Sydney Morning Herald
June
13, 2008 - 5:34PM
President Robert Mugabe has warned that veterans of
Zimbabwe's 1970s
liberation war are prepared to take up arms again rather
than see the
opposition win a June 27 election, state media said
today.
"They came to my office after the (first round of) elections and
asked me:
'Can we take up arms?'," Mugabe was quoted by the Herald newspaper
as
telling a rally in Murehwa, to the northeast of Harare.
"They said
this country was won by the barrel of the gun and should we let
it go at the
stroke of a pen? Should one just write an X and then the
country goes just
like that?"
AFP
The signatories are: | |
Abdusalami Alhaji Abubakar Former President of Nigeria (1998 - 1999) | |
Kofi Annan Former Secretary-General of the United Nations (1997 - 2007), Nobel Laureate and member of The Elders | |
Kwame Appiah Laurence S. Rockefeller University Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University | |
Boutros Boutros-Ghali Former Secretary-General of the United Nations (1992 - 1997) | |
Lakhdar Brahimi Former United Nations Special Representative for Afghanistan, Haiti, Iraq and South Africa, member of The Elders | |
Pierre Buyoya Former President of Burundi (1987 - 1993, 1996 - 2003) | |
Joaquim Chissano Former President of Mozambique (1986 - 2005) | |
John Githongo Former Permanent Secretary for Governance and Ethics in Kenya | |
Richard Goldstone Former Judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa | |
Mo Ibrahim Founder of Celtel International and Founder of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation | |
Sam Jonah Former Chief Executive of the Ashanti Goldfields Corporation | |
William Kalema Chairman of the Uganda Investment Authority | |
Kenneth David Kaunda Former President of Zambia (1964 - 1991) | |
Angelique Kidjo Musician and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador | |
Wangari Maathai Founder of the Green Belt Movement and Nobel Laureate | |
Graça Machel President for the Foundation for Community Development and member of The Elders | |
Ketumile Masire Former President of Botswana (1980 - 1998) | |
Moeletsi Mbeki Deputy Chairman of the South African Institute of International Affairs | |
Benjamin William Mkapa Former President of Tanzania (1995 - 2005) | |
Festus Mogae Former President of Botswana (1998 - 2008) | |
António Mascarenhas Monteiro Former President of Cape Verde (1991 - 2001) | |
Elson Bakili Muluzi Former President of Malawi (1994 - 2004) | |
Ali Hassan Mwinyi Former President of Tanzania (1985 - 1995) | |
Kumi Naidoo Secretary General of CIVICUS | |
Domitien Ndayizeye Former President of Burundi (2003 - 2005) | |
Babacar Ndiaye Former President of the African Development Bank | |
Youssou N'Dour Musician and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador | |
Njongonkulu Ndungane Former Archbishop of Cape Town and Founder of the African Monitor | |
Moustapha Niasse Former Prime Minister of Senegal (1983, 2000 - 2001) | |
Loyiso Nongxa Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of the Witwatersrand | |
Karl Offman Former President of Mauritius (2002 - 2003) | |
Mamphela Ramphele Former Managing Director of the World Bank and former Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Town | |
Jerry John Rawlings Former President of Ghana (1993 - 2001) | |
Johann Rupert Chairman of Remgro Limited | |
Mohammed Sahnoun Former UN/OAU Special Representative for the Great Lakes region of Africa and former Assistant Secretary-General of the OAU | |
Salim Ahmed Salim Former Prime Minister of Tanzania (1994 - 1995) and former Secretary-General of the OAU (1989 - 2001) | |
John Sentamu Archbishop of York | |
Nicéphore Dieudonné Soglo Former President of Benin (1991 - 1996) | |
Miguel Trovoada Former President of São Tomé and Príncipe (1991 - 2001) | |
Desmond Tutu Nobel Laureate and Chairman of The Elders | |
Cassam Uteem Former President of Mauritius (1992 - 2002) | |
Zwelinzima Vavi General Secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions | |
Joseph Sinde Warioba Former Prime Minister of Tanzania (1985 - 1990) |
SABC
June 13,
2008, 08:15
Zimbabwean Movement for Democratic change (MDC) officials say
they have not
been able to establish the whereabouts of the opposition
party's
General-Secretary Tendai Biti, since his arrest
yesterday.
Biti was reportedly arrested on charges of treason, which can
carry the
death penalty in Zimbabwe. The MDC leader and presidential
candidate, Morgan
Tsvangirai, was detained twice yesterday and released
without charge.
Spokesperson for the party, Nelson Chamisa, says despite
"efforts by the
government to destabilise their campaign", they're focused
on the June 27
presidential run-off.
"The (Zimbabwean) people have a
score to settle with dictatorship. The
people have a mandate to put a full
stop to hunger, poverty and loss of
dignity. You are aware of Zimbabwe
crossing Limpopo to try and find a way of
surviving..."
Monsters and Critics
Jun 13, 2008, 3:27 GMT
New York - The top UN
coordinator for emergency humanitarian operations
Thursday raised alarm
about the worsening situation in Zimbabwe, saying the
coming harvest would
likely only cover one- quarter of the country's needs.
John Holmes told
the UN Security Council that the serious humanitarian
crisis was of
increasing concern.
He criticized anew the government of President Robert
Mugabe, who has
forbidden foreign aid organizations from working within the
country as he
tries to hang on to power indefinitely.
Next week,
Haile Menkerios, the UN undersecretary for political affairs in
Africa,
plans to travel to Zimbabwe ahead of the run-off elections on June
27
against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who was re-arrested again
Thursday as he was campaigning for office.
IOL
June 13
2008 at 07:27AM
By Peta Thornycroft, Peter Fabricius and
Sapa-AP
Johannesburg - Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
leader Morgan
Tsvangirai and his deputy Tendai Biti were both arrested in
Zimbabwe on
Thursday as President Robert Mugabe's government continued its
crackdown on
the opposition ahead of the June 27 presidential run-off
election.
Police said they would charge Biti with treason which can
carry the
death penalty.
Police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena
said the treason charge relates
to "a transition document" discussing
changing Zimbabwe's government.
Bvudzijena said Biti was in police
custody but would not say where.
Tsvangirai was arrested in Kwekwe, about
200km southwest of Harare, while
campaigning. It was his third arrest in a
week.
He was detained for two hours and resumed campaigning after
being
released.
As before, no charges were laid against him and
the MDC believes
police are arresting and detaining him just to disrupt his
campaign.
The MDC expressed concern on Thursday about the safety of
Biti who was
arrested at Harare International Airport on his arrival from
Johannesburg.
"His whereabouts are still unknown... He was last
seen being shoved,
with hands handcuffed, into a Mercedes-Benz, registration
number AAO 3822,"
the MDC said.
Biti had been in SA since April
and had predicted, in an interview
earlier this week, that he would be
arrested on his return, as the
state-owned Herald newspaper had
warned.
According to some sources, Biti had this week been
conducting
negotiations in SA with representatives of the ruling Zanu-PF
party about
the possibility of forming a government of national unity to
avoid the
election.
US Ambassador to Zimbabwe James McGee said
his government was "very,
very concerned" about Biti's arrest and word that
he would be charged with
treason.
He said he had seen the MDC's
transition document, describing it as a
routine plan any political party
would draw up to identify priorities if it
were to come to
power.
But he said a forged version had circulated that raised
issues not
contained in the genuine document, including punishing Mugabe
hard-liners.
McGee said continuing political violence, Biti's
arrest and
Tsvangirai's detention left him with little confidence that the
run-off will
be free and fair.
"But I don't think we have any
choice but to move forward with an
election," he said, saying that to do
otherwise would be to hand victory to
Mugabe.
McGee called on
Zimbabwe's neighbours to intervene, saying the
Southern African Development
Community should send more observers to ensure
peace before and during the
vote.
SADC officials in Harare said they would deploy 400
observers, with an
initial deployment of 120 on Thursday. That is three
times the number
deployed for the March 29 vote.
But Tsvangirai
is coming under pressure from some Zimbabweans to pull
out of the run-off to
save lives.
The military have taken over vast swathes of the
country and few will
be prepared to take the risk of voting for
him.
"We are under military rule," said Eldred Masunungure senior
political
analyst from the University of Zimbabwe and director of the Mass
Public
Opinion Institute.
"People are being killed and so many,
many have disappeared. The war
against the people is intensifying rather
than receding."
He said many NGOs had already closed down and that
most human rights
lawyers had left the country.
"There is no
point in Morgan Tsvangirai trying to take part in this
upcoming election
when the results are already pre-determined."
The small group of
lawyers who have represented political prisoners,
such as Andrew Makoni,
Harrison Nkomo, Alec Muchadahama and Beatrice Mtetwa
have either left the
country or are in hiding far from their homes.
More and more MDC
MPs have fled to Botswana. Others are in hiding.
Only a minority are able to
campaign for Tsvangirai's re-election, mostly in
south-western Zimbabwe
where the population has been decimated by
emigration.
Meanwhile, African leaders, including former UN secretary-general Kofi
Annan
and Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, were to issue a public call on
Friday
for an end to violence and intimidation in Zimbabwe ahead of the
elections.
This article was originally published on page 1 of
Cape Times on June
13, 2008
Comment
Val wrote
:
Biti and Tsvangirai should leave Zim immediately. Martyrdom is not
all
it's claimed to be. Zim needs them alive and not dead. I fear the worst
for
Biti in detention at an unknown place. The Attorney-General of Zim with
his
decree of no bail is so brilliant a jurist that it boggles the
mind.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com
June 13, 2008
Geoffrey
Nyarota
MUTARE - A senior magistrate has warned that selective arrests of
perpetrators of political violence will tarnish the image of the Zimbabwe
Republic Police (ZRP).
Livingstone Chipadze, provincial magistrate
here told the court that the
police should desist from arresting only MDC
activists and arrest anyone
implicated in acts of political violence
regardless of their party
affiliation.
Chipadze was presiding over a
case in which 11 MDC activists are charged
with allegedly attacking Zanu-PF
supporters in Marange's Mafararikwa Village
on 26 May.
The provincial
magistrate made the remarks after it emerged during the court
proceedings
that Zanu-PF supporters had, in fact, instigated the violence.
The court
heard that 36 Zanu-PF supporters had attacked MDC supporters while
accusing
them of "selling" the country after they campaigned and voted for
Morgan
Tsvangirai on March 29. The Zanu-PF supporters were apparently
overpowered,
however, and forced to beat a hasty retreat. The MDC supporters
then pursued
them and threw stones at them, the court was told.
But, surprisingly,
when the police arrived they proceeded to arrest only the
MDC supporters,
while leaving untouched the Zanu PF supporters, who had
started the
fracas.
The magistrate queried why only the MDC activists had been
arrested.
"If it is true that Zanu-PF supporters started the violence
then the police
should have arrested them," Chipadze said. "Selective
arrests will place the
image of the police in disrepute.
"In order to
curb the menace of violence the police are supposed to act
professionally
and arrest perpetrators without bias."
However, Chipadze said while he
appreciated that Zanu PF supporters had
instigated the violence the MDC
supporters had a case to answer because they
should have not retaliated.
They should have made a report to the police,
instead, he
said.
.
"They threw stones at them and pursued them for about one
kilometre,"
Chipadze said. "They should have reported to the police instead
of attacking
them."
Innocent Gonese, the lawyer representing the
accused, argued that the road
leading to the police station was blocked by
war veterans, thus rendering it
impossible for the MDC activists to make a
report.
The magistrate denied the MDC supporters bail saying releasing
them would
send a wrong message to would-be perpetrators of violence.
However, Chipadze
ordered the release of two of the accused saying they had
no case to answer.
In their defence, the MDC supporters narrated their
ordeal in being
terrorised by Zanu-PF supporters on accusation that they had
not voted for
President Robert Mugabe on March 29.
The accused MDC
supporters said they had then decided to report to the
police but on their
way to the police station were confronted by Zanu-PF
supporters who attacked
them.
"They repelled the attack," Gonese said, "but could not make a
police report
because the road was blocked by war veterans. Instead the
police came and
arrested the MDC supporters only."
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com
June 13, 2008
By Our
Correspondent
BULAWAYO - Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) spokesman,
Nelson Chamisa
yesterday said the government has directed the public media
not to
publish political advertisements from his party.
While Zanu-PF
has started a campaign blitz on national radio and television
and
newspapers, MDC political material is conspicuously absent. State media
sources confirmed Chamisa's accusations saying the Permanent Secretary in
the Ministry of Information and Publicity, George Charamba, pronounced the
order to not only reject MDC advertisements, but also to report the
opposition party in bad light.
"That one is clear because we are
publishing Zanu-PF advertisements every
day but there have been no MDC
advertisements," said an advertising
executive at the Chronicle.
"We
were told that MDC adverts are banned. We have been in touch with their
(MDC) advertising agency, but we told them we cannot do anything as the
matter is beyond our control."
MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, who
beat Zanu-PF candidate, President Robert
Mugabe by more than 100 000 votes
in the first round election in March goes
into a re-match with the
octogenarian leader late this month.
The former trade unionist garnered
47 percent of the valid vote while Mugabe
got 43 percent.
But he has
been having a tough campaign period because police, apparently
working on
orders from Zanu-PF have systematically refused to sanction his
rallies and
have also arrested scores of MDC officials.
While Tsvangirai's rallies
remain banned, Mugabe and Zanu-PF officials have
been holding rallies and
political meetings all over the country.
Chamisa said the MDC has had
problems with Zimbabwe Newspapers and Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Corporation
(ZBC).
"We are having big problems with The Herald and ZBC," he said. "It
is purely
because of the dictatorship that is leading this country. The ZBC
and
Zimpapers are refusing to publish our campaign material and you can see
clearly that there is an instruction from somewhere. We know the order came
from Charamba."
The cash-strapped public media organisations, said
our Zimpapers source, is
also losing tens of trillions of dollars in
potential revenue by rejecting
MDC political advertisements.
A
full-page advertisement in The Herald costs at least $1 trillion.
Zanu-PF
is taking an average of two full-page advertisements in each issue
of the
newspapers daily.
Chamisa said his party was crafting a measured response
to the ban. He
refused to disclose the nature of the response.
"What
Zanu -PF is doing is illegal," he said. "It is also against the
Southern
Africa Development Community (SADC) principles and guidelines
governing
democratic elections, which Zanu -PF endorsed in 2004."
Leaders in the
14-member regional bloc committed themselves to upholding the
principles and
guidelines during a summit held in Mauritius in August 2004.
Broadly
speaking, the guidelines seek to level the electoral playing field
in SADC
through guaranteeing political tolerance, freedom of association,
full
participation
of all citizens in elections and free access to the
media.
Articles 2.1.5 and 7.4 specifically call for unhindered access to
the media
for all political parties contesting in elections. Article 2.1.5
says member
states must provide, "Equal opportunity for all political
parties to access
the state media. Article 7.4 states: "A country holding an
election must
safeguard the human and
civil liberties of all citizens
including the freedom of movement, assembly,
association, expression, and
campaigning as well as access to the media on
the part of all stakeholders,
during electoral processes as provided for
under 2.1.5."
As if to
confirm the ban, the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary
Affairs,
Patrick Chinamasa told state media last weekend that Zanu-PF would
not
entertain MDC arguments regarding the levelling of the electoral
playing
field. Chinamasa, who is also the chairman of the Zanu-PF
information and
publicity
sub-committee, said the ruling party would only
consider doing so if the MDC
calls for the lifting of what he described as
western sanctions on Zimbabwe.
He was referring to the targeted sanctions
imposed by the European Union and
America on senior ruling party and
government officials. Chinamasa claimed
that the so-called sanctions tilted
the playing field against Zanu -PF.
http://zimbabwemetro.com
By Raymond Mhaka ⋅ zimbabwemetro.com ⋅ June 12,
2008 ⋅
The MDC ’s International Affairs Secretary,Eliphas
Mukonoweshuro,MDC-Gutu
South., on Thursday escaped an attack by the army and
Central Intelligence
operatives.
“I have been chased by a car of hit men.
It is a combination of Zanu-PF
hoodlums and army officers who are
campaigning for Zanu-PF.
“They call that campaigning but they use guns,
machetes and spears to ensure
that they brutalise everybody into
submission.
“Either you vote for Zanu-PF or you don’t vote at all. I’ve
got information
that I must not go back into the constituency until after
the 27th of June
because I’ll be killed.”
“For a long time, we ceased
to have a civilian government in this country,”
he said.
“What we
have is this civil military junta, a combination of a few
politicians and
the army. We do not believe that Mugabe himself has lost
control.
“He
has not lost control, but he has ignored all civilian trappings of
government and is ruling with the army.”
“The strategy of Mr Mugabe
and his Zanu-PF Party is to ensure there is no
re-run. At the present moment
it is very very difficult to campaign,”
Mukonoweshuro
said.
Mukonoweshuro says he will go back despite the threat.
“My
supporters are in there, members of the MDC are in there and I cannot
leave
them in the lurch,”I will put everything else into the hands of the
Almighty,”he said.
Mukonoweshuro won Gutu South when he beat Former
minister of Youth and
Gender Shuvai Mahova by a wide margin.
Mahofa
has held the Gutu South seat since 1985.
Matibe and Chebudo’s homes
attacked
The MDC MP elect for Chegutu West Takalani Matibe’s house in
Chegutu was
attacked,instead of police arresting the attackers they arrested
Matibe.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai had paid a visit to Matibe, which
attracted
thousands of local MDC supporters to the MP’s home, the police
descended on
Matibe and arrested him. Moments later local Zanu-PF militants
arrived and
stoned Matibe’s house.
On the same day the rural home of
Kwekwe MP elect, Blessing Chebundo was
last night also attacked in
Kazangarare Village in Hurungwe, apparently also
by Zanu PF
militia.
Observers shocked
Tanki Mothae, director for the SADC organ
on politics, defence and security,
who is leading the SADC Observer team
lammented,”It is a mammoth task. There
are challenges out there.”
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com
June 13, 2008
By Owen
Chikari
MASVINGO - At least five people are feared murdered in Masvingo
Province in
the southern regions of Zimbabwe this week alone. While the
police confirmed
four murders, the fifth person feared dead, an abducted
medical doctor
remains unaccounted for.
Political violence continues
to escalate in the province ahead of the June
27 presidential election
pitting Zanu-PF candidate President Robert Mugabe
against his more popular
rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition
Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC).
Mabika Mudzinga and Leonard Mhete were killed on Wednesday
following violent
clashes between supporters of the MDC and those of the
ruling Zanu-PF at
Chigumisirwa Village in Bikita East
constituency.
At least eight people, mostly MDC supporters were arrested
in connection
with the murder and police in Masvingo said they were keen to
interview the
MP elect of the area Edmore Marima of the MDC
A
Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) area manager in Chiredzi
Town,
Dumisani Hapazari was on Monday found dead after two suspected agents
of the
Central Intelligence Organisation led him away from his workplace
last week.
They drove him to Gonarezhou Game Park. His body was discovered
at
Chikombedzi along Zimbabwe's border with Mozambique.
Rodrick Mukova of
Chimbudzi village in Mwenezi was killed last night after
suspected Zanu-PF
supporters set ablaze the hut in which he was sleeping.
The whereabouts
of a Chiredzi doctor, Godfrey Mugwazi remain unknown after
suspected CIO
officers abducted him from his surgery on Tuesday
The police officer
commanding Masvingo province Assistant Commissioner
Mhekia Tanyanyiwa
confirmed the murder of the four, adding that cases of
politically motivated
violence were now a cause of concern to the police.
Tanyanyiwa said, "I
can confirm the death of four people since Monday this
week. The situation
is very serious, especially in the rural areas."
"We have arrested about
20 people in connection with the death of these
four".
MDC Masvingo
provincial chairman Wilstaf Stemele yesterday claimed that all
the four
murder victims this week were MDC supporters.
Stemele said, "The coming
presidential election run-off will not be free and
fair. We have lost four
of our supporters here in Masvingo in less than a
week".
Meanwhile,
the vehicle of Gutu senator, Empire Makamure, was reduced to a
shell on
Tuesday morning after it was set on fire by suspected Zanu-PF
militants. His
family was attacked.
VOA
By James Butty
Washington,
D.C.
13 June 2008
Zimbabwe's main opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says the
latest arrests of its leaders
Morgan Tsvangirai and secretary general Tendai
Biti are a strategy by
President Robert Mugabe to ensure that the opposition's
focus is diverted
from the upcoming run-off election to legal matters.
Biti was arrested at
Harare airport Thursday upon returning from South
Africa. Police say he
would be charged with treason. MDC President
Tsvangirai was stopped twice
at a roadblock while campaigning in the south
of the country and held at a
police station. It was not clear at nightfall
Thursday whether Mr.
Tsvangirai had been released.
Eliphas Mukonoweshuro is MDC secretary for
international affairs. From
Harare, he told VOA the Mugabe government was
doing everything to prevent
the MDC from campaigning for the run-off
election.
"Mr. Biti is being charged with treason. That's the latest we
have got. He
probably will be brought to court tomorrow morning, we don't
know. And Mr.
Tsvangirai's bus has been released; we don't know when next
he's going to be
arrested. But there seems to be a determined effort to
ensure that his bus
progression does not succeed," he
said.
Mukonoweshuro said Zimbabwe police give no reason why Tsvangirai's
campaign
bus was stopped twice and Tsvangirai detained.
"The
government is not saying anything that is comprehensible. So we must
conclude that it is because they don't want him to campaign," Mukonoweshuro
said.
He dismissed any suggestion that Biti should not have returned
to Zimbabwe
from South Africa since the Mugabe had been saying that he could
be arrested
upon his return.
"Mr. Biti's position is that he has not
committed any crime in this country,
and therefore he has got every right to
return to this country. And I don't
believe that this case is going to go on
for long because the treason
charges that have been preferred against Mr.
Biti everybody knows will not
stick in court," he said.
Mukonoweshuro
said the MDC does not understand why Mr. Biti was arrested and
threatened
with treason when in fact the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and
even the
ruling ZANU-PF have all said that the MDC won the first round vote.
"We
don't see any reason why Mr. Biti should be the culprit when government
representatives themselves have made similar pronouncement. What we are now
convinced about is that this is just a strategy by the ruling party to
ensure that the leadership's attention is diverted away from the issues of
the run-off to issues of fighting legal battles. And I don't believe that
august well for the run-off," Mukonoweshuro said.
He criticized those
who have argued that the MDC should not have agreed to
participate in the
run-off knowing that its leaders and supporters would be
intimidated by the
ruling ZANU-PF.
"What disturbs the MDC very much is that the MDC is being
labeled as the
culprit in an election which it won, and the election laws of
this country
are quite clear that if there is no clear winner as announced
by ZEC, which
is the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission that there ought to be a
run-off. I don't
see why the MDC is being blamed for taking part in the
run-off which is
mandated by the relevant legislation governing elections in
this country,"
Mukonoweshuro said.
Business Day
13 June 2008
Dumisani
Muleya
Harare
Correspondent
ZIMBABWEAN President Robert Mugabe's regime intensified
repression
yesterday, despite having given assurances to the South African
government
that it would stop the crackdown on the opposition as the
presidential
runoff vote approached.
Police arrested opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader
Morgan Tsvangirai while he was
campaigning - and again late last night in
Gweru.
He has been
arrested four times in a week.
Party secretary-general Tendai Biti was
detained on arrival from SA, and
police raided the Zimbabwe Human Rights
Association offices in a bid to pick
up its activists.
Tsvangirai was
released after the initial arrest. Police spokesman Wayne
Bvudzijena said
Biti was being charged with treason and communicating
falsehoods prejudicial
to the state.
Tsvangirai has been charged with at least five treason
cases.
Senior MDC officials were making frantic efforts to contact
President Thabo
Mbeki yesterday to secure Biti's release. Mbeki helped last
week to secure
Tsvangirai's release from police detention.
Bvudzijena
said Tsvangirai was taken in by the police in Kwekwe for
protective
detention since he recently said he feared assassination.
The house of
MDC MP Takalani Matibe was attacked in Chegutu , and the home
of Blessing
Chebundo - also an MDC MP - was torched in rural Hurungwe by
suspected state
agents.
The escalation of repression - and Biti's arrest - came
barely 24 hours
after Mugabe's Zanu (PF) negotiators had agreed at talks
with the MDC in
Pretoria that the crackdown would stop.
The
negotiators had told South African mediators and MDC representatives
that
Biti would be allowed to return home safely after nearly two months in
SA.
Police recently said they wanted to arrest Biti for allegedly
unofficially
releasing presidential election results in March. It turned out
yesterday
that he was also wanted for treason.
He allegedly wrote a
document titled The Transition Strategy which urged
"regime change" in
Zimbabwe.
The document allegedly revealed that the MDC wanted British
Prime Minister
Gordon Brown to intervene militarily in Zimbabwe. The
government claims that
Brown wrote to Tsvangirai promising military
intervention.
The British embassy in Harare said the claim of a
letter from Brown to
Tsvangirai was "a clumsy fabrication".
The
MDC said the document was so poorly drafted and so unintelligible it
could
not have emanated from them.
Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa
described Tsvangirai's behaviour as
"treasonous" on the basis of the alleged
memorandum, which the British said
was a forgery.
Despite these
allegations Biti - who went around Africa campaigning against
Mugabe after
the March polls - decided to return home after Zanu (PF) agreed
that he
could do so safely.
Zanu (PF) and MDC representatives met on Tuesday
and Wednesday in Pretoria
to discuss the runoff and violence. This was a
follow-up to a meeting they
had on May 30-31.
Biti's
arrest threw the talks into disarray and left Mbeki with a mountain
to climb
in his mediation efforts.
The MDC said arresting Tsvangirai was part
of Mugabe's strategy to block him
from campaigning and break his
spirit.
Political violence in Zimbabwe has claimed at least 66 lives,
mainly of MDC
activists, sine March 29.
SA yesterday deployed its
observers around the country after thy were
briefed about the escalating
violence.
Southern African Development Community (SADC) observers
said monitoring the
runoff would be a serious challenge. Monitors from
western countries
critical of Mugabe have been barred.
"It is a
mammoth task," SADC official Tanki Mothae said before the
deployment of 120
observers out of 400.
Mothae said the SADC wanted to help Zimbabwe
run a free and fair poll. "This
is to help the people of Zimbabwe go through
this election as peacefully as
possible."
But Mothae claimed that
observers had not yet received any reports of
violence, despite daily
incidents of brutality.
TIME
Thursday, Jun. 12, 2008 By RICHARD
STENGEL
Zimbabwe is in the midst of a slow-motion, man-made disaster. It
is as if
the cyclone in Burma and the earthquake in China were
state-sponsored
tragedies. President Robert Mugabe's internal terrorism does
not simply
consist of starving and harassing hundreds of thousands of
people; it also
amounts to the systematic demolition of Zimbabwe's one small
hope of
democracy. For a brief moment after the elections in late March, it
seemed
that the former freedom fighter might redeem his dictatorial legacy
by
acknowledging that the opposition had actually defeated him. But it turns
out that the 84-year-old despot was just slow off the mark in beginning the
further strangulation of his own nation. The recent order to shut down all
international aid groups and humanitarian ngos has crippled the only
institutions helping millions of Zimbabweans and removed all doubt about
Mugabe's totalitarian objectives.
Yet it is precisely such deliberate
actions that should be galvanizing
nations and international organizations
to protest and intervene. When there
is a typhoon in Burma or an earthquake
in China, the world knows what
questions to ask. What can we do? How can we
help? But when a calamity is
preventable and unfolding systematically before
our eyes, nations sit on
their hands. The world, as W.H. Auden wrote in his
beautiful poem Musée des
Beaux Arts, "turns away quite leisurely from the
disaster."
The government of South Africa, Zimbabwe's neighbor to the south
and the
nation most directly affected, averts its gaze. But with the runoff
presidential election between Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai due on June 27,
why aren't the U.S. and other democracies making an attempt either to get
Zimbabwe to hold genuinely free elections (admittedly, something that by now
may be impossible) or to delegitimize in advance what will certainly be
undemocratic results? It may be true, as Madeleine Albright has noted in the
New York Times, that the idea of national sovereignty as inviolable has
regained luster. Yet what meaning does sovereignty have when it is used to
describe a state that not only starves its citizens but also snuffs out
democracy?
UK Parliament House of Commons Wednesday 11 June 2008 INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT The Secretary of State was asked— Zimbabwe The Secretary of State for International Development (Mr. Douglas Alexander):
The humanitarian situation is deteriorating. Four million people relied on food
aid last year. The fact that President Mugabe has now stopped aid agencies from
distributing food and engaging in other humanitarian activities is indefensible.
That decision by Mugabe has impacted on 2 million people already, and as we
approach the hungry season, that number could rise to 4 million or even
higher. Ann Clwyd: While I was in South Africa a few weeks ago,
Zimbabwean refugees handed me a note for 10 million Zimbabwean dollars. That
buys a bag of tomatoes in Zimbabwe. Now Mugabe is prepared to starve his people
to death for their votes. What kind of human being is President Mugabe? Mr. Alexander: It is morally indefensible to use the threat
of hunger as a political weapon, and that is exactly what Robert Mugabe has
shown himself to be willing to do in recent days. Hyper-inflation is but one
manifestation of the chronic misrule that he has visited on a country that was
previously the bread-basket of southern Africa. That is why I took the
opportunity last Thursday to meet in South Africa both the Government of South
Africa and the president of the African National Congress to press them to
continue to engage with that vital international issue. Sir Nicholas Winterton (Macclesfield) (Con): Is not the
Secretary of State desperately saddened that Robert Mugabe, who lost the
presidential election in Zimbabwe, should strut the stage at the Food and
Agriculture Organisation conference in Rome, particularly as he is denying to
his country and its starving people access to the aid that so many countries and
aid agencies want to provide to help the people of Zimbabwe? Mr. Alexander: Mugabe’s attendance was not only
inappropriate but, in light of his subsequent actions, morally repugnant. The
fact is that somebody who is willing to use the threat of starvation has little
credibility or authority to lecture anybody on food prices or production. There
is little comfort regarding the current situation in Zimbabwe, but my comfort is
that a matter of weeks after the first election, even Robert Mugabe and his
closest associates have been unable to claim that they were chosen by the people
of Zimbabwe in that last election. We continue to be committed to ensuring that
the people of Zimbabwe are able to have their democratic will expressed in their
choice of Government. Mr. Tom Clarke (Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill) (Lab): Can my right hon.
Friend tell the House what impact the Government’s new strategy will have on
tackling HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe? Mr. Alexander: We launched the latest HIV/AIDS strategy for
the British Government only last week. Zimbabwe is one of the countries in
southern Africa that has been most devastated by that affliction. I will ensure
that a copy of the report is provided to my right hon. Friend so that he is
fully updated on the actions that we are
taking.13th Jun 2008 00:48
GMT
By a
Correspondent
Ann Clwyd (Cynon Valley)
(Lab): If he will make a statement on the humanitarian situation in
Zimbabwe.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com
June 13, 2008
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - Thursday, June12, was an extraordinarily busy day
on the election
campaign trail for President Robert Mugabe .
He
shifted into top campaign gear, telling both his supporters and key
groups
he has viewed with suspicion in the past that Zimbabwe's former white
rulers
were the backbone of his nemesis, Morgan Tsvangirai, president of the
Movement for Democratic Change.
The two rival politicians lock horns
in a do-or-die presidential election in
two weeks time, amid evidence that
the MDC leader enjoys growing popular
support.
Mugabe met captains of
commerce and industry in a rare round-table where he
uncharacteristically
listened attentively as they expressed their concerns
while politely urging
them, equally unusually, not to be fronts for the
white community. In the
past his manner has been more abrasive when
discussing such
issues.
Yesterday he treaded cautiously. He refrained from his usual
bombast that
the business community hikes prices to sabotage his
presidency.
He later met with youths bussed from all over the country to
the University
of Zimbabwe for "academic discussions".
Earlier, he
had met an entourage from the national soccer team and the
football mother
body, ZIFA, for discussions on the "beautiful game". It was
one of those
rare occasions when the President has displayed an active
interest in
soccer.
While the majority of blacks have no affinity to cricket because
of racial
historical factors, Mugabe is an avid fan. He hardly ever attends
soccer
matches. His newly professed interest provoked suspicion that he was
trying
to gain political capital from the game, given that Zimbabwe is a
soccer-crazy nation.
Looking tired during most of his hour-long
speech to party supporters in a
poor township in the capital much later,
Mugabe, 84, vowed to stick to his
indigenization campaign and to champion
the interests of Zimbabwe's black
majority.
Mugabe said there were
foreign moves to demonize him and the government over
the land
issue.
"No amount of suffering from the illegal sanctions should persuade
Zimbabweans to sell out and vote for the MDC," Mugabe said. "We need to
understand that the current hardships are a result of the sanctions imposed
on us by western countries who want to force the people of Zimbabwe into
revolting against their own government.
"Let's safeguard our
country."
He claimed the MDC was determined to return the land to the
white minority
if the MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, won the forthcoming
presidential
election. He vowed this would "never, ever happen", charging
"the country's
independence was bought through the barrel of the gun not
through the ballot
box".
He dismissed the travel ban against his
ruling elite, saying that granting
the country's natural resources to blacks
was more important.
Mugabe also rubbished reports that he was about to
flee to Malaysia.
"Here I was born, here I will die," he
quipped.
The 84-year-old leader repeated charges that Tsvangirai's party
was a puppet
of his white opponents out to topple him over the land dispute.
Mugabe
called the MDC a terrorist group with no viable political
platform.
The MDC responds that Mugabe is desperate as he faces an
electorate
struggling through a severe economic crisis. The party says the
downturn has
been caused by economic mismanagement and Mugabe's
controversial plan to
seize white-owned farms for black resettlement without
proper planning.
The land program has been cited as sharply reducing
agricultural production
in a country once ranked as the bread basket of the
region.
President Mugabe, facing a key second vote on June 27, urged his
Zanu-PF
party to unite to defeat the surging MDC group, which defeated the
former
ruling party in parliamentary and council elections on March 29.
Tsvangirai,
however, fell short of the minimum of 50 percent of the poll
that would have
enabled him to form his first government.
Zimbabwe Today
Police come
up with an original reason for their harassment of the MDC
leader
The
ludicrous series of arrests of Zimbabwe's leader of the opposition
Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC), Morgan Tsvangirai, were, say the
Zimbabwe
police, only designed to protect him from assassination.
Tsvangirai was
arrested twice yesterday, firstly at the Midlands town of
Kwekwe, and then
again at Gweru, some 60km south. No charges were made, and
on both occasions
he and his party were released after a couple of hours.
Polce
Commissioners Wayne Bvudzijena afterwards claimed that the arrests
were
carried out to foil plots to assassinate the opposition leader. "We are
simply protecting him from his enemies," he said.
This explanation is
repeated in a letter, sent to the MDC by Assistant
Commissioner Boyson
Mathema, of the Zimbabwe police Law and Order section,
stating that the same
reason lies behind the enforced cancellation of MDC
rallies.
In the
past few days Tsvangirai has been forced to cancel rallies across the
country, and particularly in Harare's crowded high-density suburbs of
Kambuzuma, Mufakose and Glen Norah, all MDC strongholds.
The
Alice-in-Wonderland explanation for Tsvangirai's arrests, which ignores
the
much more likely prospect of government plots to kill him, is echoed in
the
stated reasons behind the arrest of MDC General Secretary Tendai Biti,
who
flew in yesterday from South Africa and was grabbed by the police before
he'd even reached passport control.
Biti is said to face charges of
treason, based on allegations that he
plotted to fix the recent
parliamentary and presidential elections - the
same charge regularly
levelled by the MDC against the ruling Zanu-PF.
The fact that the treason
charge carries the death penalty has alarmed some
western observers, but
most here expect Biti to be released in due course,
especially as South
Africa's President Mbeki is said to have at last begun
to intervene with the
Mugabe government on such issues.
Arthur Mutambara, leader of the
minority MDC faction, who was arrested a
week ago after writing a letter in
a national newspaper, was also released
yesterday without charge.
The
widespread and furious intimidation of the MDC, of which yesterday's
events
are only part, may now slacken a little, as observers from the
Southern
Africa Development Commission begin to arrive in the country ahead
of the
presidential run-off poll on June 27.
Posted on Friday, 13 June 2008 at
06:35 |