the
buttocks but often in other parts of the body including
the breast of women.
The extreme force of the injuries is demonstrated by
the common occurrence
of superficial blistering and deep, sometimes
extensive, haematoma
formation. Haematomas are substantive collections of
whole blood, as
distinct from simple bruising which is blood in amongst
other tissues.
In 15 of the cases of soft tissue injury, there were
documented tram
tracks on the overlying skin. This is a classic sign of
assault with a
hard thin object such as a stick or baton. Three more cases
had fractures of
the forearm or hand (right ulna, left radius and ulna, two
left
metacarpals). The patient with fractured right ulna also sustained
fractures
of ribs on the left side of his chest associated with left
haemothorax
(blood in the space between the lungs and the chest
wall).
There have been reports of several deaths but because these do not
usually
present to ZADHR members, only one case (of multiple stab wounds to
the
chest and abdomen) can be confirmed. This was a brother of a patient
from
Karoi, previously reported as having been admitted to hospital in
Harare.
ZADHR remains deeply concerned that no measures are being taken
by the
authorities to prevent further violence and by allegations that
security
forces are now increasingly involved in assaults and torture,
particularly
in Harare.
These cases suggest a disturbing trend of
systematic violent assault and
torture, and with more victims possibly
unable to access medical attention
in rural areas, urgent action is required
to prevent the situation
deteriorating further. It is essential that the
United Nations, African
Union and SADC take urgent and decisive steps to
engage the Zimbabwean
authorities and all stakeholders to end this
crisis.
ZADHR reiterates its call for an end to violence by all political
parties
and security forces.
Further reports: Zanu PF media say
that two policemen have been arrested for
failing to add a box containing
5000 votes for Mugabe at a local result.
ANGLICAN-INFORMATION observes
that: The Mugabe regime (post election defeat)
policy now seems clear - it
is as follows:
Soften up population by systematic violence, beatings and
threats.
Call a recount in 23 electoral districts (22 of which were won by
the
opposition MDC party) recount
and declare that Zanu-PF has not
after all lost the election. This 'recount'
has started on 19 April.
Once
a parliamentary majority is re-established release the 'massaged'
presidential results and call for a run-off.
'Win' the re-run
presidential election by paying close attention to getting
the right
result.
Reinstate the 'victor' President Mugabe.
Business as usual for the
privileged ruling elite
In the meantime last week the Chinese cargo ship
the An Yue Jiang docked at
Durban in South Africa. It contains 77 tonnes of
small arms, 3 million
rounds of ammunition, AK47 assault rifles, mortars and
rocket-propelled
grenades all destined for Zimbabwe. The Mbeki government
declared that the
cargo may legally pass to the Mugabe regime (there is no
crisis) ....
heroically South African dockers refused to unload the ship
because the
cargo is clearly destined for use against the Zimbabwean people.
(At the
time of this update the ship was reported to be on its way to
Angola).
A deafening silence has been emitted from a number of quarters
about this
appalling state of affairs, not least from the House of Bishops,
Anglican
Province of Central Africa. Bishop Sebastian Bakare struggling in
the front
line to regain the Anglican Diocese of Harare from the clutches of
Nolbert
Kunonga being a brave exception.
© Independent Catholic
News 2008
OhMyNews
[Analysis]
Crisis recognition long overdue for Zimbabwe
Isaac Hlekisani
Dziya
Published 2008-04-21 06:34 (KST)
Zimbabwe remains on
the world news map, thanks to the election crisis. But
the country has long
been in crisis, with people remaining calm while others
are cowed into
resigned silence as the witch hunt continues of those who
voted for the
opposition. It is a failure on the part of the international
community's
crisis recognition systems that the crisis has not already been
arrested.
The broader context of years of heartless policies toward
the citizens of
Zimbabwe and the ongoing tacit support by South African
President Thabo
Mbeki has now been unmasked, with reports that even Mbeki's
own party, the
African National Congress, has started its own parallel
process of
"mediation."
While opinions on Zimbabwe differ here and
abroad, one thing is clear,
President Robert Mugabe and his cronies lost the
election and are continuing
to commit atrocities against the hapless people
of Zimbabwe. The
international press is now awash with stories on victims of
Mugabe's
retribution.
While it is sad that Mbeki says there is no
crisis in Zimbabwe events in
Zimbabwe are spiraling out of the control of
Zimbabweans and of Mugabe, who
said before the election results he would not
rig elections and would accept
the voters' choice.
Ordinary people
are now being driven by unfamiliar factors, with shocking
events producing
pressures that Zimbabweans have never known before --
having voted out a
tyrant and now facing his refusal to go.
International public scrutiny on
the other hand is causing hostility toward
the media and critics, yet the
"crisis" arises from Mugabe not having
problems and professional advice;
thus, the his need for the security
forces, the Joint Operation Command
(JOC), to ensure "stability," which in
fact is code for ensuring their own
security.
Mugabe and the JOC are seemingly deliberately refusing to
accept the full
ramifications of their actions and are insensitive as to
their effects on
the long-suffering populace of Zimbabwe. It is now
inconceivable that there
will be any rationality emanating from the illegal
Harare regime.
The winning Movement for Democratic Change political party
has hitherto
remained reasonably calm, while rationality ebbs away from
Mugabe and Mbeki.
It seems too late now for Mugabe to save
face.
Mugabe and his cronies cannot now cover up their misdemeanors or
try to hide
the tragedies and therefore should not justify misdeeds. The
illegal regime
has shown that it does not care an iota about ethics, thus
creating the
"situation in Zimbabwe," which can be worse than Kenya, where
nearly half a
million people are still living in refugee tents, yet they had
perfectly
good homes only three months ago.
Mugabe's government is
perfectly capable of systematically killing people
using the army and the
police. We are going to see a similar situation to
the 1980s where opponents
to the government were killed using the Five
Brigade. People will disappear
from their homes, never to be seen again.
We commend the international
media for keeping Zimbabwe under the spotlight,
with messages that are hard
to erase. The local press has also done a
commendable job of exposing the
absurd and infuriating situation in
Zimbabwe -- with its unemployment rate
of more than 80 percent and its
hyperinflation, its lack of no electricity,
food and running water -- and
placing the blame squarely in Mugabe's
policies.
The anger, frustration and disappointment of the Zimbabweans at
the time
wasted by Mbeki pretending that he was talking to Mugabe are hard
to bear.
The Southern African Development Community meeting last week, while
largely
welcome, was compromised by the likes of Mbeki.
The spirited
defense of Mugabe by none other than Mbeki was dismaying.
Zimbabwe is in a
real crisis that no other African country has ever
experienced! The
situation in is dire and the comments from Mbeki were most
unfortunate.
Mbeki has spend more than half of his current
presidential term trying to
broker a deal in Zimbabwe, and all of a sudden
he says there is no crisis?
How can one explain such remarks? They defy all
logic. It must be
embarrassing for South Africans to have a president of the
caliber of Mbeki
with his "quiet diplomacy." Since 2003, Mbeki has been
involved in reporting
to the International watchdog on gross human rights
abuses (including the
killing of opposition members and farm workers) by
summing up "quiet
diplomacy" as the main excuse.
For Mbeki to
accommodate the level of lawlessness from Mugabe without any
serious
sanctions is a demonstration of what little this so called leader
has
learned from the freedom struggle.
Could it be that there is a personal
relationship between Mbeki and Mugabe
that we all do not know about, besides
the hospitality accorded the ANC
during its liberation struggle? Could it be
that he is a beneficiary of some
of Mugabe's loot and fears exposure? Mugabe
is cunning and clinging onto
power as if he bought title deeds for the
country Zimbabwe, yet it was a
struggle to which he was also
recruited.
As his mask is slipping away and he struggles to hold onto
power, Mbeki's
ineptitude is also being exposed, with a deafeningly loud
silence from the
rest of Africa. Is it not about time we started
investigating vested
business interests and connection with the Mugabe
regime? Or is it the
similarity of backgrounds, of liberation credentials,
giving him sympathy
for Mugabe? If so then he must be reminded that the
liberation struggle was
about people, and not privileges. Whatever hold
Mugabe has over Mbeki, we
now have sufficient evidence that it is
substantial, thus the ANC's and the
Zimbabwean opposition's decision to dump
him -- otherwise he was allowing
Mugabe to manipulate South Africa to his
own ends.
What level of genocide is too much before international
intervention will
actually occur? How can the government of South Africa,
made up of
revolutionaries who have also had to fight for democracy, believe
that
Mbeki's course of action (or inaction) is acceptable? We salute the
dockworkers of South Africa who still have consciences by refusing to
offload the Chinese ship carrying arms for Mugabe's regime. We salute Kofi
Annan, who has called on African Leaders to do more.
With millions of
Zimbabweans now refugees and asylum seekers in South
Africa, Mbeki has taken
the baton handed to him by Nelson Mandela and threw
it by the roadside with
his inactivity and quiet acquiescence in the current
electoral fraud in
Zimbabwe.
Is it not selling out to state the blindingly obvious -- that
good
governance is missing, in Zimbabwe, that Zimbabwe is a failed state,
and
that some of the African leaders are in full blown denial, and in our
opinion it is about time we heard from Mandela himself.
Surely he did
not pass the baton and then disappear into the sunset. This is
when his
words of wisdom are most needed. Where are you Mandela?
The Times
April 21, 2008
Nick Meo in Kandahar
As he drives out into the dusty
fields of Kandahar province keeping one eye
open for the Taleban, Harry
Spies can't help daydreaming sometimes about the
farm he used to have in
Zimbabwe.
Three years after he gave up on Africa, Mr Spies is one of a
number of white
farmers who have brought their knowledge of agriculture, and
experience of
guerrilla warfare, to the opium fields of southern
Afghanistan.
A handful of contractors are almost the only foreigners
still risking
commercial work in the south. Veterans of the 1970s bush war
are prominent
among them. They use their skills to set up agricultural
projects which
provide an alternative to opium for farmers.
In
Zimbabwe, Mr Spies was one of the lucky ones. He leased his farm, finally
giving up in 2005 when he decided the writing was on the wall. A fellow
ex-Zimbabwean who works alongside him in Afghanistan had paid the final
instalment on his property a week before it was invaded by Robert Mugabe's
“war veterans”.
From Kandahar and Helmand, all of them have been
keenly watching events back
home. Mr Spies believes that even if Mr Mugabe
leaves power the farmers who
left can never go back to their old life in
Zimbabwe.
He said: “You put your heart and soul into those farms. They were
your
retirement - they were something to pass on. Your labour force was like
an
extended family which you fed and educated.
“That's gone now.
Farmers would only go back if the World Bank or somebody
like that would
give guarantees, and now a farm would have to be run as a
commercial
enterprise like a factory or a business.”
Unlike some farmers, Mr Spies
is not entirely resentful of Mr Mugabe and
believes that his reforms helped
those farm labourers who were not lucky
enough to have good
employers.
In the last few years about 1,200 white farmers out of 4,500
have given up
on Zimbabwe and moved abroad, crippling the rural economy.
Most have gone
elsewhere in Africa or to Australia and New
Zealand.
An American entrepreneur working on agricultural projects for
international
aid agencies such as USAid first recognised their value in the
uniquely
difficult farming environment of southern
Afghanistan.
[]Steve Shaulis, the owner of Central Asia Development
Group, said: “Our
Zimbabwean staff are among the best farmers in the world
and have the
toughness to operate in the unforgiving environment of southern
Afghanistan.
They are comfortable with providing their own security in the
field.”
The CADG farmers have helped Afghan villagers establish modern
drip feed
irrigation systems to replace traditional irrigation which was
destroyed by
the Red Army, as well as running cash-for-work programmes to
give labourers
an alternative to opium harvesting.
Although it works
in the most difficult provinces in the country the company
has had no
serious security incidents with its workforce. In contrast to the
giant
corporations who only venture out in armoured cars with large numbers
of
armed guards it works close to the community, receiving the protection of
tribal leaders in return.
Years of war and destruction have
impoverished Afghan farmers and left them
addicted to opium as a cash crop,
but the Zimbabwean farmers believe
agriculture could have a bright future in
southern Afghanistan once roads
and electricity are developed.
Mr
Spies said: “The quality of the fruit is very good - fantastic
pomegranates,
almonds and grapes. Farmers don't make that much cash out of
opium and when
they grow it they are preyed on by some nasty moneylenders.
They would
switch to orchard crops, which make almost as much money, if
there was an
infrastructure for getting them to market.”
Their own army experience may
have been decades ago but it is still
invaluable. “If you really fall in the
cactus you know what to do,” Mr Spies
said.
Some have never really
got over it. “What is this Zimbabwe?” fumed one of
his colleagues when The
Times asked about his past. “I am a Rhodesian.”