ghanaweb
Ghana wants Zimbabwe Out Of C'wealth,
But....
...do not like to raise her
voice
According to the UK papers,
Independent and the Telegraph, Ghana is one of several African countries that
want Zimbabwe kept out of the Commonwealth, but she does not want to be vocal
about it.
Zimbabwe was suspended last year over allegations its
elections were rigged.
Ghana have always held a line against Robert Mugabe's
rehabilitation, but fears accusations of being called "imperialist lackeys" by
Mr Mugabe and breaking the cosy African solidarity among African leaders.
The Zimbabwean leader has a connection to Ghana. He
spent three years (1958 - 1960) teaching in the western region, where he married
a local teacher - Sally Boahene. After his wife died in 1992, Mugabe married his
secretary, Grace Marufu, 40 years his junior.
Blair fails to reach Commonwealth agreement on
Zimbabwe exclusion
Tony Blair failed yesterday to get the swift
agreement he wanted from other leaders that Zimbabwe would remain suspended from
the Commonwealth. The Prime Minister had hoped the issue, which could split the
Commonwealth along race lines, would be settled at the opening session of a
summit in Nigeria yesterday.
The Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo, who was
hosting the meeting in Abuja yesterday had also hoped to reach agreement on the
divisive issue of Zimbabwe early in the three-day conference.
Instead, a tense, full meeting of Commonwealth
leaders yesterday decided to ask a committee of six countries to make a proposal
to the heads of government tomorrow. The meeting was reported to be deadlocked
and heated.
After the meeting, Mr Blair and Thabo Mbeki,
President of South Africa entered a Commonwealth reception but left immediately
after talking only to their officials. John Howard, the Australian Prime
Minister, who has already fallen out with Mr Mbeki over Zimbabwe, did not
attend.
The composition of the six reflect the geographical
distribution of the Commonwealth but also the spectrum of views on Zimbabwe.
South Africa and Mozambique, African countries want to readmit Zimbabwe.
Australia and Canada, so-called old Commonwealth countries, are against. The
chair, Jamaica, and India are neutral. For Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe,
the pain of being kicked out must be more than amply compensated for by the
pleasure of watching the agony of the Commonwealth trying to agree what to do
about him.
Usually, breaches of Commonwealth standards on
democracy are dealt with the Commonwealth ministerial action group made up of
foreign ministers but so deep is the division over Zimbabwe that the presidents
and prime ministers have decided to handle it themselves.
On the one side stand South Africa, Zambia, Namibia,
Mozambique and Malawi, calling for the readmission of Zimbabwe to Commonwealth
meetings. On the other side, Australia, Britain, Canada and a host of other
countries want its suspension maintained.
The division is not as black and white as it appears
or Mr Mugabe has tried to paint it. Several African countries, including Ghana,
Sierra Leone and Botswana, also want Zimbabwe kept out but do not like to raise
their voices. They fear accusations of being called "imperialist lackeys" by Mr
Mugabe and breaking the cosy African solidarity among African leaders.
The committee of six is unlikely to agree on
readmission or continued suspension but it can chose several options to deal
with Zimbabwe.
It could recommend they monitor Zimbabwe, or they
could suggest setting up of an Eminent Persons Group such as the one that
visited South Africa in 1985.
They are also wary of Britain which has played its
hand badly. Under pressure from the right, Tony Blair's Government allowed the
Zimbabwe issue to be defined as persecuted white farmers and their land rather
than bad government and human rights abuses against the black opposition.
Again, it appeared Britain was more interested in
whites and their land than in the rest of Zimbabwe's population.
Africans remember that in 1966 when Ian Smith
declared independence, Britain failed to impose effective sanctions. "We don't
believe human rights are the issue for the British," one of President Obasanjo's
advisers said this week. "It is just a cover for their real interest which is
protecting white interests in Zimbabwe."
Mr Mbeki believes the solution must come through
internal negotiation which must be promoted by outsiders. Sanctions, he says, do
not help this. He has claimed that talks are achieving results.
The trouble is that no meaningful talks are
happening, and Mr Mugabe has given his South African counterpart nothing to back
his claim of progress.
When President Obasanjo went to Harare to see for
himself a fortnight ago he asked Mr Mugabe at least to shake hands with the
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, in public. Mr Mugabe is reported to have
answered that he would never shake the hand of "that tea boy".
The battle
of Zimbabwe is being fought on other fronts too. Australia and Britain raised
the possibility of Pakistan's suspension being lifted because it is role in the
"war on terrorism". African countries - and India naturally - were incensed. If
Mr Mugabe, at least elected, was to be kept out, why should Pakistan, a military
dictatorship, be readmitted they said.
But Mr Mbeki and his allies failed
in their attempt to depose Don McKinnon as secretary general of the
Commonwealth. They backed - some say organised - a challenge from a former Sri
Lankan foreign minister, Llakshman Kadirgamar. But Mr McKinnon won a ballot
yesterday though he will have been weakened by the
challenge.
| Source: Richard Dowden in
Abuja |
10 Downing Street
|
PM: Zimbabwe should remain
suspended
from Commonwealth
Prime Minister Tony Blair has said Zimbabwe should remain suspended from the
Commonwealth until democracy, human rights and proper governance are introduced
to the country. Mr Blair is in Nigeria for the Commonwealth Heads of Government
meeting.
Mr Blair said it is important for the Commonwealth to say to Zimbabwe's
President, Robert Mugabe, that his behaviour is "totally unacceptable".
"We adopted a set of principles on democracy, and the rule of law and
proper governance, ironically set out in Harare, and those principles have got
to be adhered to," he said.
"So whether Zimbabwe comes back into the Commonwealth depends on the
basic principles that the Commonwealth believes in - democracy, the rule of law,
respect for human rights - being adhered to. If they are, then Zimbabwe comes
back in, if not they shouldn't come back in."
Read the transcript of the doorstep interview below:
QUESTION:
You said yesterday that Zimbabwe was key. Are you disappointed that it
hasn't been sorted out today and it's gone to these six countries?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think it was anticipated there would be some sort of process before we take
a final decision, because obviously there are different views on Zimbabwe, but I
hope and remain reasonably confident that the suspension of Zimbabwe will
continue until such time as they comply with what the Commonwealth set out in
terms of democracy, and human rights and proper governance, and I think that is
an important signal for the Commonwealth to send out. Obviously it would be
better to deal with it straight away, but I think it is fine provided we do
actually deal with it tomorrow.
QUESTION:
And a lot of people think that your different attitude towards Pakistan is
sheer hypocrisy because they are helping us on the international stage.
PRIME MINISTER:
In respect of Zimbabwe and Pakistan, both are suspended from the
Commonwealth, and both have certain criteria they have got to meet in order for
that suspension to be lifted. Now the truth is Zimbabwe has gone from bad to
worse. Pakistan has actually made improvements. So the reason why I have a
different attitude towards Pakistan is that the Pakistan government is making
genuine moves towards democracy, is actually making strides in improving their
economy. In Zimbabwe that was the opposite's the case. So that is the reason why
I feel differently about the two countries.
QUESTION:
What is the point of suspending Zimbabwe, nothing has changed, Mugabe is
still in power, in fact things have got worse?
PRIME MINISTER:
There is a limit to what the Commonwealth and indeed anybody can do. Bodies
like this can suspend people from their Councils, they can pass resolutions, but
in the end the solution obviously has got to lie from within Zimbabwe itself.
But the fact that the Commonwealth suspended Zimbabwe has had an important
impact in sending a very clear signal as to what we regard as acceptable, what
is unacceptable, and I don't even think even the minimal discussions that are
going on about Zimbabwe would be happening unless the Commonwealth had acted.
But you know in the end of course there is always a limit to what we can do from
the Commonwealth itself.
QUESTION:
Mugabe has said today that he would rather leave the club than compromise his
sovereignty, and that he is prepared to use the police and the army to deal with
anybody who resists his land reforms. What would you say to him?
PRIME MINISTER:
It is a decision for him as to whether he wants Zimbabwe to leave the
Commonwealth, but what is important for the Commonwealth is to say to Mr Mugabe,
that his behaviour in Zimbabwe is totally unacceptable, that until he complies
with democracy, human rights, proper governance, Zimbabwe should remain
suspended from the Commonwealth. And that land reform in Zimbabwe, everyone
accepts that that should happen. Britain has set aside money to help it happen,
but it should happen through the United Nations programme, not in a way that
ends up abusing the rule of law and putting money in the pockets of Mugabe's
henchmen.
QUESTION:
And him personally seems determined to dig in his heels and stay.
PRIME MINISTER:
That is a decision for him. I think the decision here though is to make it
quite clear to him that that is unacceptable so far as the Commonwealth is
concerned.
QUESTION:
...Zimbabwe before the next CHOGM
PRIME MINISTER:
I think we should carry on on the path that we have got. This is the most the
Commonwealth can do. We adopted a set of principles on democracy, and the rule
of law and proper governance, ironically set out in Harare, and those principles
have got to be adhered to. So whether Zimbabwe comes back into the Commonwealth
depends on the basic principles that the Commonwealth
believes in -
democracy, the rule of law, respect for human rights - being adhered to. If
they are, then Zimbabwe comes back in, if not they shouldn't come back in. And
that is why the test in a sense is first of all for the Commonwealth to stand
firm on those principles, and secondly for Zimbabwe as to whether it is going to
comply with them.
QUESTION:
...your stance on tuition fees will finish you off as Prime Minister.
What
do you say to them?
PRIME MINISTER:
I believe that the more that the public hears the argument about university
finance, the more that they realise that the fairest way to widen access and to
preserve British universities as a great British national asset, is to get rid
of all up-front fees and have the graduate make a fair repayment into the system
once they graduate, and that is better than putting up the taxes for the whole
of the population, which I think would be unfair.
QUESTION:
So no chance of Clare Short's elegant succession?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think I have commented on that many times.
QUESTION:
... winning the battle with the public, why are your MPs so far behind?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think this is an argument where you need to get into the details to
convince people, and you need to take people through stages of an argument. Do
we need more of our young people able to get high quality university education?
Answer yes. Do we need to widen access and fund universities properly? Answer
yes. Then the question is well how best do you pay for that? And I think it is
best to pay for it by getting rid of all up-front fees so that the families and
the students don't pay anything at all whilst they are going through university,
but say to the students once you graduate, and linked to your ability to pay as
a graduate, you make a modest contribution back into the system. |
|
|
From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 6 DecemberAfrica split on
re-admission of Zimbabwe
Summit differences over Harare are not drawn
between 'blacks' and 'whites',
reports Anton La Guardia in
Abuja
Robert Mugabe would like nothing better than to provoke a fight
between
"blacks" and "whites" at the Commonwealth summit, stirring memories
of the
great battles with Margaret Thatcher over apartheid. But yesterday it
became
clear that the real division runs somewhere close to the Zambezi river
-
between Zimbabwe's supporters in southern Africa and the rest of
the
continent which, despite the call of African solidarity, does not want
to
risk its credibility for the sake of President Mugabe. The first sign
of
this inter-African rift appeared on the eve of the summit, when the
Nigerian
president, Olusegun Obasanjo, convened a mini-summit of African
and
Caribbean leaders to co-ordinate a position. The meeting broke up
without
agreement. But Mr Mugabe's backers - Namibia, South Africa and Zambia
among
them - had failed to win support for their demand that Zimbabwe's
suspension
be lifted immediately. Mr Obasanjo had to admit that he had failed
to secure
any change of behaviour from Mr Mugabe, and countries such as Kenya
and
Ghana held the line against his rehabilitation.
The
pro-Zimbabwe group's other line of attack - seeking to unseat
the
secretary-general, Don McKinnon, in favour of the former Sri Lankan
foreign
minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar - collapsed yesterday after Mr McKinnon
was
re-elected. The vote was not disclosed, but Helen Clark, New Zealand's
prime
minister, earlier predicted that he would win by at least 40 to 10.
Jean
Chretien, the Canadian prime minister, seemed to dismiss the whole
challenge
as a joke. "There was a challenger from Sri Lanka whom I don't
know. I never
met him, and if I did meet him I don't remember," he said. The
Canadian
premier will sit on a committee of six leaders who will draw up
a
"monitoring mechanism" to decide when Zimbabwe has met the
Commonwealth's
democratic standards and how it should then be re-admitted.
The committee
will report to the full summit at the weekend. Mr Mugabe's
supporters will
probably try to ensure that the conditions for re-admission
are not too
strict.
Tony Blair had hoped the question of Zimbabwe
would be quickly settled in
the first negotiating session yesterday, leaving
time for other issues such
as terrorism, Aids and world trade. Instead the
summit host, Mr Obasanjo,
passed the question on to the committee of six. A
stern-looking Mr Blair was
the first to leave the meeting. He did not join
other leaders for a lunch
reception, leaving officials to play down
speculation that he had stormed
out. However, Thabo Mbeki, the South African
president, who is the most
powerful advocate of Zimbabwe's re-integration,
also left the building
without speaking and avoided the social gathering. Mr
Blair expressed
disappointment about the delay. "I think it would have been
better to deal
with it straight away, but I think it's fine as long as we
deal with it,"
said the Prime Minister. "I think it was anticipated that
there would be
some sort of process before we reach a final decision as
obviously there are
different views. I hope and remain reasonably confident
that the suspension
of Zimbabwe will continue until such time as they comply
with what the
Commonwealth set out in terms of human rights, democracy and
proper
governance."
Zimbabwe was suspended from the Commonwealth
last year after observers
reported widespread violence and rigging in Mr
Mugabe's re-election
campaign. The one-year ban lapsed in March this year,
but Mr McKinnon said
most of the countries he consulted had wanted the
suspension continued until
the summit. He then set out five tests to measure
any rehabilitation. As
African drummers welcomed the assembled leaders to
Abuja, Mr Mugabe was like
a ghost at the party. There was no mention of
Zimbabwe and Mr Mugabe in the
introductory speeches by the Queen, Mr
Obasanjo, and the Australian prime
minister, John Howard. But everybody knew
what the central dispute was
about.
From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 6 December
Mugabe launches vicious
tirade against Britain
Harare - Shut out from the Commonwealth
summit, Zimbabwe's president, Robert
Mugabe, launched a brutal long-distance
attack against Britain yesterday and
threatened to unleash "legal violence"
against the opposition. Addressing
his ruling Zanu PF party congress, he
returned to the fiery rhetoric he
habitually employs against Britain,
suggesting that London wanted to return
Zimbabwe to colonial rule. "Mr Blair,
listen to what we are saying. Zimbabwe
is for Zimbabweans, and when you are
in Abjua, let the Commonwealth also
hear that. If the choice was for us to
lose sovereignty, or be a member of
the Commonwealth, let the Commonwealth
go. It is just a club, and there are
many other clubs we can join." In a
wide-ranging attack against all his
enemies, Mr Mugabe also defended his
bloody "land reform" programme, which
led to the deaths of scores of black
farm workers, several white farm owners
and the impoverishment of the
countryside. "Our people are overjoyed, the
land is ours," Mr Mugabe said.
"We are now the rulers and owners of
Zimbabwe." He then added words clearly
threatening a return to the
officially inspired violence that has scarred the
country's young democracy.
"The police and security forces have remained
completely alert and most
loyal," he said. Anyone wishing to destabilise
Zimbabwe, take care. We can
unleash these forces on him. We can unleash legal
force and violence, which
we are permitted to do."
More worrying,
however, was the nonchalant way Mr Mugabe dismissed any
possibility of talks
with the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which
African nations, in
particular South Africa, Nigeria and Malawi, have
claimed had already begun.
"We can't just talk to the MDC about nothing. Do
they want us to be
independent or sovereign, or do they want us to come
under the yoke of
imperialism and colonialism?" Mr Mugabe has always accused
the MDC and its
leader Morgan Tsvangirai of being "tools" of Britain and
"imperialism" since
the trade union-based party came within six seats of
beating Zanu PF in the
2000 parliamentary elections. Most of Mr Mugabe's
familiar and bilious
rhetoric was saved for Tony Blair, whose name was
plastered on posters on the
walls of the huge white congress tent in the
small, poor town of Masvingo,
known before independence in 1980 as Fort
Victoria. Mr Blair shares a name
with a Zimbabwe-designed pit latrine used
in rural areas, and delegates
giggled each time Mr Mugabe mentioned the
Prime Minister. Looking and
sounding robust, Mr Mugabe, who will be 80 in
February, gave no indication
that he was planning to leave the political
stage.
Globe and Mail, Canada
Commonwealth group fine-tunes conditions for
Zimbabwe's re-entry
Canadian Press
Abuja, Nigeria — Prime Minister
Jean Chrétien said Saturday a working group
on Zimbabwe has reached an
agreement on principles concerning how to
re-admit the troubled African
country to the Commonwealth, but must still
fine-tune the proposal before
pitching it to leaders on Sunday.
“Yes, we have agreed on the principle of
what we would like, but we don't
know exactly if all the nuances will be
reflected appropriately in the
document,” Mr. Chrétien told Canadian media
during an evening briefing. “We
will know that tomorrow.”
Jamaican Prime
Minister P.K. Patterson, chairman of the six-member group,
was drawing up a
document based on two hours of discussion Saturday.
A senior Canadian
official said Patterson summarized the areas of agreement
among the divided
group during the final 10 minutes of the meeting and that
Mr. Chrétien
suggested that Mr. Patterson put the summary down on paper for
further
perusal.
Mr. Chrétien has spoken out against an early readmittance of
the
once-wealthy Zimbabwe without significant political reform. He is joined
on
the panel by similar-minded Australian Prime Minister John
Howard.
South African President Thabo Mbeki and Mozambique President
Joachim
Chissano — among the most vocal proponents of getting Zimbabwe back
in the
Commonwealth immediately — are also in the working group.
Indian
Prime Minister Atal Vajpayee and Mr. Patterson, who is the chairman,
round
out the panel.
Zimbabwe's Future in Commonwealth Shaky
VOA News
06 Dec 2003, 18:41
UTC
The Commonwealth secretary-general has asked Zimbabwe President
Robert
Mugabe to "take a breath" before pulling out of the 54-nation group.
Don
McKinnon said Saturday, that the Commonwealth wants to engage with
Zimbabwe,
and the benefits of membership far outweigh not belonging. The
comments come
as Mr. Mugabe, who was not invited to the summit, repeated
Saturday, his
intentions to withdraw, saying the Commonwealth had been
hijacked by
"racists" who interfere in Zimbabwe's internal affairs. Mr.
Mugabe said his
country would never retreat, but did not specify when it
would withdraw.
Leaders from six Commonwealth countries are trying to draw up
a compromise
policy on whether to readmit Zimbabwe, which was suspended last
year for
alleged election corruption. The six leaders from Australia, Canada,
India,
Jamaica, Mozambique and South Africa, met for several hours but
reached no
consensus. The committee is expected to report to leaders
Sunday.
The only other suspended country, Pakistan, says it is
disappointed the
Commonwealth has not chosen to reinstate it.
Secretary-General McKinnon said
despite democratic progress, President Pervez
Musharraf must make more
reforms. The group suspended Pakistan after General
Musharraf seized power
in a 1999 coup.
Although the status of Zimbabwe
has dominated the Commonwealth summit in
Nigeria, leaders have focused on
other issues as well, such as AIDS,
terrorism and trade.
The meeting
of Britain and its former colonies ends Monday. The Commonwealth
comprises
almost one-third of the world's population. Membership give poor
nations an
international stage, as well as aid and trade benefits.
Some
information for this report provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
VOA
Mugabe to Remove Zimbabwe from Commonwealth
Peta
Thornycroft
Harare
06 Dec 2003, 17:43 UTC
The
president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, suggested Saturday he
intends to take
his country out of the 54-nation Commonwealth, whose leaders
are meeting in
Nigeria. Leaders of Zimbabwe's eight provinces asked Mr.
Mugabe to pull
Zimbabwe out at his ruling ZANU-PF's annual Congress, which
ended
Saturday.
In his closing address to the congress, Mr. Mugabe thanked
the
provincial leaders for the request that he take their nation out of
the
Commonwealth.
Zimbabwe has been suspended from the
Commonwealth, and a six-nation
panel is debating whether to recommend the
suspension be lifted.
Mr. Mugabe said the Commonwealth had been
hijacked by "racists"
interfering in Zimbabwe's internal affairs. He told
more than 2,000
delegates to the two-day ZANU-PF conference that "if we say
we are doing
this, we will do it. We never retreat."
The
president has been threatening to resign Zimbabwe's membership
ever since the
Nigerian president, Olusegun Obasanjo, said Mr. Mugabe would
not be invited
to the Commonwealth summit taking place in his country's
capital,
Abuja.
Mr. Mugabe gave no indication as to when he would pull
Zimbabwe out of
the Commonwealth, whose members are mostly former British
colonies.
The Commonwealth suspended Zimbabwe's membership
following last year's
presidential election, won by Mr. Mugabe, which its
observer team said was
neither free nor fair.
Opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai said Saturday that if Mr. Mugabe
wanted Zimbabwe to leave
the Commonwealth, the decision should be made by
parliament and not the
ruling party's congress.
The last country to withdraw from the
Commonwealth was South Africa in
1960. The then prime minister, Hendrik
Verwoerd, canceled South Africa's
membership after Commonwealth opposition to
apartheid.
South Africa returned to the Commonwealth after
democratic elections
in 1994.
VOA
Commonwealth Summit Panel Remains Deadlocked over Zimbabwe
Nico
Colombant
Abuja
06 Dec 2003, 17:21 UTC
A panel set up at the
Commonwealth summit in Nigeria to examine Zimbabwe's
suspension from the
group remains deadlocked.
While ceremonial events took place Saturday,
including a tree-planting
ceremony in Abuja's Millennium Park, a six-nation
panel started work behind
closed doors to determine Zimbabwe's status within
the group of mainly
former British colonies.
Heads of state set up the
panel, so they could focus on other issues during
the four-day summit, such
as fair trade, the epidemic of HIV-AIDS and the
spread of global
terrorism.
The panel on Zimbabwe is made up of six nations: Australia,
Canada, South
Africa, Mozambique, India and Jamaica. A decision was first
scheduled for
early Saturday, but diplomats say no consensus had been reached
after hours
of debate.
Australia and Canada support maintaining the
suspension, while the two
southern African nations say it should be lifted
for the sake of their
region and for Zimbabweans. The position of India and
Jamaica is less clear.
The Commonwealth secretary-general, Don McKinnon,
a New Zealander who was
re-elected to a second term, said Saturday the
decision of the panel will be
crucial to Zimbabwe's future.
"What they
decide coming out of this group will ultimately be the way
forward, the
blueprint for re-engagement with Zimbabwe," he said. "Frankly,
I'm looking
forward to what they come with, because I do want to see us
re-engage and see
some progress."
Since Zimbabwe was suspended last year, its already
impoverished economy has
further deteriorated, prompting tens-of-thousands of
Zimbabweans to seek
better lives in neighboring countries.
Zimbabwe
was suspended after Commonwealth observers said last year's
re-election of
Robert Mugabe as president had been rigged. The opposition in
Zimbabwe has
complained of worsening democratic conditions for three years
now, including
arbitrary detentions and political killings.
A spokesman for Zimbabwe's
main opposition party, Paul Themba Nyathi, is in
the Nigerian capital
lobbying for the suspension to be maintained because,
he says, Zimbabwe's
government is becoming increasingly repressive.
"Mr. Mugabe had more than
three years in which to put the Zimbabwean crisis
right," said Mr. Nyathi.
"He did nothing. If anything, he intensified
oppression. He defied even his
own laws. He used every opportunity to
attempt to destroy independent voices.
He used that opportunity to
militarize the state. As far as we are concerned,
only pressure is very
likely to yield positive results."
Mr. Mugabe
was furious when he was not invited to the summit in Nigeria. He
has since
said there are other clubs that Zimbabwe can join. He accuses what
he calls
an unholy alliance of white Anglo-Saxon countries of despising him
because of
his forced redistribution of white-owned farms to blacks.
Reuters
Zimbabwe on Brink of Quitting Commonwealth
By Randall Palmer and Andrew Cawthorne
ABUJA (Reuters) - The
executive head of the Commonwealth urged a
fuming Zimbabwean President Robert
Mugabe to "take a breath" on Saturday
before quitting the group in
retaliation for his suspension over democratic
failings.
Mugabe
made his clearest threat yet on Saturday to withdraw from the
54-nation club
of former British colonies, saying in Zimbabwe: "If we say we
are doing this,
we will do it. We will never retreat."
Thousands of miles away at
the Commonwealth summit in Nigeria,
Secretary-General Don McKinnon virtually
simultaneously sent Mugabe a
message to reconsider his repeated threats to
withdraw.
"I would hope that President Mugabe would take a breath
on this one
and realise that the Commonwealth meeting here in Abuja does want
to engage
with Zimbabwe," McKinnon told a news conference.
"I
believe the benefits of countries belonging to the Commonwealth
certainly
vastly outweigh not belonging to the Commonwealth. I would believe
that the
population of Zimbabwe would wish to be heard on a matter such
as
that."
The brinkmanship will come to a head on Sunday when a
six-strong
committee of "wise men" comprising Commonwealth leaders is due to
recommend
specific criteria for eventually allowing Zimbabwe back into the
group.
The racially-charged Zimbabwe row has dominated the four-day
biennial
summit in the Nigerian capital of Abuja to the frustration of many
delegates
eager to discuss other topics like fair trade, AIDS and
terrorism.
Western nations are leading a majority faction that
insists Zimbabwe
must return to democracy before ending the suspension, while
some African
states backed by other poor countries accuse Britain and others
of imposing
a new imperialism.
"They must stop their colonial
ways...stop dominating us in the
Commonwealth," Malaysia's New Straits Times
newspaper quoted its foreign
minister, Syed Hamid Albar, as
saying.
"Why must we be told to do certain things by the white
members of the
Commonwealth?"
NO CONSENSUS OVER
MUGABE
After Saturday's meeting of his ruling ZANU-PF party, Mugabe
said the
Commonwealth had been hijacked by racists interfering in Zimbabwe's
internal
affairs. But he gave no indication of when the southern African
country
would withdraw.
The group suspended it last year on the
grounds that Mugabe had rigged
elections and was harassing its
opponents.
McKinnon said "no amount of threatening language" would
sway the
organization from its insistence on democracy.
The six
leaders met earlier on Saturday but had not reached consensus
by the time the
Commonwealth's full complement of kings, presidents and
prime ministers
headed to host President Olusegun Obasanjo's luxurious villa
for a private
retreat.
The task force is made up of leaders from Australia and
Canada, who
oppose readmission; from Zimbabwe's neighbors Mozambique and
South Africa,
who are in favor; and from India and Jamaica, whose positions
are less
known.
Some African leaders suspect the anti-Mugabe
stance is motivated more
by his confiscation of white-owned farms for
landless blacks than the rights
of the majority population.
"I
would favor it coming back into the fold, maybe with conditions,"
Botswana
President Festus Mogae told Reuters. "I favor constructive
engagement within
the club."
McKinnon, a feisty former foreign minister of New
Zealand, was
re-elected on Friday by a margin of 40 to 11, in what many had
seen as a
proxy for how to treat Zimbabwe.
Membership of the
Commonwealth, which groups 1.7 billion people or a
third of the world's
population, offers poor nations an international stage
as well as aid and
trade benefits.
(Additional reporting by Manoah Esipisu in Abuja
and Cris Chinaka in
Zimbabwe)
IOL
I'm not ready to go, says Mugabe
December 06 2003 at
04:27PM
Masvingo, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe
on Saturday told
cheering party loyalists he was not ready to step
down.
There had been frenzied speculation that Mugabe, who turns 80 next
year,
would use the Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front
(Zanu-PF)
conference this weekend in the southern city of Masvingo to
announce he was
resigning or selecting a successor.
But instead he
told around 3 000 party loyalists in his closing address that
his country had
given him a mandate to continue ruling. "I must make good
that mandate," he
said to deafening applause.
"If I feel I cannot do it (govern) anymore,
I'll come to you in an
honourable way and say, 'Ah no. I think I've now come
to a stage where I
need a rest.' I'll tell you that.
"I haven't told
you that, have I?" he told the jubilant crowd of supporters.
Mugabe has
been in power here for the past 23 years since the country
gained
independence from Britain. - Sapa-AFP
Reuters
Commonwealth Haggles Over Zimbabwe's Suspension
Sat December
6, 2003 08:35 AM ET
(Page 1 of 2)
By Randall Palmer
and Andrew Cawthorne
ABUJA (Reuters) - A summit of the Commonwealth haggled
on Saturday over
whether to readmit Zimbabwe, a row that has split the
54-nation body along
racial lines.
Prime ministers, presidents and
kings attending the summit in Nigeria set up
a six-nation committee on Friday
to seek a consensus and allow the main body
of the conference to discuss
global trade, AIDS and terrorism.
"These people are very experienced
political leaders," re-elected
Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon
told BBC radio on Saturday.
"They are all people who are capable of
coming to a resolution that I
believe, given the breadth of thinking of those
six people, will be largely
accepted by the rest of the
Commonwealth."
The group suspended Zimbabwe last year, saying President
Robert Mugabe had
rigged his re-election and harassed opponents.
The
task force is made up of leaders from Australia and Canada, who
oppose
readmission; from Zimbabwe's neighbors Mozambique and South Africa,
who are
in favor; and from India and Jamaica, thought to be more
neutral.
Mugabe, 79, threatened on Friday to quit the club.
"If
the choice were made, one for us to lose our sovereignty and become a
member
of the Commonwealth or remain with our sovereignty and lose the
membership of
the Commonwealth, I would say let the Commonwealth go," he
said.
His
ruling ZANU-PF party was set to condemn Mugabe's treatment by the
"white
Commonwealth" and support his threat to withdraw from the group
if
suspension continues.
"The most likely outcome is that the party is
going to endorse the
president's position, and to direct the government to
pull the country out
if there are signs that Britain and its allies are going
to continue using
the Commonwealth to pursue a racist campaign against
Zimbabwe," a party
official said at ZANU-PF's annual conference in
Zimbabwe.
Membership of the Commonwealth -- mostly former British
colonies,
encompassing 1.7 billion people -- gives poor nations an
international stage
as well as aid and trade
benefits.
In what many viewed as a proxy vote on
Zimbabwe, the summit voted 40-11 on
Friday to re-elect McKinnon, a strong
critic of Mugabe.
Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada all want to
extend Zimbabwe's
suspension until democracy returns.
But some African
leaders are sensitive to perceptions of being "bullied" by
London and suspect
Britain's stance is motivated by Mugabe's confiscation of
white-owned farms
for landless blacks.
"I would favor it (Zimbabwe) coming back into the
fold, maybe with
conditions," Botswana President Festus Mogae told Reuters.
"I favor
constructive engagement within the club."
Canada wants an
arrangement allowing Zimbabwe to be readmitted if it makes
specified changes,
rather than extending the suspension until the next
summit in two
years.
"Progress (by Zimbabwe) could occur in the next two years but it's
not the
case today," said Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien. The group
was asked
to present the summit with a plan by Sunday outlining steps
toward
readmission for Zimbabwe.
The task force was due to try to
agree on these benchmarks.
Asked whether he was confident that Zimbabwe
could make progress toward
having its suspension ended, McKinnon said: "There
does have to be an
understanding by President Mugabe that things will be
expected to be done
differently.
"What everyone is saying that any
reconciliation in Zimbabwe has to begin
with relatively productive
discussions between (Mugabe's) ZANU-PF and (the
opposition) MDC."
The
summit in the Nigerian capital Abuja ends on Monday.
BBC
Zimbabwe ups Commonwealth threat
|
Mugabe said Zimbabwe could leave the
Commonwealth | Zimbabwe's
Government has intensified its war of words over the country's continued
expulsion from the body.
President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party has voted to pull out if the
country is not "treated as an equal" within the 54-nation grouping.
A panel set up on Friday by Commonwealth leaders at their summit in Nigeria
has been discussing whether Zimbabwe's suspension should be lifted.
Zimbabwe was suspended last year after an election widely seen as flawed.
After a week of threatening to pull out of the Commonwealth, President Mugabe
stepped up the rhetoric in his speech at the end of his party conference in
Masvingo.
Commenting on Zimbabwe's suspension, and his lack of an invitation to the
summit in Nigeria, he likened the Commonwealth to characters in George Orwell's
novel, Animal Farm, where some members are more equal that others.
He again attacked UK Prime Minister Tony Blair as being arrogant and of
having a superiority complex.
Deadlock possible on panel
Summit sources say Commonwealth leaders want the matter settled and
mechanisms for monitoring Zimbabwe's performance are being looked at.
One possibility is that the suspension would continue for the time being,
with a provision for reviewing or even lifting the suspension if the political
situation improves in Zimbabwe.
But there is a chance that the panel itself - which could make a
recommendation before the end of Sunday - will reach a deadlock.
Two members favour continued sanctions, two oppose them, and two have no
clear position.
The BBC's Barnaby Phillips in Abuja says the strong emotions surrounding the
issue are undoubtedly causing tension as the leaders embark on their traditional
weekend retreat.
 |
ZIMBABWE PANEL
Australia: pro suspension
Canada: pro suspension
India: position unclear
Jamaica: position unclear
Mozambique: anti suspension
South Africa: anti suspension
|
Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon told reporters on Saturday: "What
we want to do is ultimately to re-engage (with Zimbabwe)."
The UK is not on the special panel discussing Zimbabwe, despite being one of
the strongest critics of its President Robert Mugabe.
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair says suspension of Zimbabwe should continue
until Harare complies with the Commonwealth's declared values.
But Britain has now said it does not want to pre-empt the committee's
discussions.
A number of African nations have pressed for the suspension to end, arguing
that it is better to engage with Mr Mugabe than to isolate him.
The BBC diplomatic correspondent Barnaby Mason says they resent what they
consider the colonial mentality of wealthy white members of the Commonwealth -
most of whose members are former British colonies.
|
Sydney Morning Herald
Call to restore Mugabe
By Tom Allard, Abuja,
Nigeria
December 7, 2003
The
Sun-Herald
Australia's hopes for a quick resolution
of the debate over Zimbabwe at the
Commonwealth leaders' summit have been
dashed, with mounting calls from
African countries for the regime of Robert
Mugabe to be re-admitted to the
forum, forcing the hasty creation of a
six-nation committee to hammer out a
compromise solution.
Prime
Minister John Howard is one member of the committee of "wise men",
which also
includes the leaders of Canada, South Africa, India, Jamaica
and
Mozambique.
Among the proposals being considered is for Zimbabwe
to have the opportunity
to rejoin the 54-member body before the next
Commonwealth Heads of
Government meeting in two years.
The committee's
deliberations reflect the fact that the consensus on
Zimbabwe's future that
Mr Howard had been so optimistic about on his arrival
in the Nigerian capital
for the summit has evaporated.
As Zimbabwe dominates the meeting, it is
also detracting from Australia's
main goal, garnering a strong, renewed
commitment for a new round of World
Trade Organisation talks and substantial
reductions in trade barriers.
However, there was good news for Australia
with the re-election of former
New Zealand foreign minister Don McKinnon as
secretary-general of the
Commonwealth for another four years. He has been a
strong anti-Mugabe
spokesman for the forum.
Speaking to the media just
four hours before the six-nation committee met,
it was clear Mr Howard had no
idea he was going to be asked to join the
committee. Reflecting his
embarrassment, he subsequently refused media
requests to film and photograph
the opening meeting of the committee
yesterday, despite the agreement of the
five other leaders.
The make-up of the committee highlights the divide in
the Commonwealth about
how to tackle Mr Mugabe's regime, suspended from the
Commonwealth since 2002
after elections widely seen as rigged and allegations
of systemic violence
against opposition figures, human rights abuses and
gross economic
mismanagement.
Mozambique's President Joaquin Chissano
believes Zimbabwe should be
"returned to the fold" of Commonwealth nations
and South Africa also wants a
softened stance on the nation. Australia wants
continued suspension and
tough political sanctions while the other three
nations involved in the
committee are somewhere between those two opposites.
The committee will seek
to agree on a series of benchmarks for Zimbabwe's
re-admission. Australia
wants no backsliding from previous demands for new
elections, the end of
political violence and the involvement of the United
Nations in Mr Mugabe's
controversial land reform policy, which has forced
white farmers off their
properties.
Before the committee was formed,
Mr Howard was defiant. Australia's view on
Zimbabwe "will not be changing,
irrespective of the views of other
countries," he said. "If the Commonwealth
fudges it over Zimbabwe, it will
do itself damage."
Indeed, an
underlying theme dogging the CHOGM summit is the relevance of
the
Commonwealth, seen in some quarters as an anachronistic body that
reflects
the bygone days of British colonialism. Moreover, Mr Mugabe is
threatening
to pull out of the organisation permanently, which would be an
acute
embarrassment as it would reveal that, beyond excluding membership,
the
Commonwealth has little or no power to discipline rogue
nations.
Addressing a conference of his ruling Zanu-PF party on Friday,
he said:
"What is it to us? It is a club. There are other clubs we can
join."
The Australian
Snub by Howard over Mugabe row
By Dennis Atkins in
Abuja
December 07, 2003
AN ANGRY Australian Prime Minister John Howard
snubbed a reception by
Commonwealth secretary-general Don McKinnon yesterday
as the political row
over Zimbabwe heated up.
Countries backing the
readmission of Zimbabwe into the Commonwealth at the
heads of government
meeting in Nigeria have frustrated Mr Howard's attempts
to focus on world
trade.
The first session of the 52-nation CHOGM was dominated by
discussion on
Zimbabwe.
Then a bid by Mr Howard, Britain's Tony Blair
and NZ's Mr McKinnon to have a
quick decision on continuing Zimbabwe's
suspension was blocked by African
states, led by South Africa's Thabo
Mbeki.
Instead, the group set up a so-called "council of wise men",
including Mr
Howard, to sort out a position and report back to the summit
overnight,
Australian time.
Zimbabwe
is certain to remain in the sin bin but Mr Howard and leaders from
South
Africa, Mozambique, Canada, India and Jamaica have been told to find a
way to
monitor the rogue nation, leaving open the possibility of readmission
before
the next CHOGM in two years.
Irate Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe
yesterday threatened for the second
time in a week to walk out of the
Commonwealth.
"There are other clubs we can join," he said. "Our people
are overjoyed, the
land is ours. We are now the rulers and owners of
Zimbabwe."
Mr Howard warned that the Commonwealth needed to act
decisively.
"If the Commonwealth fudges over Zimbabwe, it will do itself
damage," Mr
Howard said. "Australia's view will not be changing, irrespective
of the
views of other countries."
The battle over Zimbabwe is also
affecting the bid by Mr Howard and Mr Blair
to have Pakistan brought back
into the Commonwealth five years after its
military coup.
Exclusion of Zimbabwe Triggers Racism Claims
The East African
Standard (Nairobi)
December 6, 2003
Posted to the web December 6,
2003
Okech Kendo And Reuters
Nairobi
The exclusion of Zimbabwe
overshadowed today's opening of the Commonwealth
summit as rich Western
nations squared up against African states over the
sanctions on President
Robert Mugabe for rights abuses.
A lavish opening ceremony presided over
by Britain's Queen Elizabeth, who
leads the 54-nation club of mostly former
British colonies, could not hide
the racially charged discord bubbling as the
four-day meeting began in the
Nigerian capital Abuja.
"There will
be quite a battle over Zimbabwe," said Richard Dowden, director
of the
London-based Royal African Society.
"A lot of African countries have said
in private they think this human
rights stuff is just a cover for British
interests there and they want to
resist it and that brings out a sort of
Africanist attitude," he added.
Zimbabwe was high on the agenda for the
heads of state, representing about
one-third of the world's population, and
key leaders were sticking to
entrenched positions as they prepared to begin
closed-door sessions late in
the morning.
The Commonwealth suspended
Zimbabwe last year because opposition groups and
Western nations said that
Mugabe had rigged his re-election.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said
maintaining the suspension would
"send the right message of strong
disapproval for what is happening in
Zimbabwe".
Canadian Prime
Minister Jean Chretien echoed this view, saying it would be
unacceptable to
lift the punishment if Zimbabwe made no progress in
answering Commonwealth
demands.
At the same time, a small but powerful group of southern African
states,
believed to be Malawi, Namibia, Zambia, Mozambique and South Africa,
reject
Zimbabwe's exclusion and are demanding it be lifted.
But a
furious Mugabe has threatened to leave the Commonwealth.
"We do not
believe that the continued isolation of Zimbabwe is delivering
the desired
result," Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano told reporters on
arrival in
Abuja. "In our opinion they should return to the fold."
Mugabe says
Britain, Australia and New Zealand have forged an "unholy
alliance" against
him.
Another suspended nation, Pakistan, was hoping for a less
controversial
hearing than Zimbabwe at the summit.
And the war against
terror cannot be won by violence and force of fire power
alone, the meeting
was told.
"The Commonwealth must be part of the diplomacy and consensus
that could
help bring peoples together," Commonwealth secretary-general Don
Mckinnon
said.
"But diologue does not always work as the recent
collapse of World Trade
talks in Cancun Mexico showed," said Australia's
Prime Minister John Howard,
during the opening session.
"We are
committed to ensuring the revival of these talks as part of
Australia's
efforts to bridge the gap between rich and poor countries
through fair
trading regimes, he said, before paying special tribute to the
emerging face
of Nigeria
Zambia News Agency
Civil Society petition Commonwealth leaders over
Zimbabwe's violation of
human rights
From Emmerson Muchangwe in Abuja -
Nigeria
Abuja - Fifty (50) civil society leaders from diverse countries
of the
commonwealth, have petitioned the commonwealth leaders meeting here,
to
exert pressure on the Zimbabwe government to take measures to stop
the
harassment, intimidation, arbitrary arrests, torture and attacks on
civil
society, independent media and human rights defenders.
In an
open letter to the commonwealth heads of government, the civil
society
leaders feel that the continued threat of civil society and the human
rights
violations in Zimbabwe constitute a precedent of unrest within
the
commonwealth and are likely to have adverse political and
economical
development implications.
''We would like to highlight that
the actual human rights violations in
Zimbabwe, undermine the objectives
established in the Harare declaration,
the African Union constitutive act and
the NEPAD framework on democracy,
good governance, human rights and
development,'' the letter reads in part.
The civil society leaders have
also called for the immediate repeal of all
the unjust and repressive laws
which contravene Zimbabwe's international
obligations and its
constitution.
Yesterday, the commonwealth leaders appointed a committee
of six (06)
countries to closely assess the Zimbabwean question.
The
committee comprising South Africa, Jamaica, Canada, Australia,
Mozambique and
India, will today report to the rest of the members on the
agreed course of
action.
The Scotsman
Commonwealth Must Condemn Mugabe - Protesters
By Lisa
Davies, PA News
A small but noisy group of protesters today urged the
Commonwealth to
maintain pressure on Zimbabwe to ensure the country’s
president Robert
Mugabe is overthrown.
The protest, outside the
Zimbabwe High Commission in central London, was
urging world leaders, like
Prime Minister Tony Blair, to ensure Zimbabwe
remains suspended from the
Commonwealth. The Commonwealth Head’s of
Government meeting is currently
underway in Nigeria, with leaders pressured
to get firm condemnation of
Mugabe as Zimbabwean president.
Doctor Brighton Chireka, spokesman for
the Coalition to Stop the Suffering
in Zimbabwe, said continued sanctions
against Mugabe would force the country
’s leader to the negotiating
table.
“Mugabe wants to be in the Commonwealth, but this is a strong
message to
him,” Dr Chireka said today. “If the Commonwealth stands for
good
governments and human rights then it should come out and take strong
action
to pressure him.”
He added that there was no way Mugabe could
continue to fight the
international pressure and remain the leader of
Zimbabwe.
The coalition is deeply concerned by the failure of the Mugabe
regime to
honour its repeated pledges to the Commonwealth to observe
fundamental
values such as human rights, the independence of the judiciary
and freedom
of expression, Dr Chireka said.
The coalition was
determined to see fair and democratic elections in the
country.
Dr
Chireka, who is a medical doctor, moved to London two and a half years
ago
because of the worsening situation in his homeland.
He said: “My
colleagues in the medical field are at the moment on strike,
and people are
dying, disease and epidemics are everywhere. We want to go
back home. All the
medical staff (from Zimbabwe) that I know in London want
to go back to help
the terrible situation.”
The protesters, who came from around England for
today’s event, chanted and
waved placards that said “Commonwealth leaders
please, Zimbabwe needs human
rights”, “Wake up world! Zimbabwe is dying”,
“Zimbabwe belongs to the people
not to Mugabe”.
Sifiso, 36, from
Newcastle, said she had been in the UK for just a year but
was desperate to
go home when the situation was better.
“It’s my home, my parents are
there, my family is there. I do not like being
away from them,” she said.
“Things are horrible in Zimbabwe and we want him
(Mugabe) out. I would be the
first one to fly home if he was thrown out.”
Financial Times
South Africa fails to find backers for
Zimbabwe
By David White and Jean Eaglesham in Abuja
Published:
December 6 2003 4:00 | Last Updated: December 6 2003 4:00
Robert
Mugabe's regime in Zimbabwe looked increasingly isolated
yesterday after an
expected show of support by other African Commonwealth
countries fell
away.
South Africa, which has campaigned to end Zimbabwe's
suspension from
the Commonwealth, failed to rally the backing it sought at a
meeting of
heads of government of the 54-nation organisation.
However, Britain was clearly disappointed that the meeting finessed
the issue
rather than simply reaffirming the status quo. Tony Blair, prime
minister,
said: "It would have been better to deal with it straight away."
Participants in yesterday's session said South Africa's Thabo Mbeki
was alone
in presenting a vigorous defence of Zimbabwe's case for
readmission. The
failure to gather a significant lobby - which would have
split the
Commonwealth - became clear at a meeting of African and Caribbean
ministers
on Thursday night, which officials described as "acrimonious".
Commonwealth leaders yesterday agreed to appoint a six-member panel to
report
back to the meeting in closed conclave today or tomorrow on the
approach to
be taken towards Zimbabwe.
South Africa was named to the panel
alongside Australia, Canada,
Jamaica, India and Mozambique. Although no
decision had been taken on the
approach to be adopted, observers said the
procedure presupposed that
Zimbabwe would remain excluded from Commonwealth
meetings for the time
being.
However, Nigeria's President
Olusegun Obasanjo said he looked forward
to seeing Zimbabwe take part in the
next Commonwealth summit in two years.
The panel was expected to suggest a
set of benchmarks for the country's
readmittance.
Before the
meeting, Mr Blair had firmly opposed making concessions to
Mr Mugabe, saying
the Commonwealth needed to give "the right signal of
disapproval for what is
happening in Zimbabwe". Following yesterday's
inconclusive discussion, he
said: "I hope and remain reasonably confident
that the suspension of Zimbabwe
will continue."
Mr Mugabe was barred from the Commonwealth leaders'
meeting, which was
opened by Queen Elizabeth.
The country was
suspended in March last year, after charges of serious
election abuses, for
an initial period of 12 months.
JUSTICE FOR AGRICULTURE LEGAL COMMUNIQUÉ - December 5, 2003
Email: justice@telco.co.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Internet:
www.justiceforagriculture.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
JAG
LEGAL FUND RAISING COMMUNIQUÉ
LEGAL STRATEGY:
'Justice for
Agriculture' is seeking to challenge the Illegality and the
non-transparent
implementation of the "Fast track land Resettlement
Program".
At
present there are various Legal challenges in progress. The most
strategic at
this stage is the 'Quinell' constitutional challenge. This
case seeks to
challenge the constitutionality of the 10th of May amendment
number 6 of 2002
to the Land Acquisition Act.
The Quinell case raises 8 constitutional
issues. This case is imminent in
the Supreme Court and should be heard early
in the New Year.
Senior counsel, Whim Trengove, a prominent
Constitutional Advocate from
South Africa, seconded by Senior Advocate Chris
Anderson from Zimbabwe,
have been commissioned to represent commercial
farmers in this benchmark
historical case.
Justice for Agriculture is
still seeking financial assistance for the
execution of this case. Any
donations will be gratefully received and a
legal trust account has been
established in South Africa by a firm of legal
practitioners being
the
'Wright Rose Innes Legal Practitioners'.
Account details are
available on request from the Justice for Agriculture
office at:
17
Phillips Road, Belgravia,
Phone number (263 4) 799410 or from
Chris
Shepherd at hopeisvital@africaonline.co.zw
Or
cell phone 091 262 659.
JUSTICE FOR AGRICULTURE LEGAL COMMUNIQUÉ - December 5, 2003
Email: justice@telco.co.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Internet:
www.justiceforagriculture.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
'JAG
MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT'
IMPORTANT JAG MEETING FOR
AGRICULTURAL TITLE
DEED HOLDERS
Please be advised that following the last meeting on 28
November 2003,
which police closed down unlawfully but which Chief
Superintendant
Madzingo apologized for, we have set another meeting date for
Tuesday 9th
December 2003 at Northside Community Church Hall at 8 Edinburgh
road,
Borrowdale (100m from Borrowdale Post Office).
In the meantime we
have commenced legal proceedings against certain Details
at ZRP
Borrowdale.
We apologize for the late notice of this meeting and change
of venue. Art
Farm trustees have refused the Art Farm facilities and hall as
a venue to
farmers to discuss these important compensation and restitution
issues, and
we are extremely disappointed by their succumbing to illegal
pressure.
VENUE: NOR COMMUNITY CHURCH HALL, BORROWDALE.
TIME: 9.00AM
FOR 9.30 SHARP
AGENDA
1. Opening prayer - Tim Neil
2.
Introduction - D. Conolly
3. Compensation / restitution / reality or
pipedream - J. Worsley-Worswick
4. Documentation of losses /getting the
job done - W. Hart
5. Steps on the road to legal challenge - B.
Freeth
6. Commercial Agriculture and its future in Zimbabwe - D.
Conolly
7. Questions and answers
8. Closing prayer - B.
Freeth
NB: Mr Louis Bennett and Mr David Drury from our legal fraternity
will be
there to answer any legal questions. Mr Graham Mullett chairman of
the
valuations consortium will be there to answer questions as well
as
accountants from Price Waterhouse.
PLAY YOUR PART IN CHISELLING OUT
YOUR FUTURE OUT OF OUR LAND
JAG OPEN LETTER FORUM
Email: justice@telco.co.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Internet:
www.justiceforagriculture.com
Please
send any material for publication in the Open Letter Forum to
justice@telco.co.zw with "For Open Letter
Forum" in the subject
line.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
1:
Dear JAG,
Thanks for your mail.
Re: Barry Nicolle's
letter No:6 in O.L.F. No:196
ZWNEWS ironhorse@zimnews.net are offering a
format option called ZIMDAY,
which condenses their usual 6 pages into 2,
which is very easy to print, (&
pass on to sympathisers?). It is a bit
like a newspaper. I wonder if this
may be a format you could use to reduce
the space, on O.L.F?
Regards, Roy Mac.
The original issue was
whether JAG should send out a single posting per
day, containing all
material, instead of sending out separate messages for
Communiqués, Open
Letters Forum, Commercials, Thought For The Day etc.
>From the
technical perspective, a single posting would be far easier and
quicker.
That could easily be done by simply concatenating all messages
into one
single message per day. It might not be very readable however,
and is much
less convenient for those who wish to file say Communiqués but
not the rest
of the material. Ideally therefore a daily digest would be an
additional
option for those that prefer that format.
The ZWNEWS ZIMDAY posting is an
attractive format, but involves a great
deal of work - they have a person who
spends a couple of hours each day in
formatting the material as a Word
document. The size of that material when
e-mailed would however be far
larger than the sum of the individual
postings that we send out at the
moment. ZWNEWS in fact offers this as an
additional service beyond their
normal postings. It is a format that is
popular with some of their
subscribers, but most seem to prefer the smaller
size of the standard plain
text e-mail newsletter. They also have a third
option, which is a rich text
version - colour and fonts are added, but the
content is otherwise the same
as the plain text version.
In conclusion - it all depends on the level of
service you wish to offer,
and the amount of time you have to spend on
preparation of the material.
Regards
Jim Holland
JAG List
Administrator
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
2:
Sirs,
I have been following the harrowing situation daily since
I met a tobacco
farmer in London whose land had recently been seized. I am
tonight writing
from Southern China having travelled by train from Hong Kong
- about 120
miles.
During the entire 2 hour journey virtually the
entire land adjacent to the
railway line was under smallholder cultivation,
lush and green in the warm
December sun, and all benefiting from carefully
implemented irrigation and
attention. There is an abundance of restaurants
and of fresh food wherever
you turn.
It set me wondering: the
population of China is about 100 times greater
than Zimbabwe and yet there is
food for all, hospitals work, schools are to
a high standard, as is every
aspect of this miraculous centrally controlled
(read Communist) economy which
was (unbelievably) the inspiration for
President Mugabe's economic logic. The
economy here is growing at about 8%
p.a. and there is no limit to ownership
and consumption at all. You can buy
every consumer gadget here at usual
western prices so there must be
substantial disposable income, especially in
the big cities such as here in
Guangdong (Canton).
Discussing the hand
back of Hong Kong to China over dinner, there was
evident respect for the
'decent' way the British has fulfilled our
obligations, and for the proven
business model that Hong Kong has become to
the whole of China. Turning to
Africa, the comment made was, and I quote,
'Africa still needs
Britain".
Is the Zimbabwe government incapable of observing and learning
that to
progress you do not dismantle well oiled economic machines - you
polish and
maintain them. You empower self respect, self determination, the
natural
human desire to do better and with just a few hands on the levers you
sit
back and watch the economy grow. Elementary stuff really.
The
present Zimbabwe government should be forced to come to Hong Kong or
Southern
China for a look see, and to take back some wisdom, and wind the
clock back
some twenty years.
As the Chinese said to me 'We think Chinese people
very smart ... we think
African people can not be very smart otherwise they
wouldn't destroy their
own economy'.
Are Zimbabweans happy to allow
themselves to be classified as dummies?
I just might be willing to
contribute to the cost of a return air fare to
HK/China if it would open
minds and allow lessons to be learned. You have
my address.
Alexander
Cameron
London,
UK
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
3:
'I am "white", I am African, I am Zimbabwean. I am Male and I am 25
years
old.
I went to my roots in Ireland and I have returned home
where I now know I
belong. I feel the passion of my country more than ever
and its need for me
to work with my compatriots, of all backgrounds, in
saving it. I believe
in the future. I want to hand out red cards and commit
myself to change.
Don't go elsewhere but stand firm with me and lets make
our contribution to
history by changing our country for the better,
forever!
It WILL happen. Be part of it!!
'
M.D.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
All
letters published on the open Letter Forum are the views and opinions
of the
submitters, and do not represent the official viewpoint of Justice
for
Agriculture.
From The Church Times (UK), 5 December
Kunonga accused of incitement
to murder
By Pat Ashworth
More details have emerged of the
charges made against the Bishop of Harare,
the Rt Revd Nolbert Kunonga. The
Bishop, an apologist for President Mugabe,
is charged with 38 offences, in a
move that will bring him before an
ecclesiastical court to face the
Archbishop of Central Africa, Dr Bernard
Malango. On the seven-page charge
sheet, addressed to the Registrar of the
provincial court, Bishop Kunonga is
charged with apostasy; of publicly and
deliberately maintaining doctrines
contrary to the teaching of the Church;
and of conducting himself "in a
manner which gives just cause for scandal
and offence". More seriously, he is
also charged with inciting or attempting
to incite the killing of named
members of the opposition party, "so that
they would leave a certain
congregation or congregations", and with the
intimidation, suspension and
dismissal of priests and lay people. A
catalogue of further charges includes
bringing the diocese and the Church
into "ridicule and contempt" by taking
civil proceedings against church
members; of an unlawful attempt to dismiss
the Chancellor; of failing and
continuing to fail "to call for justice and
plead for truth"; of
substituting three signatories of his own choice to an
account at the
Stanbic Bank; of having churchwardens and councillors called
in for
questioning on the unfounded suspicion of their knowledge of a plot
to
assassinate him, "when he knew such an allegation to be false"; and
of
"failing to communicate with or consult clergy or laity save for a
select
few specially associated with him." It is not known when the Bishop
will be
summoned before the provincial court.
Meanwhile, the Roman
Catholic Archbishop of Matabeleland, the Most Revd Pius
Ncube, has
acknowledged the cost of speaking out against President Mugabe
and the ruling
Zanu PF party. In a BBC radio interview with Michael Buerk on
Monday, he
spoke of the government’s attempts to intimidate and to silence
him,
including bringing false accusations of rape against him. He was
offered a
farm in return for his co-operation, but refused. "I will not
allow myself to
be muzzled. If I had accepted the farm, I would not have
been able to talk,"
said the Archbishop, who took part in the public
demonstration against the
World Cricket Cup in Harare this year. Afterwards
he held a service at which
atrocities committed by the ruling party were
exposed. However, as a
consequence of attending the service, a 14-year-old
schoolboy had been
tortured in the cells "until he lost his mind", he said.
The Zimbabwean
government had procured no seed for its starving people, the
Archbishop said.
And President Mugabe’s misleading forecast of a big harvest
had caused the
World Food Programme to withdraw some of its aid. "Six
million US dollars
have gone on a 70-room house, cars and lives of luxury
while people are
starving," he said. Mr Mugabe and his government were
liars. "These people
claim to be Christians, but they have not even observed
fundamental Christian
teaching. Their Christianity is not honest." The
Archbishop acknowledged that
he could not guarantee his own safety; but he
said: "It’s a sin not to speak
out when people are suffering. I have to
trust in God. That’s what faith is
all about."
Daily News
Please speak louder vanasekuru!
Date:5-Dec,
2003
THE Catholic bishops in our country like to be called
‘sekuru'. Sekuru
is the wise old man you can look to for advice on the
important issues in
life, and they have just issued a letter to all the
faithful on the problems
of ‘peace in a divided Zimbabwe'.
It
contains some good advice, but your muzukuru may not be younger
than you. He
or she might be hard of hearing, so you need to speak louder.
He or
she might be so young that s/he doesn't know all the background
to what you
are saying: you need to speak more clearly.
They start with an
introduction that reminds us that good Pope John
(John XXIII) wrote a letter
on ‘peace on earth' to the whole world in 1963,
in which he said the four
pillars of peace were truth, justice, love and
freedom.
This is
followed by a section on human dignity, then sections dealing
with each of
the ‘pillars of peace' and a conclusion. Each section gives
good advice to us
all, then makes a reference which could be louder and
clearer to issues that
demand action from more than the devout faithful.
Towards the end
of the section introducing the four pillars they say:
‘We therefore call on
those in authority to create the required conditions
so that peace,
prosperity and development can be achieved'.
They don't say what
these conditions are or how to create them. Some
of us could make
suggestions, but some may need the bishops' ideas to be
spelled out for them
more clearly.
Towards the end of the section on truth they say:
‘For instance the
media must both be reminded and allowed to act
professionally and take
responsibility for what they say and
write.'
But they don't say which media need to be reminded and
which need to
be allowed to follow their professional duty.
Do
ZBC need to be ‘allowed' or ‘reminded'? The Independent? The
Daily
News?
Towards the end of the section on justice, they say:
‘justice delayed
is justice denied'
but they don't say who is
denying us justice by delaying it: the
Registrar-General delaying the
hearings on the conduct of elections, the
police losing dockets or failing to
produce those accused of political
murder, rape, torture and arson – or
somebody else?
Towards the end of the section on love they say: ‘We
appeal to the law
enforcement agents not to allow anybody to take the law
into his own hands'
but they don't say who take the law into their own hands:
the police who
shut down the Daily News after a
court had ruled
that it must be allowed to publish, the Green Bombers
who beat up anyone they
accuse of opposing them and forcibly prevent
opposition candidates from
registering for elections – or somebody else?
Towards the end of
the section on freedom they say: ‘If people are
forced to act in fear,
coerced, bribed, it is acting against principles of
freedom and peace' but
they don't say who has been forced to act in fear,
coerced or bribed, and
what they were induced to do: citizens forced to vote
against their
conscience, Green Bombers bribed to commit murder, rape,
torture and arson or
soldiers to forge ballot papers.
Or are they talking about
something else?
In their conclusion they say: ‘we . . . urge all
the faithful and
people of goodwill to pray and work for the establishment of
the four
pillars of peace in our hearts, families, in our communities and in
our
country'
But they don't address this appeal to work for
peace to those with the
most power, whose goodwill many of us doubt. They
don't name them - or are
they thinking of somebody else?
The
letter is signed by eight bishops and the administrator of the
Harare
diocese, which doesn't have a bishop at the moment, and we know any
nine men
will have different opinions on almost anything.
Nine Dynamos
supporters might agree that Dynamos should win the ZIFA
Unity Cup, but they
probably won't agree on what the team needs to do to win
it.
Nine bishops will agree that peace is a good thing, but they very
likely
won't agree on the details of how to achieve it. We know, or can
guess, that
some of the bishops we would want to speak more loudly and
clearly than the
assembled bishops did in this letter, but in their ‘dare'
they had to behave
as we all do at the chief's dare and settle for a
consensus
statement.
I can't help feeling sad that their consensus was not
broader than
what is said in this letter.
Yes, we all need to
avoid lies and deceit, exploiting and overcharging
our customers, ‘to
recognise the humanity of others and the reality of their
needs and to
respect the dignity of human persons’.
Everyone who, we hope, heard
this letter read in church on Sunday
needs to do these things in their
personal life. But our personal life
doesn't end there.
We need
to be able to vote out politicians who are the biggest
offenders, and to do
this we need to be informed about their offences.
Our personal life
includes our right to vote and inform ourselves
freely. It is sad, to say the
least, that the bishops cannot all agree to
say more on such
basics.
I have spoken before in this column about our personal
attitudes and
behaviour, but morality is not only about not beating our
wives, not lying
to our children, nor swindling our neighbours and about
respecting the old
and handicapped.
These things do relate to
the issues that trouble more than our
families and our neighbours. It is sad
that the bishops can't say more
clearly how they relate and what we can do
about it.
By Magari Mandebvu
