Independent, UK
By Nelson Banya, Reuters
Monday, 23 June 2008
Zimbabwe
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who has pulled out of a
presidential
election because of violence, sought refuge overnight in the
Dutch embassy,
officials of that country have said.
There was no immediate confirmation
from Tsvangirai's Movement for
Democratic Change. The Dutch foreign ministry
said he had not requested
asylum but was welcome to stay for his own
security.
Earlier the MDC said police raided its Harare headquarters and
took away
more than 60 victims of the violence, in which it says nearly 90
of its
supporters have been killed by militias backing President Robert
Mugabe.
Those detained included women and children.
Tsvangirai, who
pulled out of the June 27 vote on Sunday, saying his
supporters would risk
their lives if they voted, said on Monday he was ready
to negotiate with
Mugabe's ZANU-PF party, but only if the violence stopped.
He pressed
regional leaders to push for a postponement of the vote or for
Mugabe to
step down. But the government said Tsvangirai's withdrawal came
too late to
call off the election.
Concern mounted both within and outside Africa
over Zimbabwe's political and
economic crisis, which has flooded
neighbouring states with millions of
refugees. Both the African Union and
Southern African Development Community
(SADC) were discussing the situation
following Tsvangirai's pullout.
Former colonial power Britain said Mugabe
must be declared an illegitimate
leader and sanctions should be stiffened
against his supporters.
Tsvangirai told South Africa's 702 Radio: "We
are prepared to negotiate with
ZANU-PF but of course it is important that
certain principles are accepted
before the negotiations take place. One of
the preconditions is that this
violence against the people must be
stopped,"
Several foreign governments have urged a national unity
government to end
Zimbabwe's dire crisis. This has previously been rejected
by both sides.
Mugabe, 84, who has been in power since independence
from Britain in 1980,
has vowed never to hand over to the opposition,
branding them puppets of the
West.
He denies his supporters are
responsible for the violence, which broke out
after Mugabe and ZANU-PF lost
elections on March 29. Tsvangirai fell short
of an absolute majority,
forcing next Friday's run-off.
The former guerrilla commander has
presided over a slide into economic
chaos, including 80 percent unemployment
and the world's highest inflation
rate of at least 165,000
percent.
The African Union's top diplomat, Jean Ping, said he was
consulting with AU
Chairman Jakaya Kikwete, the Tanzanian President, with
SADC and with South
African President Thabo Mbeki - the region's designated
mediator on
Zimbabwe - to see what could be done following Tsvangirai's
withdrawal.
"This development and the increasing acts of violence in
the run-up to the
second round of the presidential election, are a matter of
grave concern to
the Commission of the AU," he said.
Angola's
foreign ministry said SADC foreign ministers were meeting in Luanda
on
Monday to discuss the Zimbabwe crisis and might issue a statement later
in
the day.
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, the current SADC chairman,
said on Sunday
the run-off must be postponed "to avert a catastrophe in this
region."
Zambian Foreign Minister Kabinga Pande told Reuters a SADC
security troika
of Angola, Swaziland and Tanzania would propose the next
move by the
regional body.
Troika foreign ministers last week
asked their presidents to take urgent
action "to save Zimbabwe", saying a
free and fair election was impossible.
The Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission said it was still looking forward to a
credible electoral process
on Friday.
"I don't believe that the level of violence in the country
is such that a
credible election is impossible. We don't have a war. We will
be able to
hold credible elections," ZEC chairman George Chiweshe told
African election
monitors in Harare.
Renaissance Capital
investment bank said in a research note that the
opposition withdrawal was
likely to delay talks on a national unity
government. It said Zimbabwe
risked economic collapse with the real
inflation rate at around 5 million
percent.
There were also concerns the worsening crisis would hit
South Africa's rand
currency, RBC Dominion Securities said.
SW
Radio Africa (London)
23 June 2008
Posted to the web 23 June
2008
Lance Guma
Around 30 armed riot police raided the MDC
Harvest House headquarters Monday
lunchtime and arrested over 60 victims of
political violence seeking shelter
there.
MDC spokesman Nelson
Chamisa told Newsreel most of those picked up were
mainly women and children
who have fled violent retributions from Zanu PF
mobs. The police used buses
from the state owned Zimbabwe United Passenger
Company (ZUPCO) and forced
those arrested onto them. Chamisa said they have
not been told of the
reasons for the arrest or where the arrested have been
taken to. Another
party statement says police arrested everyone inside the
building and,
'looted MDC office furniture and computers containing party
information.'
On Sunday a rally planned by the MDC for the Glamis
Arena was disrupted by
over 2000 marauding Zanu PF militia who beat up
everyone attending. Armed
soldiers and police in riot gear aided the
disruption by camping inside the
grounds of the rally venue. Roadblocks were
mounted along several streets in
Harare as police, with help from the Zanu
PF youths, blocked people from
going into the city centre. The MDC says
military helicopters flew around
the cities of Harare and Bulawayo in clear
attempts at intimidation. At the
venue of the MDC rally Zanu PF mobs armed
with sticks, stones, knobkerries
could be seen chasing MDC supporters and
beating up those they caught.
Journalists and some observers were caught up
in the violence.
nasdaq
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AFP)--A Zimbabwe police spokesman
denied officers had made
any arrests at opposition headquarters on Monday,
saying 39 people had been
taken away for health reasons.
"It was not
a raid," said Wayne Bvudzijena. "We accompanied health
inspectors and social
welfare officers...We only got 39."
He said they were taken to a
rehabilitation center east of Harare.
"We heard the situation there was a
disaster from the point of view of
hygiene. We are interested in the health
of those people."
A number of people the opposition said were victims of
political violence
had been taking shelter at the headquarters.
An
opposition party spokesman said earlier that police had rounded up more
than
60 people in a raid at the opposition's headquarters on Monday.
(END)
Dow Jones Newswires
06-23-081206ET
Scoop, NZ
Tuesday, 24 June 2008, 6:58 am
Press Release: US State
Department
Statement by Secretary Condoleezza Rice
Washington,
DC
June 23, 2008
Crisis in Zimbabwe
Yet another vicious assault
on the opposition and its supporters for
exercising their right to assemble
and their right to free speech has
reinforced that it is impossible for
there to be a free, fair or peaceful
election in Zimbabwe on June 27. Due to
these and other events, and out of
concern for the lives of his Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC)
supporters, Morgan Tsvangirai announced he will no
longer contest the
run-off election.
The United States
condemns in the strongest terms the Government of
Zimbabwe's continuing
campaign of violence against its own people. It is
abundantly clear that
Mugabe is determined to thwart the will of the people
of Zimbabwe as so
clearly expressed on March 29. Reports that international
election monitors
were also victims of state-sponsored violence are
particularly
troubling.
Both the MDC and Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic
Front (ZANU-PF)
parties must work together on behalf of the people of
Zimbabwe. The Mugabe
regime cannot be considered legitimate in the absence
of a runoff. In
forsaking the most basic tenet of governance - the
protection of its
people - the Government of Zimbabwe must be held
accountable by the
international community. We call upon the Southern
African Development
Community, African Union Peace and Security Council, and
the United Nations
Security Council to take up this issue
immediately.
2008/517
Released on June 23, 2008
ENDS
SW Radio Africa (London)
23 June 2008
Posted to
the web 23 June 2008
Tichaona Sibanda
The newly elected MDC MP
for Nkulumane in Bulawayo, Thamsanqa Mahlangu, is
battling for his life in
an intensive care unit in Harare after he was
severely assaulted by Zanu PF
militia on Sunday.
Manhlangu, who is also the national youth chairman,
was attacked as he and
other MDC members were on their way to the Glamis
Arena for a star rally.
A statement from the MDC said Mahlangu was
attacked by armed Zanu PF militia
who had been dropped at the venue of the
rally in army and police trucks.
Over a thousand Zanu PF thugs were bused to
the venue.
MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai was scheduled to have
addressed the rally
but it was cancelled when the militia, armed with sticks
and stones, took
over the venue and blocked people from getting
there.
The rowdy Zanu PF supporters attacked MDC supporters in full view
of SADC
election observers and the police, who took no action.
Monsters and Critics
Jun 23, 2008, 18:01 GMT
Johannesburg/Harare - A
consignment of 60,000 copies of a London-based
independent weekly newspaper
distributed in Zimbabwe has been seized by
customs, its editor said
Monday.
Wilf Mbanga, editor of The Zimbabwean, said customs officials had
refused to
release the consignment, which arrived last Thursday, despite the
payment of
a new 40 per cent import duty.
'They told our local
distributor that the order had come from ZANU(PF)
(President Robert Mugabe's
party) that the newspaper was not to be
released,' Mbanga said.
The
Zimbabwean is regarded as the only inexpensive locally available source
of
news that provides an alternative to the ZANU(PF) controlled state
propaganda media.
The newspaper is highly critical of President
Robert Mugabe's government and
one of its journalists based in Zimbabwe,
Gift Phiri, was arrested and
tortured last year.
State media have
completely excluded the Movement for Democratic Change from
election
coverage, refusing to take advertisements and mentioning it and its
officials only to denounce them.
Mbanga said since Thursday, copies
of The Economist, the London- based
international weekly finance magazine,
had been seized 'because of a
cartoon' deemed offensive by authorities.
Confirmation was not immediately
available.
On May 26, a truck
carrying 60,000 copies of The Zimbabwean's sister paper,
The Zimbabwean on
Sunday, was hijacked by unknown gunmen who set fire to the
vehicle,
destroying it and the newspapers.
Mbanga said copies of The Zimbabwean on
Sunday had 'managed to slip through'
and had been distributed.
All
but three locally-based newspapers have managed to survive in the fierce
climate of media repression and censorship in the last eight
years.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists says Zimbabwe
is one of
the world's most hostile regimes against press freedom.
VOA
By
Sithandekile Mhlanga
Washington
23 June
2008
Reaction continued to the news that Tsvangirai's
M-D-C would not take part
in the poll. Zambian president Levy Mwanawasa,
chairman of the Southern
African Development Community, on Sunday urged that
the ballot be postponed.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband
said Mugabe and quote "his thugs"
made it impossible to hold the election
and "now we face a critical crisis
of legitimacy" because "the only people
with any shred of legitimacy are the
people who won the march 29 first round
and that was the opposition,"
Miliband told reporters.
U-S
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice issued a statement urging stronger
international action on Zimbabwe, saying the Harare government "must be held
accountable" for in her words "forsaking the most basic tenet of governance"
in failing to protect its people. rice said regional and world leaders must
address the mounting violence.
U-S State Department Deputy
Spokesman Tom Casey said the government of
president Robert Mugabe cannot be
considered legitimate without a
presidential run-off
election.
The question remained as to what will happen on Friday,
scheduled date for
the runoff, now that Tsvangirai and the M-D-C have
indicated they will not
participate. Zimbabwe Election Commission chairman
George Chiweshe and other
officials say the ballot will still take place
because his panel has not
received formal notification from Tsvangirai's
M-D-C formation as to pulling
out.
Chiweshe tells studio seven
reporter Sithandekile Mhlanga that the
commission does not act on
speculation.
Regional leaders including South African President Thabo
Mbeki and SADC
Chairman Levy Mwanawasa continued to look for a solution to
the crisis
following the latest turn.
African Union Commission
Chairman Jean Ping voiced "grave concern" in a
statement saying he had
contacted president Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, A-U
chairman, as well as
SADC.
The South African government urged the M-D-C to continue peace
talks with
the government to find a lasting solution to the
crisis.
But former U-S ambassador to Zimbabwe Princeton Lyman tells V-O-A
English to
Africa reporter Chinedu Offor that while African and regional
initiatives
are important, the solution lies with the ruling party itself
whose
membersmust consider the consequences of president mugabe's strategy
of
cracking down.
Yahoo News
18
minutes ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai on Monday
told CNN that the international community should
declare presidential
elections "null and void" and organize a new
vote.
"We have called upon (outside governments) -- in this
unprecedented
situation -- to intervene to ensure that the elections are
declared null and
void if they can do that, and special elections are then
organized in a free
and fair atmosphere," said Tsvangirai by telephone,
without saying where he
was speaking from.
Tsvangirai has pulled out
of Friday's run-off election and on Monday took
refuge in the Dutch embassy
in Harare. CNN said the man speaking on the
phone was
Tsvangirai.
World leaders have challenged Zimbabwe President Robert
Mugabe's legitimacy
while the opposition says more than 80 of its supporters
have been killed in
a campaign of intimidation ahead of the vote and
thousands injured.
Apart from new elections, Tsvangirai also called on
the international
community under the leadership of the African Union to
push for "some form
of a negotiated settlement that will see Zimbabwe go
through some form of
transition" and for an investigation of human rights
abuses, he said.
He said his country was facing catastrophe, with
millions likely to flee.
"So my fear is that the people of Zimbabwe will
become more desperate and,
in fact, if we have three million or four million
Zimbabweans leaving, we
are likely to double the figure because no one will
feel safe to stay in the
country."
Monday, 23 June 2008 17:27 UK
|
Gordon Brown has described Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's regime as a "criminal and discredited cabal" which "should not be recognised by anybody". He told MPs it had made it impossible to hold fair elections and "state sponsored terror" had put opposition party MDC in an "untenable position". The prime minister said he would push for more sanctions against the regime. He said Britain would offer "substantial help" for reconstruction "once democracy has been restored". Mr Brown told MPs he had spoken to the leader of the MDC opposition, Morgan Tsvangirai, who has pulled out of Friday's election run-off because of pre-poll violence, handing automatic victory to Mr Mugabe. Strengthen sanctions Mr Tsvangirai has since sought refuge in the Dutch embassy in Harare. In a Commons statement Mr Brown said Zimbabwe had seen more than 80 killings, 2,700 beatings, the detention of opposition leaders and the displacement of 34,000 people. "The whole world is of one view - that the status quo cannot continue. The African Union has called for violence to end.
"The current government, with no parliamentary majority, having lost the first round of the presidential elections, and holding power only because of power and intimidation is a regime that should not be recognised by anyone." He said on Monday he had talked to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, to the African Union president, the president of South Africa and Mr Tsvangirai about the situation. He said the international community had to send a powerful message that it would not recognise "fraudulent election rigging" and "the violence and intimidation of a criminal and discredited cabal". 'Rescue package' Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said he hoped the international community would look at "all options available" to put an end to Mugabe's regime and urged the government to allow Zimbabwe's asylum seekers to live and work temporarily in the UK. Mr Brown said each asylum case was dealt with on an individual basis. Conservative leader David Cameron welcomed Mr Brown's comments about wider EU sanctions against members of the regime but asked that he make sure "it really happens this time".
He urged a UN inquiry into abuses of human rights with a view to a possible criminal action later on and asked: "Will you set out a detailed rescue package for the post-Mugabe era, to make it absolutely clear that when Mugabe goes we will do all we can to breathe new life into that country and into those people who have suffered so much." He also said the government should say it is prepared to withdraw international recognition from the regime. Later in a separate Commons statement, Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the "only people with any democratic legitimacy" were the opposition MDC party and added: "We do not, repeat do not recognise the Mugabe government as the legitimate representative of the Zimbabwean people." He added: "The stage was set for the most rigged election in African history. The failure is not of the opposition but of the government. Robert Mugabe and his thugs made an election impossible." Mr Miliband said it was now for Sadc (the Southern African Development Community) and African Union leaders to meet to establish "a clear framework of engagement". He also said the UN Security Council would discuss the situation later on Monday - and it was important it worked with Sadc and the AU on the issue. The Liberal Democrats have called for "foreign remittances" - money sent back to Zimbabwe by Zimbabweans abroad should be stopped as they are a source of funding for the regime. But Mr Miliband urged the party to stop calling for it, saying the money was vital for suffering Zimbabweans - and dismissed the Lib Dems' call to put pressure on Mozambique and South Africa to cut off electricity supplies. There has been mounting international criticism of Zimbabwe's government in advance of the run-off presidential election. But President Mugabe and Zanu-PF blame the opposition for political violence across the country. Mr Mugabe said last week that the MDC would "never, ever" be allowed to rule Zimbabwe. Zanu-PF also said Mr Tsvangirai had withdrawn to avoid "humiliation". |
news.com.au
From correspondents in
Jerusalem
June 23, 2008 05:38am
Article from: Agence
France-Presse
FRENCH Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner today branded
Zimbabwe's President
Robert Mugabe as "nothing but a crook and a murderer"
after the opposition
pulled out of an election run-off.
"This man,
and I am speaking of Mr Mugabe, who believes he has been
designated by God
... is nothing but a crook and a murderer," he said in
Jerusalem on the
sidelines of a visit by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Zimbabwe's
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai earlier today pulled out of
the election
run-off, protesting that violence has made a fair vote
impossible.
"He has thrown in the towel because his party supporters
and especially the
activists are being murdered," said Mr
Kouchner.
"It is out of the question for France to accept this fake
election which
would have a single candidate ... and there is no question of
accepting the
result," the foreign minister said.
"This is really the
biggest denial of democracy that Africa has known," he
said, slamming Mr
Mugabe's administration which has ruled for 28 years as "a
dictatorship
which stays in place with the bloodiest methods".
"With our partners, and
I hope a very large number of African countries, we
are determined not only
not to accept the result of any fixed election ...
but to do everything to
oppose Mr Mugabe," he said.
Reuters
Mon Jun 23,
2008 9:40am EDT
By Cris Chinaka
HARARE, June 23 (Reuters) -
The opposition withdrawal from Zimbabwe's
election has increased the
isolation of President Robert Mugabe and is sure
to bring more sanctions,
but it is unlikely to end the country's crisis any
time soon.
The
withdrawal by Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan
Tsvangirai
from next Friday's presidential run-off has guaranteed Mugabe
will extend
his 28-year hold on power.
Although the move will make life more
difficult for the veteran leader,
stripping him of a veneer of legitimacy,
increasing his regional isolation
and bringing tougher sanctions, his
government and the security chiefs who
back him are not expected to buckle
yet. That means Zimbabwe's dire economic
crisis, with inflation of at least
165,000 percent and unemployment of 80
percent, can only get worse, pushing
even more refugees into neighbouring
countries that are fast losing patience
with a leader they once revered as a
liberation hero. "It's a dire
situation, whichever way you look at it. It's
a kind of world war for him,
but I don't think we are going to see a
solution in the near future, in a
few months," said Eldred Masunungure, a
political science professor at the
University of Zimbabwe.
"I think Mugabe will try to tough this one out
too, and only negotiate some
kind of deal with the MDC as a very last
resort," he said.
"It's more realistic to expect a long-drawn process
because beyond
condemnation the options for the international community to
act against
Mugabe and the (ruling) ZANU-PF crew that really matters are
very limited."
Tsvangirai said on Monday he was ready to negotiate with
ZANU-PF but only if
the violence that forced his withdrawal
ended.
The MDC and Tsvangirai, who beat Mugabe in a March 29 vote but
failed to win
the absolute majority needed to avoid a second ballot, have
repeatedly
accused security forces and militias of using strong-arm tactics
to ensure
victory in the run-off.
He says almost 90 of his followers
have been killed and 200,000 been
displaced. Mugabe denies his men are
responsible.
"WAR"
"The MDC and its Western masters are
waging a war on us, and we have been
forced to adopt a defensive position to
safeguard our political independence
and national sovereignty," says Justice
Minister Patrick Chinamasa.
In the longer term, analysts say Mugabe's
supporters will be forced to
negotiate by the catastrophic collapse of an
economy crippled by the world's
highest inflation rate and chronic shortages
of food, fuel and electricity.
Although the official inflation rate is
165,000 percent some experts say it
is really a surreal one million percent
or more, leaving many families
destitute.
A senior Western diplomat
said fears of possible United Nations sanctions,
an imploding economy and
regional fears of a refugee crisis could all help
nudge Mugabe into
negotiations.
But this is a solution that will be drawn out.
"At
best we are going to see more pressure on Mugabe for some government of
national unity," said Lovemore Madhuku, chairman of political pressure group
National Constitutional Assembly.
"But if there is going to be some
political accommodation, it's going to
take some time," he said.
Both
Mugabe, 84, and Tsvangirai, 56, have previously rejected calls for a
coalition government. The withdrawal may change the dynamics but the
thorniest question remains -- who would lead such an
administration?
ZANU-PF hardliners, who despise Tsvangirai and see him as
a Western stooge
may in the long run try to entice him into a unity
government, says
Masunungure.
"I think even these hardliners realise
the situation is dire, and they will
be forced to sue for peace," he
said.
But experts say Mugabe is likely to exploit the region's general
hostility
towards economic sanctions to dilute increased Western pressure to
use this
weapon.
"We are going to see more SADC leaders condemning
and distancing themselves
from Mugabe, but I don't see them agreeing to
imposing economic sanctions
themselves on Zimbabwe," he
said.
Tsvangirai's MDC won a parliamentary majority in the lower House of
Assembly
which analysts expect to bolster his position in any negotiations.
But some
of the opposition legislators have fled the country fearing
arrest.
"I think the international community is trying to help Zimbabwe
onto that
sort of path, negotiations, a transitional government of national
unity and
eventually fresh, free and fair democratic elections," the
diplomat said.
"But I agree that in the short term there is no easy
solution," he added.
"This government appears determined to go down with
this country." he added.
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last
updated at 4:05 PM on 23rd June 2008
British firms could be banned from doing business
with Robert Mugabe's regime in an attempt to curb the violence in
Zimbabwe.
The Government is urging the international community to toughen sanctions after militias unleashed a wave of attacks which have left at least 86 people dead and scores more injured.
Mr Mugabe has been accused of using widespread intimidation to force opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to pull out of the presidential run-off.
"We do not accept the status quo," said Foreign Office Minister Lord Malloch-Brown.
"We do not expect the international community to accept the status quo."
Malloch-Brown, the government's minister for Africa and Asia, said he wanted international bodies to recognize "that Robert Mugabe is no longer the rightful, legitimate leader of his country."
Malloch-Brown said he understood why Tsvangirai had withdrawn from the presidential runoff. Tsvangirai pulled out of the race on Sunday, citing state-sponsored violence against supporters of his Movement for Democratic Change. The government says the election will go ahead on Friday.
Malloch-Brown today signalled that Britain may push for sanctions forcing companies to cut links with Mr Mugabe's government.
He added: "There are obviously a number of companies with British names that trade in Zimbabwe. In many cases it is because until now the sanctions have not been broadly enough drawn to stop that or in some cases, such as Barclays, because they are operating as wholly-owned Zimbabwean subsidiaries." He said: "This is Mugabe versus the world... not Mugabe versus Britain."
The Foreign Office is considering a range of sanctions, including cutting off electricity supplies, but also stressed that any steps must be targeted at the regime, not the people of Zimbabwe.
Protesters demonstrate outside the Zimbabwe embassy in central London, on Monday.
Restrictions could also be increased on Mr Mugabe's inner circle of around 130 people, which Gordon Brown has branded a "criminal cabal", such as freezing their assets globally, stopping them being able to send their children to foreign universities or own homes abroad.
Earlier, Prime Minister Gordon Brown's spokesman Michael Ellam said Brown was disappointed at the way Tsvangirai had been forced out of the contest.
"What he is disappointed about is the scale of the violence and intimidation that has limited Morgan Tsvangirai's ability to campaign," Ellam said.
Lord Malloch-Brown said military action had not been considered to oust Mr Mugabe and his ruling Zanu-PF party.
Yahoo News
2
hours, 54 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Zimbabwe must be held
accountable for election violence
that drove the opposition to pull out of a
presidential run-off, US
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a
statement Monday.
"In forsaking the most basic tenet of governance --
the protection of its
people -- the government of Zimbabwe must be held
accountable by the
international community," Rice said.
Rice said
regional and world leaders much address the mounting violence.
"We call
upon the Southern African Development Community, African Union
Peace and
Security Council, and the United Nations Security Council to take
up this
issue immediately," she said.
"The United States condemns in the
strongest terms the government of
Zimbabwe's continuing campaign of violence
against its own people," she
said, adding that reports of attacks against
election monitors were
"particularly troubling."
After pulling out of
Friday's runoff vote, opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai Monday took refuge
at the Netherlands embassy in Harare, a
spokesman for Dutch Foreign Minister
Maxime Verhagen said.
"He is temporarily at the embassy of the
Netherlands in Harare," spokesman
Bart Rijs told AFP.
Tsvangirai,
leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), announced
Sunday he was
quitting the run-off race for the presidency against Robert
Mugabe, saying
increasing violence made a free and fair poll impossible.
On Monday, the
opposition said Zimbabwean police rounded up more than 60
people in a raid
on the MDC headquarters, including victims of political
violence who had
taken shelter there.
Rice called on both parties to work together "on
behalf of the people of
Zimbabwe."
"The Mugabe regime cannot be
considered legitimate in the absence of a
runoff."
Sky News
[I have included the first ten pages of comments at the bottom -
far too
many to include them all. To see the others go to
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1319794,00.html]
Updated:19:58, Monday June 23,
2008
Zimbabwe's police chief has insisted Morgan Tsvangirai is not in
danger
after the opposition leader took refuge in the Dutch embassy in
Harare.
Augustine Chihuri claimed the move was designed to spark
"international
anger" and step up pressure against President Robert
Mugabe.
He added: "We at the same time ask the Dutch embassy, if indeed
he is there,
to tell him to go home and enjoy your sleep and nothing will
happen to him."
His move came after police raided the headquarters of his
MDC party.
Earlier Tsvangirai said he was ready to negotiate with Mr
Mugabe after his
withdrawal from the presidential elections.
However,
Mr Tsvangirai said he would only do so on condition that political
violence
stopped.
Sky News Africa correspondent Emma Hurd, in Johannesburg, said:
"It has been
confirmed that Tsvangirai spent the night in the embassy, but
we're told he
has not sought formal asylum.
"The Dutch... said he is
welcome to stay there," Hurd said. "It's an
indication of the possible
threat against him."
About 10 police, some said to be in riot gear,
raided the opposition's
offices in Harare taking several people out of the
building and bundling
them on to a bus.
Party spokesman Nelson
Chamisa said most of the people taken away were women
and children who had
fled state-sponsored political violence and sought
refuge.
Mr
Tsvangirai's offer to negotiate comes amid mounting concern from within
and
outside Africa over the violence, in which the opposition says around 90
of
its supporters have died.
The MDC leader told South Africa's Radio 702:
"We are prepared to negotiate
with Zanu-PF but of course it is important
that certain principles are
accepted before the negotiations take
place.
"One of the preconditions is that this violence against the people
must be
stopped."
At the weekend Mr Tsvangirai pulled out of the June
27 poll, saying
supporters of his Movement for Democratic Change would risk
their lives by
voting because of brutal attacks by Mugabe
supporters.
Mr Mugabe, 84, who has been in power since independence from
Britain in
1980, has vowed never to hand over to the opposition, branding
them puppets
of the West.
He denies his supporters are responsible
for the violence.
Gordon Brown has said he is "disappointed" that Mr
Tsvangirai had been
forced out of the contest.
A UN emergency
meeting will be held later to discuss the crisis in Zimbabwe.
UN chief Ban
Ki-moon said Mr Tsvangirai's decision to quit the June 27 vote
was a "deeply
distressing development" and a bad omen for the country's
future.
"The circumstances that led to the withdrawal of opposition
leader Morgan
Tsvangirai... from the presidential elections represents a
deeply
distressing development that does not bode well for the future of
democracy
in Zimbabwe," Mr Ban's spokesman said in a statement.
"The
campaign of violence and intimidation that has marred this election has
done
a great disservice to the people of the country and must end
immediately."
A spokesman for the US Government said: "The government
of Zimbabwe and its
thugs must stop the violence now.
"All parties
should be able to participate in a legitimate election and not
be subject to
the intimidation and unlawful actions of the government, armed
militias and
so-called war veterans."
European Union foreign policy chief Javier
Solana said Mr Tsvangirai's
decision to quit was "understandable, given the
unacceptable systematic
campaign of violence, obstruction and intimidation
lead by the Zimbabwean
authorities, which has continued for several
weeks".
"In these conditions, the elections have become a travesty of
democracy," a
statement from his office said.
Comments
its
time to stand up for yourselves, riot run rampage and oust the tyrant.
time
to fight your own battles, sure some will die but to know that your
future
children grandchildren will finally live in a democracy is surely a
sacrifice worth making. People cant always bail people out. look at iraq and
afganistan. so uprise and hang the tyrant.
Posted by David Callaway
from Lincolnshire
Report this comment
Is there anybody out there who can
advise me why it was OK to arrest
Pinochet when he came to the UK, but not
Mugabe when he went to Rome
recently?
Posted by PHILIP from
PARIS
Report this comment
We can pray for the old man to die but remember
he led others who think like
him.They believed what he believd otherwise he
would never have lasted so
long. Civil war is weeks away. The food will end
and the million in the
country will rbe powerless to even care who is their
leader .The only worry
, will be is where is todays meal coming
from.
Posted by Mark from Namibia
Report this comment
ust shows
that Rhodesia was better off before Mugabe and his thugs came in .
I wonder
if South Africa is looking at their own future as there country
continues to
spiral out of control also.
Posted by Peter from Georgia
Report this
comment
I would like to call on all Zimbabweians to do a 10 million man march
on the
state house in Harare and sieze power from Mugabe. I acknowledge the
fact
that Mugabe will shoot down a number of marchers but also say it is not
possible for him to shoot down more than a million people. Courage Zimbabwe
lets storm the state house and be prepared to die.
Posted by Mathanda
from RSA
Report this comment
Phil from Chester, do you even know what
you're talking about? Of course
Gordon Brown should be commenting on the
Zimbabwe situation! As sad as I am
to say, he is the political leader of our
nation! It's just a shame that
nobody's doing more than just
commenting!
Posted by John from London
Report this comment
They
wanted their independance! They got their independance! I bet they
would
love to have Ian Smith back there now though!
Posted by Adrian from
Milton Keynes
Report this comment
IF THERE WAS OIL THERE THE US WOULD HAVE
ALLREADY INVADED THE PLACE BUT
THERE IS NOTHING OF ANY REAL VALUE SO THE US
STAYS OUT OF IT, ANYWAY WE KEEP
SEEING CHEERING CROWDS ON THE NEWS AND HAPPY
PEOPLE THAT LOOK WELL FED SO
THINGS CAN`T BE ALL BAD THERE, CAN IT
????????????????, MUGABES SUPPORTERS
IN THIS COUNTRY SING HIS PRAISES, SO
WHY IF IT THAT GOOD THERE WHY ARE THEY
NOT FLOCKING BACK THERE, BECAUSE THEY
HAVE AN EASY LIFE HERE,
Posted by PAUL B from KENT
Report this
comment
As an ex-Kenyan who watched in horror as the post-election violence
erupted
back home, I find the situation in Zimbabwe all too familiar. How
long is it
going to take the international community to wake up to the fact
that Mugabe
is a power hungry maniac who MUST be made accountable for his
crimes? Do we
really have to wait for civil war for something to be
done?
Posted by Sarah Owen from Dublin, Ireland
Report this
comment
re-colonisation anyone?????
Posted by Tony from formerly
10 Downing St
Report this comment
Zimbabwe's people have suffered for a
long time while the international
community has watched Zimbabwe burn.We
will continue to to fight for
democracy in our country with or without
foreign help and we strongly
believed that Zimbabwe will rise again.God
bless our beloved Zimbabwe and
its suffering masses.
Posted by simba
from uk
Report this comment
Its a shame the U.N is hopeless, what' s its
Agenda please support the
innocent people over zimbabwe.
Posted by
John Debattista from Malta
Report this comment
of course he will
ignore UN resolutions. Look at Israel.... They take no
notice..
Posted by JR from UK
Report this comment
Gordon Brown
thinks Robert Mugabe shouldn't be there. I agree that he is an
unwanted and
was never elected to be in charge, is completely out of touch
and that he is
destroying the country but that doesn't give him the right to
comment on
what is happening in another country.
Posted by Phil from
Chester
Report this comment
After gaining independence and presiding over
the brutal murders of white
western farmers since 2000, it may be considered
a little two faced for the
citizens of Zimbabwe to now ask for help from the
West to restore some sort
of order. Where was the support for the White
westerners being brutally
murdered, tortued and burned by the War Veterans?
Nobody appeared to rise up
and support them. Now those same War Veterans
have turned on their own
countrymen, the White Western world is supposed to
rise up and help?
Posted by Fred from Chesterfield
Report this
comment
Gordon Browns "disappointment" that Mr Tsvangirai has been forced
out of the
contest is an insult to those people who are affected by his own
inaction.
UK relations to Zimbabwe continue to be over shadowed by a
colonial history
that needs to be addressed and put to bed, for the sake of
humanity.
Posted by Kay Gee from London
Report this comment
If by
the grace of GOD we gain our independence from the tyrant Mugabe I
hope all
Zimbabweans remember not to be part of any of these organisations
OAU,
United Nations, SADC etc. they are useless and only want the
subscriptions
we pay through taxes. Mugabe your time is nearer than you
think.
Posted by Brian Yaso from UK
Report this comment
Dare I
ask - Why has Nelson Mandela being so quiet? What are his comments on
this
debacle in Zimbabwe?
Posted by Gael Dickson from Dublin
Report this
comment
The world must put full sanctions on south africa and anyone who
tries to
help mugabe, just like they did to rhodesia when Smith was
primeminister.
The british put mugabe in power and now they must do whatever
it takes to
remove him.It is no good talking to mbeki as he is mugabes
spineless right
hand man. Are the rest of the worlds presidents and
primeministers as
useless as mbeki? They have a lot to say but do nothing
when it comes to
action. Who are they affraid of? The zimbabwe national army
does not have
the resources to fight against a few armed real soldiers. They
are far too
hungry.
Posted by mark from uk
Report this
comment
Mugabe is a paracite and the embodiment of evil. How that man can
look
himself in the mirror, I don't know. And how the UN can sit back and do
nothing beggers belief.
Posted by Judith from Paris, France
Report
this comment
Brown and Bush are all talk and no action, these two leaders
being the heads
of the so called most powerful countries in the world are
not able to do
anything with reference to the pilictical crisis in Zimbabe
and also to
other world problems such as raising oil prices and food prices.
If being a
political leader with so much money and power you cant change the
things for
good, why should these two be sitting in these chairs? both
should resign
and watch TV at home and play PS3 games!
Posted by
satish pakki from Reading
Report this comment
Why is everyone talking
about US and UK ousting Maugabe...Why is everyone
assuming that coz
Zimbabwe's got no OIL so US and UK don't care. Do these
people actually
realise how many people those countries have got already out
fighting. Do
those countries have the resource to go out against another
dictator now???
I think not. Why is no one asking where countries like
France, Italy etc..
are? And most importantly what about the United Nations?
Why do we have a
UN? What do they do? I know...throwing some big conferences
with big
speeches, followed by a huge dinner and drinks for the
delegates...
Posted by Sachin Seesurrun from Mauritius
Report this
comment
Only Africa can sort this problem out, and then only if it wants
to.....
What ever the UK, Europe or the US do will be seen as suppression by
a
"colonial" power. It really is up to Mbeki and Zuma in SA and the other
African leaders to support democracy and freedom. After all, Mbeki still
supports Mugabe by his silence and his lack of action. Shame on you all who
can act, but do not.
Posted by Simon from London
Report this
comment
Its a very predictable outcome in Rhodesia{Zimbabwe} but my advice is
"Thata's Afrika Man" and let them solve their own mess.The entire continent
is awash with corruption and the 'black' African can treat their own much
worse than any 'white' master ever did!! The independence that they all
gained and the resulting chaos is their own problem,not yours or mine.It
mystifies me why the public and the govt, are so concerned when you have
more severe problems in the UK?If I had any major anxiety about Africa it
would be the inevitable emergence of a new "Islamic" threat to the West as
the latest "Imam" that you deported from the UK to Jamaica is currently
'preaching' his hate and poison amongst the young and impressionable boys in
Durban's poor areas.This is most disturbing but something I have been
expecting for quite a long time.These extremists need new 'fodder' to do
their dirty work and what could be more suitable than thousands of
impoverished black youth who have nothing in life to
Posted by r
gardiner from Toronto, Canada
Report this comment
I can't see what the
West can do here except make speeches and threaten
sanctions.They can't
physically revome Mugabe from power. Sanctions will
affect only the innocent
Zimbabweans whilst the Mr Mugabe and Police chiefs
will be the last to die
of hunger in Zimbabwe. My opinion is only Mr Thambo
Mbeki ,the South African
president can intervene effectively. Mr Mugabe does
not respect any other
African or Western leader. Pressure must be brought to
bear on Mr Mbeki
rather to help the old man step down quietly rather than
going to the polls
because he will never accept defeat via the polls. Some
political leaders
can get power-drunk !
Posted by Senyo from Norfolk
Report this
comment
Its Mugabe's usual bully tactics, the same he has used on
countless
oppossition leaders over the decades, including Joshua Nkomo.
Remember when
Mugabe the war criminal took power in the 80's he used his
fighters (so
called war heroe's?) to slaughter school children, women, and
innocent men
of the southern Nedebele tribe in order to terrorise Joshua
Nkomo into not
standing against him. He is a WAR CRIMINAL I wish Europe and
the rest of the
word would treat him as so. WAKE UP AFRICAN LEADERS AND
SMELL THE COFFEE WE
YET AGAIN HAVE A MONSTER IN POWER WHO NEEDS TO BE
REMOVED!!!! ITS YOUR
RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT ZIMBABWEANS As for those
comments that seem to
support this monster! Try living in
Zimbabwe............. !
Posted by D from lancashire
Report this
comment
Send in the SAS to take out Mugabe the flood the place with the UN
troops
and feed the masses
Posted by gary gregg from spain
Report
this comment
I read a lot of suggestions that the Zimbabwean should pick up
arms against
Mugabe! Are you mad, when has war ever had a positive
outcome??? And as for
the comment about the ANC youth ready to take arms for
Jacob Zuma - well,
goes to show the level of understanding you have of some
of these African
politicians - Zuma is criminal himself and we already know
that South
African's are all too ready to use guns as one of the top murder
capitals of
the world - FIND A BETTER SOLUTION IAN!!!! Actually Morgan T is
doing
exactly the right thing. He is getting plenty of political advice from
world
leaders to try and bring about peace and then change. He has made a
very
shrewd political move not to take part.
Posted by Dokta Ngotsh
from UK
Report this comment
why is Mugabe not given 24hrs notice like
Sadam? Posted by sibonisiwe ndlovu
from sheffield Because invading Zimbabwe
to restore peace will not drive oil
prices up for Bush and
Cheney
Posted by Marko from Ireland
Report this comment
Oh well,
we've made our bed - NOW THE POOR PEOPLE OF ZIMBABWE HAVE TO SLEEP
IN IT -
if they don't die of AIDS first or get beaten to death by those who
free'd
Zimbabwe from Colonial Rule. The world screamed for an end to
colonialism -
colonialism was ended (in a variety of ways) and look what
resulted -
Zimbabwe Darfur The Sudan Rwanda the list is endless. Just let it
all carry
on - the problem will go away - THEY'LL ALL BE DEAD!
Posted by Ken
Telford from Essex
Report this comment
SO THE MIGHTY UN ARE GOING TO MEET
TODAY TO DISCUSS FURTHER TRAVEL
RESTRICTIONS ON MUGABE AND HIS CRONIES . I
BET MUGABE IS REALLY SCARED. I
FIND IT ABSOLUTELY INHUMAN THAT THE UN SITS
BACK AND DOES NOTHING WHILST THE
POOR ZIMBABWE PEOPLE SUFFER SICKENING
VIOLENCE AT MUGABES REQUEST. THE TIME
FOR ACTION IS NOW AND ITS ABOUT TIME
THAT GUTLESS GORDEN BROWN SENT IN OUR
TROOPS TO RESTORE LAW AND ORDER. ITS
NO GOOD WAITING ON THE UN THEY ARE A
WASTE OF SPACE AND WILL DO NOTHING.
COME ON BROWN GET SOME CREDABILITY BACK
AND SORT THIS INHUMAN MONSTER MUGABE
OUT.
Posted by carl stringer from WEST MIDLANDS
Report this comment
SABC
June 23,
2008, 16:30
The decision by the Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai to pull out
of the run-off elections was the best political
decision he had ever taken,
a Zimbabwean human rights lawyer said
today.
Addressing journalists at the Human Rights Commission in Parktown,
Johannesburg, Harrison Nkomo, said the conditions in Zimbabwe were not
conducive to free and fair elections. "About 80 MDC supporters were reported
dead. The president, Robert Mugabe, said publicly that he would not accept
Tsvangirai, even if he wins the elections."
Nkomo praised
Tsvangirai's pull-out decision - because had the MDC leader
taken part in
the run-off elections, this action would have "legitimised"
the
poll.
Meanwhile the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights
Defenders, says
the legislative framework in Zimbabwe is making it difficult
for civil
society groups, lawyers and journalists to operate in the country.
The
organisation has released a report on the challenges that defenders of
human
rights face in Africa which covered 22 of 53 African
states.
The report singles out legislation around detention and
assembling in
numbers as especially problematic. - Additional reporting by
Sapa
Yahoo News
Tuesday June 24, 12:32 AM
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai said on
Monday he was ready to negotiate with President Robert
Mugabe's ruling party
after his withdrawal from a presidential election, but
only if political
violence stopped.
Tsvangirai, who pulled out of the
June 27 vote on Sunday, also called for
regional leaders to push for a
postponement of the poll or for Mugabe to
step down. But the government said
the election would take place as planned.
As concern mounted both within
and outside Africa over the violence, police
raided the Harare headquarters
of Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic
Change and took away scores of
victims of political attacks, the party said.
Tsvangirai, who says around
90 of his supporters have died in brutal attacks
by Mugabe's ZANU-PF party,
told South Africa's Radio 702:
"We are prepared to negotiate with ZANU-PF
but of course it is important
that certain principles are accepted before
the negotiations take place. One
of the preconditions is that this violence
against the people must be
stopped."
One idea that had been mooted is
for negotiations on a national unity
government that could tackle Zimbabwe's
crisis.
Tsvangirai said his supporters would have risked their lives if
they voted
on Friday, because of brutal attacks by supporters of Mugabe's
ZANU-PF.
Mugabe, 84, who has been in power since independence from
Britain in 1980,
has vowed never to hand over to the opposition, branding
them puppets of the
West. He denies his supporters are responsible for the
violence.
Tsvangirai later told U.S. National Public Radio that Southern
African
Development Community leaders should work to ensure the election "is
postponed and conducted under SADC (standards) or to pressurize Mugabe to
concede that in the first round he has lost the election and that he must
give up power."
The MDC has appealed to the international community,
particularly the
African Union (AU) and SADC to put pressure on Mugabe to
resolve an economic
and political crisis which has sent millions of refugees
fleeing into
neighboring countries.
Reaction was swift from Jean
Ping, the AU's top diplomat.
"This development and the increasing acts of
violence in the run-up to the
second round of the presidential election, are
a matter of grave concern to
the Commission of the AU," he said in a
statement.
Ping said he had started consultations with AU chairman Jakaya
Kikwete, the
president of Tanzania, with SADC and with that body's
designated mediator in
the crisis, South African President Thabo Mbeki, to
see what could be done.
Ping, the commission chairman, said Zimbabwe was
at a critical point and
called for restraint and an end to
violence.
Angola's foreign ministry said on Monday SADC foreign ministers
were meeting
in Luanda to discuss the Zimbabwe crisis and might issue a
statement later
in the day.
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, the
current SADC chairman, said on Sunday
the run-off must be postponed "to
avert a catastrophe in this region."
Zimbabwean Justice Minister Patrick
Chinamasa said the vote would take place
on Friday despite the withdrawal of
Tsvangirai because he had left his
decision "too late."
(Additional
reporting by Cris Chinaka in Harare, Tsegaye Tadesse in Addis
Ababa, Shapi
Shacinda in Lusaka, Paul Simao in Johannesburg; Writing by
Barry Moody)
SW
Radio Africa (London)
23 June 2008
Posted to the web 23 June
2008
Law expert Dr Lovemore Madhuku has said that politically, MDC
President
Morgan Tsvangirai is right in withdrawing from the presidential
run off, but
legally he is bound by law to participate.
The chairman
of the National Constitutional Assembly said it is accurate to
say that the
current environment is not conducive for a free and fair
election, but
unfortunately ZANU PF would go by the legal
interpretation.
Tsvangirai announced on Sunday that he is pulling out
of the run-off, saying
Mugabe has already determined the election result.
Tsvangirai said Mugabe
has declared war on the people and the MDC would not
be part of it. He said
Mugabe declared war when he said, "the bullet has
replaced the ballot".
The MDC leader listed violence as the major reason
for withdrawing as this
made it impossible to have a free and fair election.
Since the first round
of elections held on March 29th over 85 MDC supporters
have been killed, 200
000 people internally displaced, 20 000 houses have
been destroyed and 10
000 people injured and maimed in this orgy of state
sponsored violence.
Madhuku said Tsvangirai's withdrawal is a political
embarrassment for Robert
Mugabe because he needs legitimacy and needs to be
elected by Zimbabweans in
a free and fair election. But he said the legal
position is a separate thing
where a candidate is legally bound to
participate in the run-off once they
have agreed to participate in the first
round.
He went on to say; "The strict legal position is that candidature
for the
run-off or the second election is not a voluntary exercise, you give
your
consent when you contest the first election." He said this is an
"irreversible process" that is why there were no nomination papers this
second time round and there is no provision for a withdrawal. The NCA
chairman said this is the kind of "charade" which the law in Zimbabwe allows
and which does not address the issue of the violence.
Madhuku
believes ZANU PF has two options. To either declare Robert Mugabe
elected
because he is unapposed, or to just go ahead with the electoral
process,
even though the Morgan Tsvangirai is no longer participating.
When
announcing his withdrawal, Tsvangirai urged the United Nations, African
Union and Southern African Development Community (SADC) to intervene to stop
"genocide" in Zimbabwe.
There is concern that the MDC is in a no win
situation, especially as the
country is now being run by people immune to
the law. History has shown that
the regime has used violent methods in the
past to force opponents out of
the election race or to negotiate. The leader
of ZANU Ndonga, the late
Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole, faced a similar
problem in 1996 and then Mugabe
pushed on with the election, making himself
the sole candidate. Prior to
that in 1987 Joshua Nkomo, the leader of ZAPU,
was forced to negotiate and
sign a unity accord to end a violent clampdown
on the Ndebele people that
saw the deaths of over 20 000 in the mid 80s.
23
June 2008
Tsvangirai's withdrawal irrelevant - delay has nullified
run-off
Two independent legal opinions commissioned by the Southern
Africa
Litigation Centre (SALC) support a conclusion that delay and the
absence of
a lawful run-off means the candidate who obtained the greatest
number of
votes in the election of 29 March 2008 has been duly elected as
President
and must be declared as such.
Read together, the opinions
provided by David Unterhalter SC and Wim
Trengove SC and Max du Plessis on
different aspects of Zimbabwean electoral
law argue that Zimbabwe's
Electoral Act provides both a majoritarian
principle and a residual
principle for determining the outcome of a
Presidential election.
The
majoritarian principle is predicated upon the requirement that a second
election takes place within the 21 day period after the first election,
which would have been April 2008. Only two candidates participate in this
second election - those with the highest and next highest number of votes
from the first round - and the candidate with the greater number of votes
shall be declared the duly elected President, as set out in item 3 (1)(a) of
the Second Schedule of the Electoral Act.
However item 3 of the
Second Schedule also provides for a residual
principle: where no second
election is held or can be held with the
requisite 21 day period, and there
were two or more candidates for
President, and no candidate received a
majority of the total number of valid
votes cast, item 3(1)(b) provides that
the candidate with the greatest
number of votes, and not the majority of the
total number of votes, shall be
the duly elected President.
This
argument is set out in greater detail in an opinion titled: The
Procedures
Governing the Determination and Declaration of the President in
the Event of
an Unlawful Runoff. SALC has made the opinion publicly
available
atwww.southernafricalitigationcentre.org
A second opinion commissioned by
SALC addresses the issue of whether the
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC)
is authorised to extend the runoff
period beyond the statutorily mandated 21
day period and consequently
whether the current runoff, scheduled for 27
June 2008, is lawful.
It is argued that ZEC was not constitutionally
authorised to extend the
run-off: that the regulatory powers it invoked in
order to extend the
run-off constitute an impermissible and unconstitutional
delegation on the
part of Parliament, that it violates the separation of
powers principle and
that insufficient guidelines were given to limit such
delegation.
It follows that no lawful run-off can take place if not held
within the 21
day period: that ZEC's purported extension was
unconstitutional and
unlawful. This opinion is also available from SALC at
www.southernafricalitigationcentre.org
If
there can be no lawful run-off now, then as set out in the first opinion,
the residual principle applies and the Chief Elections Officer is required
to declare the candidate with the greatest number of votes the duly elected
President. Even assuming that the run-off could be extended beyond the 21
day period, but that the run-off could not occur because violence and
intimidation made it impossible that a free and fair election could be held,
then the residual principle would still apply and the candidate with the
greatest number of votes must be declared duly elected
President.
SALC Director, Nicole Fritz said: "These opinions assume
critical importance
in light of recent developments. They provide clarity in
what seems an
increasingly uncertain situation. And the give the lie to any
claim by
Mugabe that he is the lawfully elected
President."
ENDS
Issued by: FDBeachhead Media & Investor
Relations
Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has sought refuge in the Dutch Embassy in the capital Harare, after announcing Sunday he is withdrawing from the country's presidential election runoff because of what he has called President Robert Mugabe's "campaign of violence," against voters.
The Dutch Foreign Ministry confirmed today Tsvangirai's whereabouts.
Tsvangirai charged that government-sponsored youth militias and bands of self-proclaimed "war veterans" have stepped up attacks on opposition supporters in an attempt to persuade them to "vote correctly" in the elections, scheduled for Friday.
It's estimated that at least 86 people have been killed and 200,000 displaced since the country's first elections in March when Tsvagirai's Movement for Democratic Change party narrowly defeated Mugabe, triggering the runoff. In the weeks since, the violence has continued to grow bloodier, with Mugabe declaring that the bullet is mightier than the pen and that he will declare war before handing over power.
Tsvangirai's decision to step down is receiving a mixed reaction in Zimbabwe. Most civil society groups have called it smart, saying it will spare lives and put pressure on the international community to intervene and stop the current bloodshed. But thousands of Zimbabweans who have already experienced the violence are wondering what recourse they have if they no longer have anyone to vote for.
The following is one family's story as told to a researcher from Harvard Law School who's conducting interviews with victims of Zimbabwe's violence. For his safety, we have changed all names in this account.Until recently, the perpetrators of violence have operated primarily in rural areas. However, in June, violence entered the cities. Two low-income suburbs of Harare, Epworth and Mbare, have been particularly hard hit. Suspected MDC supporters living in those areas have been threatened, beaten and violently driven from their homes. Many have been killed.
Two weeks ago, I was collecting information on the outbreak of violence in Harare when Malvin, a 37-year-old father of three from Epworth, entered the office where I was working. He was accompanied by his brother-in-law Fanuel. The previous night the two men had seen their homes burned and Malvin's wife, children and sister abducted. Malvin explained what happened:
"I was asleep in my house at midnight. About 10 men in a white twin-cab pickup truck came to the house. They had metal rods, catapults and hammers. They banged on the door of my house. I was able to break a window in the back and jump out. Fanuel also managed to escape."
The two men ran and hid in bushes behind the house. Malvin did not recognize the attackers, whom he perceived to be members of a youth militia loyal to Zanu-PF, Zimbabwe's ruling party. He was sure that they had been shipped in from another district. "In Epworth, the Zanu-PF people don't have vehicles," he said.
The attackers moved next door where Malvin's wife and sister, a widow, were sleeping with their children. The men watched as the youths dragged the women and children from their home and placed them in the back of the pickup truck. The women were pinned to the bed of the truck and beaten as their children clung to them.
Soon the attackers were joined by a large group of youths singing "Hondo-Hondo" ("War-War") and other Zanu-PF regime songs. As the truck drove off with the women and children, the mob, now numbering more than 100, began to loot and burn the houses.
After the attackers left, Malvin and Fanuel reported the incident to the police. They were told, "We cannot give you help because this is a political issue. If we arrest a Zanu-PF person, we will lose our jobs. Go get your friends and revenge yourself if you can manage to do it."
Malvin believes that he was targeted because he is a local officer of the National Constitutional Assembly, a civil society organization that has been pushing for democratic reform since 1997. NCA activists are assumed to support the opposition and have frequently been the targets of attacks by security forces and government-sponsored militias.
As Malvin headed back to Epworth to look for his family, I asked him if he was still going to vote in the upcoming election. Although tears had been in his eyes during the entire hour that I spoke with him, he grinned and said, "Yes, for sure."
Two days later, I met up with Malvin. He had found his missing family members. His children were now staying with a relative in a town 15 miles outside Harare. His wife and sister were in a local hospital, recovering from 20 hours of brutal captivity at the hands of the Zanu-PF supporters. I went with Malvin to visit the women.
The hospital was clean by Zimbabwean standards, and appeared to be well staffed. Even so, as I entered the room, I noticed that both women's sheets were stained with blood.
The hand of Malvin's wife, Sekai, was bandaged, with a splint on the middle finger. She was wearing a beanie that almost covered a cut above her right eye. Malvin's sister, Moleen, had a visibly bruised and swollen face.
Moleen described their abduction: "They pushed our heads against the bed of the truck with their hands. They put their feet on our backs and stepped on us. They pushed our kids to our sides and held them there. They beat us with an iron bar in the back of the truck. This continued until we reached their base."
The "base" that Moleen described was the home of the Zanu-PF district chairman, a man they both knew. His home was serving as a hub for the attacks that were going on throughout Epworth. They recognized many local Zanu-PF supporters at the home. "Some were our neighbors," Moleen said. The women provided me with the names of the attackers they knew, including a few local Zanu-PF officials.
Moleen, Sekai and their children were placed in a thatched room with other women who had been rounded up by the militias. They were beaten continually through the night and the following day.
The children sat against the walls of the room while their mothers were beaten. They were spared from the attacks except when they grew afraid and clung to their mothers. In those instances both mother and child would be struck until the child withdrew.
While the women were assaulted, their attackers threatened further violence and death. "MDC will never rule this country; we want war," they yelled. "You supported MDC, so we want to beat you until you die."
The women claim that during the night the police visited the house where they were being held, saw their condition, and departed silently.
At 5 p.m. the following day, the women and children were released without explanation. Not knowing where to go, they walked to the home of the NCA chairperson for the area, who took them in and alerted Malvin to their whereabouts.
Both women told me that they were suffering injuries to bones and internal organs. Moleen had lost vision in her left eye and could not hear out of her left ear. They allowed me to photograph their scratched and swollen faces and pulled back the sheets of their beds to show me deep bruises and cuts across their hips and buttocks.
As I left the hospital I asked a nurse about the possibility of seeing other patients in the hospital. She blocked my access, saying that I had to consult with the head doctor in the city center first. But when I asked if there were many other victims of political violence in the facility, she leaned close and whispered, "The place is full of them."
In the past week, I have been in touch with Malvin almost daily, trying to keep tabs on his family's condition.
A few days after I spoke with her, Sekai was transferred to a new hospital. Malvin told me that state intelligence agents had been looking for her and she was no longer safe at her previous location. She remains in this hospital, which Malvin says is safe, despite the continued efforts of Zanu-PF supporters to find her.
Malvin's children remained with his cousin for a few days despite the cousin's protests that he had no way of providing for them. The children had only the clothes they were wearing the night of the attack and no blankets to warm them as they slept on the floor at night. Four days ago, the cousin notified Malvin that pro-Zanu-PF militias were mobilizing in his neighborhood and sent the children to Harare.
Malvin and his three children now live with more than 2,000 other displaced individuals in Harvest House, the MDC headquarters in downtown Harare. Like most of the opposition supporters seeking refuge in this office building, they remain indoors, fearing that ruling party thugs might be waiting for them on the streets. They are provided with one meal each day and no assurance that their stay will not be interrupted by a police raid or arrests.
Malvin has been warned that it is not safe to return to Epworth, where the militias are still hunting for him. Moreover, he has nothing to return to, with neighbors informing him that his land is now being used as a second base for militia operations in the area.
Today, Malvin has no savings and no income. Everything he possessed, including a few wads of Zimbabwe's worthless paper currency, was looted or burned by his attackers. His livelihood as a firewood vendor was destroyed as well, when his stock went up in flames with his house.
Malvin, like thousands of other Zimbabweans, is now wondering how to piece his life together in an environment of social turmoil and political uncertainty. Speaking to me in front of his wife and sister at the hospital, Malvin said, "Even if they are discharged, we have nowhere to go. Especially my sister. She has no husband. I am still standing, but what kind of husband am I? I cannot even provide food and clothing for my family. We have nothing."
Sunday Independent, SA
By
Peta Thornycroft
I have been trying to write this story about reporting
on Zimbabwe since
June 9.
This is what I wrote when I started:
"I am
sitting up working this late because I can't cope ordinarily, in
working
hours, with doing what has to be done to report this story.
"There are 18
days left until the presidential run-off. Can we hang on 18
days?
"I
certainly can't do my job properly. More or less, I can't move around. As
a
white reporter, certainly, I can't get into communal areas in the north
east,
where most of the hideous violence is taking place.
"I have a couple of
contacts who would normally take me there but they have
sent a message that
it would be better for them if I didn't go.
"Last October I was in the north
east, around Mutoko towards the Mozambique
border and back across the tracks
which pass for roads, to Mashonaland
Central. I had a good cover, as I am
always unaccredited as a journalist,
and I wanted to see how people lived in
Zanu-PF strongholds.
"Would they live better there than in other parts of the
country where
people support the MDC?
"I visited several villages, met
local people, saw their houses and crops,
and how they lived. I was
surprised. Their lives were as pitiful as those in
the rest of the country.
These are communal lands, there never were any
white farmers in this part of
the country, and it was liberated by Robert
Mugabe's forces long before the
ceasefire in 1979.
"They seemed to have nothing to show for 28 years of
independence. Pathetic
schools, no drugs in the clinics, and people were very
thin with parched
skin.
"The roads were almost impassable off the main and
crumbling highway to the
border."
That's where the report I began to write
stopped, probably because something
ghastly had happened which had to be
covered as hard news.
It's now June 20, the end of another horrible
day.
The area I visited last October has been decimated. Villages have
been
burned, people have been murdered, abducted, "disappeared", had
their
buttocks chopped off in frenzied beatings, had their feet "falangad"
-
beaten on the soles of their feet until the bones and muscle
disintegrate
into putty. I have interviewed many of them in
hospitals.
Mutoko has taken so much heat. Traditionally Zanu-PF for decades,
many of
its people voted for their Zanu-PF MP on March 29 but didn't vote for
Mugabe
in the simultaneous presidential poll, and how they have paid for
that.
They know the names of their attackers, from their villages, and the
names
of the politicians they have seen involved in the violence. They know
the
names of the members of the army who have hurt them and can point out
bases
where Zanu-PF has created torture camps.
So we are struggling to get
out there to report the terror which has now
moved down to Masvingo province,
parts of Manicaland, quieter now in
Mashonaland Central, heating up in
Matabeleland North.
There are so few of us on the ground and we have been
stuck in Harare coping
with the daily diet of violence, arrests, statistics,
ahead of this abortion
of an election on Friday.
Journalists who were in
Zimbabwe for the March 29 poll will notice a
difference if they do return
now.
No press conferences, no media briefings, no diplomats around to talk to
in
the open, and the capital is plastered with Mugabe posters, hardly any
of
Tsvangirai.
No MDC rallies, no music, nor people wearing MDC T-shirts
anywhere.
The only political activity is from Mugabe. He has rallies every
day,
attended by many people under duress along, of course, with some
genuine
life-long Zanu-PF supporters.
Most of the MDC activists we used to
speak to are in hiding, in Botswana,
South Africa or in police
cells.
There isn't any buzz except text messages reporting yet another
atrocity.
Information which has to be checked. The mobile networks are only
slightly
improved since the previous election so communication is still
appalling and
inhibits reportage.
There are groups of Zanu-PF hirelings
stomping around town and in the
suburbs.
They look ferocious and some are
but some of them are also MDC supporters,
getting a free T-shirt for the cold
winter and being paid to march around
and frighten the good citizens of
Harare.
That's easy money when piece jobs are hard to find and inflation is
at 1.5
million%.
Hopefully our "running-dog, Western, imperialist,
capitalist" colleagues
from the foreign media will be here soon or be
positioned close by, working
the story from wherever they can.
If
President Thabo Mbeki's reported efforts to persuade Mugabe to call off
the
election and instead form a government of national unity with the MDC
fails,
and the election does take place on Friday, it will surely compete
for being
the most unfair, most unfree plesbiscite ever held.
Neither Robert Mugabe nor
Zanu-PF could care less if the African Union and
the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) say so. Their behaviour in
the run-up to the
run-off, when they stopped trying to disguise the
depravity of what they are
doing, graphically shows they don't mind what
anyone thinks, let alone
Tanzania which complained on Thursday.
The top Zanu-PF dogs, Mugabe, rural
housing minister Emmerson Mnangagwa who
is hoping to be the successor, and
the generals in the Joint Operations
Command, couldn't care less what anyone
thinks of this election. Mugabe will
win no matter what. He wants to be sworn
in by next Monday and he couldn't
care less if regional or continental
presidents stay away - or who
recognises his presidency. He won't mind that
there is no food. He will
probably un-ban the emergency food agencies after
he is sworn in and they
will save the people as they have done for the last
eight years.
And so it will go on.
Mugabe justifies the violent campaign,
(he doesn't acknowledge any violence
is committed by Zanu-PF) as defence of
sovereignty against the Rhodesians
who will return to power if Morgan
Tsvangirai wins.
At rallies Mugabe regularly paints a picture of thousands of
former
Rhodesians hanging over the barbed wire fence along Limpopo border
panting
to come "home".
We reporters don't know whether we will be
covering a presidential election
on Friday or if it will have been cancelled,
or if Tsvangirai will call for
a boycott or if, even if he does, whether
Mugabe will whip the people into
line to vote for him anyway.
We have no
idea how many more bodies will be found, people abducted, schools
closed,
supermarkets raided, houses burned, limbs cut off, in the meanwhile.
What we
do know is, for whatever reason, Mbeki and his colleagues in the
presidency
who have been trying to mediate inter-party negotiations on
behalf of SADC
have never, ever understood Mugabe and his clique.
Did they begin to
understand last week when Mbeki came here to try to get
Tsvagirai's deputy
Tendai Biti freed from jail? As I write, on Friday, Biti
has just been denied
bail by attorney-general Bharat Patel, the same Zanu-PF
zealot who prosecuted
Morgan Tsvangirai on laughable treason charges from
2002 onwards.
We
believe that when Mbeki was here to meet Mugabe and Tsvangirai on
Wednesday
he tried quite hard to get Biti released, on bail of course, and
within the
mangled Zimbabwe law, because he is a negotiator for the most
popular
political party in Zimbabwe. Well, Mugabe didn't and doesn't care
a
jot.
Mbeki's plea or threat or whatever he put to Mugabe, was
immaterial.
Regretfully Mbeki and co never believed Zimbabweans when we told
them what
Mugabe and co were really about. They seemed to believe Mugabe's
crap about
protecting Zimbabwe from Western imperialism.
If they have now
begun to see the light, however dimly, it is probably too
late. - Independent
Foreign Service
Gordon Brown said today that his thoughts were with the people of Zimbabwe facing an "unprecedented level of violence and intimidation" as he pledged to help with the reconstruction of the country once democracy had been restored.
In a Commons statement, the prime minister urged the African Union to withhold its recognition of Robert Mugabe's government, insisting the current regime "should not be recognised by anyone".
"The African Union commission has called for violence to end. The current government – with no parliamentary majority, having lost the first round of the presidential elections and holding power only because of violence and intimidation – is a regime that should not be recognised by anyone," Brown said.
Insisting that the status quo could not continue, the prime minister told MPs: "In recent weeks under Robert Mugabe's increasingly desperate and criminal regime, Zimbabwe has seen at least 84 killings, 2,700 beatings, the displacement of 34,000 people and the arrest and detention of opposition leaders including Tendai Biti and Morgan Tsvangirai."
Brown said that he had been speaking to African leaders today about the deteriorating political and humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe, and that the EU council was still seeking to impose travel and financial sanctions on those in the inner circle of Mugabe's regime.
He called on the international community to send a powerful and united message: "That it would not recognise the fraudulent election rigging and the violence and intimidation of a criminal and discredited cabal."
The prime minister said that Britain was ready to offer help with the reconstruction of Zimbabwe once democracy there had been restored.
The Tory leader, David Cameron, welcomed Brown's comments on Zimbabwe and urged him to ensure that the introduction of sanctions "really happens this time".
He also called for a UN commission of enquiry into abuses of human rights.
"Will you set out a detailed rescue package for the post-Mugabe era, to make it absolutely clear that when Mugabe goes we will do all we can to breathe new life into that country and into those people who have suffered so much."
He said that the government ought to also make clear that it was prepared to withdraw international recognition from the Mugabe regime.
The Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg, said he hoped the international community would look at "all options available" to put an end to Mugabe's regime.
This should include the option of restricting the electricity supply from South Africa and Mozambique, he said.
But the prime minister could be doing more from Britain, such as allowing Zimbabwe's asylum seekers to live and work temporarily in the UK, he added.
Brown said each asylum case was dealt with on an individual basis.
Sir Malcolm Rifkind, the Tory former foreign secretary, who has lived and worked in Zimbabwe, said Mugabe's government should be threatened with suspension from the African Union and the South African Development Community if it did not embark immediately on the necessary reforms.
Brown replied: "You are absolutely right that African leaders must be vocal in their condemnation of what is happening …
"I agree that none of the African states should recognise the legitimacy of the Mugabe regime and should certainly not recognise any elections, if they were to go ahead, that took place at the end of the week."
Later, the foreign secretary, David Miliband, told MPs that this was a "crucial moment" for the people of Zimbabwe.
William Hague, his Tory shadow, described Mugabe's government as a "despotic regime that cares for no one, not even the welfare of it's own people".
He said there should be "no place for the man at any summit table" and he called on the South African Development Community to withhold its recognition of the Mugabe regime.
Christian Science Monitor
The opposition's
pullout from Friday's vote raises pressure on Zimbabwe's
leader.
By Scott
Baldauf | Staff writer of the Christian Science Monitor
and a
correspondent
from the June 24, 2008 edition
Johannesburg,
South Africa; and Harare, Zimbabwe - Opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai's
decision Sunday to pull out of Friday's runoff election is
increasing
international pressure on President Robert Mugabe to stop the
violence and
allow a peaceful transfer of power in Zimbabwe.
Zambian President Levy
Mwanawasa, chair of the Southern African Development
Community (SADC), said
Sunday that it is "scandalous for the SADC to remain
silent on
Zimbabwe."
Now all eyes are trained on South African President Thabo
Mbeki, who the
SADC has charged with mediating a peaceful solution to the
Zimbabwe crisis,
including a possible unity government. "I would hope that
the leadership [of
both parties] would still be open to a process which
would result in them
coming to some agreement," he said.
Sunday's
turn of events may succeed in saving lives - at a time when more
than 80
opposition activists have been killed and thousands displaced by
pro-government militias - but in diplomatic circles it has had the effect of
an ultimatum.
Britain's Africa Minister Mark Malloch Brown said
Monday that the United
Nations Security Council, the European Union (EU),
and the African Union
(AU) should consider wider sanctions.
And, as
news broke that Mr. Tsvangirai is holing up in the Dutch Embassy in
Harare
for safety concerns, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said
Monday that
Mugabe's government cannot be considered legitimate without a
fair
runoff.
Neighboring countries, frustrated with stalled talks under Mr.
Mbeki's
tenure may push for fresh efforts, or even for new leadership, in
the talks
for a power-sharing agreement, observers say. No new details on
the makeup
of a possible unity government have emerged,
however.
"There has been a shift in sentiment on the continent, and not
all of it is
reported as fully as it should be," says Steven Friedman, a
senior analyst
at the Institute for Democracy in Southern Africa in Tshwane,
as Pretoria,
South Africa, is now called. Not holding the runoff election
"deprives
Mugabe of his legitimacy," Mr. Friedman says, since the previous
election of
March 29 had him trailing Tsvangirai 47 percent to 43
percent.
While Mugabe is famously impervious to criticism, especially
from the West,
"effective isolation of the clique that runs Zimbabwe at the
moment could
create a situation where the mid-level and upper-level members
of [Mugabe's
ruling ZANU-PF party] reassess their options," says
Friedman.
Until recently, African leaders have been reluctant to
criticize Mugabe.
Mbeki's government - which currently chairs the UN
Security Council - has
twice blocked efforts to discuss the Zimbabwe crisis
in Security Council
meetings.
But all that may be changing, as it
becomes clear that Zimbabwe's politics
affects all its neighboring
countries, sending millions of Zimbabwean
refugees into places where they
are often not wanted.
"[Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change] took
the right decision,"
says Chris Maroleng, an expert on Zimbabwe at the
Institute for Strategic
Studies in Tshwane. "This stole the initiative from
ZANU-PF."
Having won the first round of the election in March 29, Mr.
Maroleng says,
the MDC has enough clout to start talks toward a
power-sharing agreement
with ZANU-PF, and by pulling out of the second
round, it has also shown that
ZANU-PF's reign of terror undermines its
legitimacy.
But in Harare, Tsvangirai's pullout is more controversial.
"It is the most
unwise decision that they have ever made," says former
minister of
information in Mugabe's administration, Jonathan Moyo. "How can
they
withdraw five days before the election and yet people were being beaten
and
killed all along?"
Mr. Moyo says it was unfortunate that
Tsvangirai had made such a decision
when all along he had been saying "no
amount of violence or intimidation
would stop the opposition from romping to
victory."
Other political analysts view MDC's withdrawal from the race as
a tactic to
force Mugabe to stop his militias from committing acts of
violence. They say
Tsvangirai could still change his mind and reenter the
election on
Wednesday, when the party meets to review the
situation.
Zimbabwe Election Commission (ZEC) chairman George Chiweshe
said he was not
aware that the MDC had withdrawn from the election. "None of
the two
candidates has withdrawn from this election as far as we know. If
the MDC is
serious about withdrawing, it should follow the normal procedure
of writing
a withdrawal letter to the chief elections officer, which it has
not done,"
Mr. Chiweshe told observers and journalists Monday.
The
briefing was attended by observers for the SADC, AU, and the Pan-African
Parliament.
Chiweshe, who said there was "no war" in the country,
added that he was
confident that the elections would be credible as well as
free and fair
despite the violence, which the MDC says has claimed 86 lives
of its
supporters.
"This is not a war. We don't have a war in the
country. What we have are
political candidates targeting each other at
various times. As far as I am
concerned, we will be able to have a credible
election. I believe we will
have a free and fair election but the problems
of course are there," said
Chiweshe, who was quick to add that "every
election anywhere in the world
has its own share of
problems."
ZANU-PF's election spokesperson Patrick Chinamasa told state
media that MDC
has withdrawn from the runoff because it was afraid of being
defeated.
. A reporter in Harare could not be named for security
reasons.
Times Online
June 23, 2008
Jan Raath, in Harare, and James Bone, in
New York
President Mbeki of South Africa is expected to travel to Harare
tomorrow to
make one final attempt to push Robert Mugabe into negotiating a
settlement
with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, The Times has
learned.
Mr Mbeki's decision to travel to Zimbabwe for the second time in
a week came
after a day of frantic diplomatic activity in which governments
worldwide
condemned Mr Mugabe for a campaign of violence which forced Morgan
Tsvangirai, the opposition leader, to withdraw from this Friday's election
run-off.
Britain appeared to be taking the hardest line with
diplomats revealed to be
circulating a draft UN resolution which declared
that - in the absence of a
second round of voting - the result of the first
round should be made
binding. Mr Tsvangirai defeated Mr Mugabe in that
contest, held in late
March, although by an insufficient margin to win
without a second ballot.
Mr Mbeki's impending visit comes after the
Zimbabwean President rejected a
similar call for national unity last week
and reflects the growing pressure
by the West on southern African leaders to
take a stand against Mr Mugabe,
84.
The opposition says Mr Mugabe and
his armed militia are responsible for the
deaths of more than 80 activists
during the election campaign, which Mr
Tsvangirai said left him with no
choice but to withdraw. The opposition
leader was tonight under the
protection of the Dutch embassy in Harare, as
threats to his safety
increased.
As the fallout to yesterday's withdrawal announcement intensified,
British
diplomats circulated a draft Security Council statement declaring
the
government's "campaign of violence" had made a "free and fair" run-off
in
the presidential election impossible. The Security Council is due to meet
tonight.
"Until there is a clearly free and fair second round of the
presidential
election, the only legitimate basis for a government of
Zimbabwe is the
outcome of the 29 March 2008 election," the draft statement
said.
"The Security Council calls on the Zimbabwean authorities to allow
African
Union and United Nations envoys to find a peaceful way forward that
allows a
legitimate government to be formed that reflects the will of the
people."
The British proposal faces serious opposition from South Africa
and
potentially other countries on the 15-nation council, such as Russia and
China, that oppose UN intervention in member states.
South Africa
moved quickly to signal its opposition to key parts of the
British proposal,
suggesting the draft favoured Zimbabwe's opposition
Movement for Democratic
Change.
Dumisani Kumalo, South Africa's UN ambassador, said his country
would back a
Security Council statement as long as it "edges the process
forward".
"It should take into account that we are in a very sensitive
stage," he
said. "There are talks that are happening between the parties
through the
mediator in Harare, through South Africa. The parties are
talking."
The United States backed the British initiative. Zalmay
Khalilzad, the US
ambassador, said Washington was seeking a "strong
statement that calls to
account and assigns responsibility".
"It's
clear that the country is in crisis, a political crisis, a crisis of
legitimacy. Without a run-off election that's fair, that people can have
confidence in, the government cannot be legitimate," he
said.
Security Council ambassadors were due to discuss the growing crisis
at their
monthly meeting with Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary-General, as
experts from
each mission met separately to try to agree the text of the
proposed
statement. The meeting was due to start tonight and Mr Ban was
expected to
make a statement later.
Gordon Brown led international
condemnation of Mr Mugabe's regime today,
calling on the international
community to refuse to recognise the run-off
result if the Zimbabwean
president decides to go ahead with a vote without
an opposition.
In a
House of Commons statement he said Britain would now be pressing for
fresh
sanctions against Mr Mugabe's inner circle - including travel bans and
the
freezing of financial assets held abroad.
"The regime has made it impossible
to hold free and fair elections in
Zimbabwe. State-sponsored terror and
intimidation has put the opposition in
an untenable position," Mr Brown told
MPs.
The Prime Minister said that no nation should be prepared to
recognise Mr
Mugabe's regime as the legitimate government of
Zimbabwe.
"The international community must send a powerful and united
message that we
will not recognise the fraudulent election-rigging and the
violence and
intimidation of a criminal and discredited cabal," he
said.
Later, in a separate statement to MPs, Foreign Secretary David
Miliband said
the campaign of violence by supporters of Mr Mugabe had set
the stage for
the "most rigged election in African history".
Hours
after his withdrawal decision, meanwhile, it was confirmed Mr
Tsvangirai had
taken refuge in the Dutch embassy in Harare.
"He is temporarily at the
embassy of the Netherlands in Harare," said Bart
Rijs, a Dutch foreign
ministry spokesman. "A request was made yesterday by
his party, the MDC, and
Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen decided that
if he sought safety it
would be granted."
The campaign of violence and intimidation against the
MDC today appeared to
be continuing unabated, as police raided the party's
Harare HQ and took away
about 60 people. Most were said to be women and
children sheltering from the
state-sponsored violence around the
election.
Meanwhile Patrick Chinamasa, the Zimbabwean justice minister,
claimed that
Friday's presidential voting would go ahead, as MDC leader Mr
Tsvangirai was
"too late" in deciding to
withdraw.
Comments
Negotiations may be going on in Harare but
these must not be used by the
South African Government as an excuse to
refuse to condemn the state
sponsored violence that is continuing in
Zimbabwe. Does SA really think that
this is the way an election should be
run. If so there is no hope left for
us.
Jeff Fenwick, Bulawayo,
Zimbabwe
Odd, the only Zims responding are not in Zimbabwe!. Maybe they
are too busy
trying to find a few trillion to buy some Mealie Meal. Having
been to the
land, Zim people are great, but zanu-pf is the devil run amok.
The
international community will do nothing, you are as doom as the Czechs
in
'39.
Carl, Lexington, USA
I am anti-imperialist. Mugabe is
(this is hard to say) Ian Smith
resurrected. What a travesty. What
sacrifices to put this Oligarch in
power-for what?
Joe Morrissey,
California, usa
Joe Morrissey, Sacramento, USA
IOL
June 23 2008
at 07:50PM
by Fanuel Jongwe
Harare - She shouted to
Morgan Tsvangirai as his convoy drove past,
but the opposition leader could
never stop for long - the authorities
prevented him from doing
so.
"Please, don't let us down," the woman yelled as she ran
alongside
other residents in the poor township of Mufakose. "We are
suffering."
Before Tsvangirai announced on Sunday he was pulling
out of the
presidential run-off and later took refuge in the Dutch embassy,
he faced
severe restrictions on his campaign and was detained five times by
police.
He was forced to engage in a kind of speed-rally, where he
would exit
his car for two or three minutes and shake a few hands, then take
off again
to avoid breaking laws on holding public meetings without police
authorisation.
On a recent day in Mufakose, ecstatic youths
yelled and whistled as
the opposition leader stopped at a shopping centre,
calling him "president"
and "dhara redu" - Shona for "our big
man."
Tsvangirai quickly shook hands with supporters and jumped
back into
his car, part of a convoy that included two cars and an 80-seater
bus with
his picture and the inscription "Morgan is the One."
Police seized the bus at one point, too.
Besides those obstacles,
Tsvangirai was vilified in the state media
and labeled a stooge of former
colonial power Britain. Police banned a
series of rallies, and the party's
number two is in jail on treason and
vote-rigging charges and faces the
death penalty.
When announcing his withdrawal at his Harare home on
Sunday,
Tsvangirai said, "the regime has crippled" his
campaign.
Tsvangirai beat Mugabe in the March first round of the
election but
officially failed to garner enough votes to be declared
outright winner.
He had said he would participate in the run-off
only under protest
since he claimed he crossed the 50 percent threshold in
March.
But on Sunday he said he could no longer stay in the
presidential
election because he could not ask supporters to cast ballots
"when that vote
would cost them their lives."
After the
announcement of the first round results, the opposition says
authorities
unleashed a campaign of violence, initially in rural areas with
suspected
ruling party militias attacking opposition supporters.
Tsvangirai
says more than 80 members of his party have been killed and
200 000 people
have been internally displaced.
Given the restrictions on rallies,
he used other platforms such as
press conferences, a self-styled
state-of-the-nation address at a hotel and
even graveside oratories at
funerals of party activists to address his
supporters.
His
party distributed campaign advertisements by email.
When he took to
the road to campaign, Tsvangirai and other senior
party officials were
stopped at several roadblocks.
He faced obstacles right up until
the end. On Sunday, before
Tsvangirai made his announcement to quit, hordes
of ruling party youths
armed with sticks gathered at the venue of a rally
planned by the MDC on the
outskirts of the capital. - Sapa-AFP
HARARE, 23 June 2008 (IRIN) - Yvonne Chipowera
endured 16 hours of beatings,
rape and being urinated on, all because of her
support for Zimbabwe's
opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC).
She said about 30 militiamen loyal to President Robert Mugabe and
his
ZANU-PF party broke into her house on 9 June in Epworth, a sprawling
township on the edge of the capital, Harare. They began marching the
24-year-old MDC activist to a house allegedly owned by a local ZANU-PF
leader, beating her all the way.
"Three men pushed me around as we
were walking. They took me off the road
and blindfolded me. One man held my
arms, another pinned down my legs and a
third raped me," she told
IRIN.
When they had finished, they continued walking to the house, which
is used
as a base by ZANU-PF militia, according to local residents.
Chipowera was
forced into a room with a clutch of other prisoners; still
more were
imprisoned in a hole in the ground in the garden, she
said.
Since the MDC won the 29 March parliamentary election, and party
leader
Morgan Tsvangirai beat Mugabe in the first round presidential poll,
Epworth - and other urban suburbs - have become no-go zones for the
opposition, mirroring the terror documented by human rights groups in the
countryside.
According to the MDC, ZANU-PF militia, armed with
sling-shots and knives,
hunt those perceived to be opponents, forcing
hundreds to flee their homes
to avoid capture. The unlucky are taken to one
of the several "reorientation
centres" in the township.
"They threw
cold water on me and men were urinating on my head. They made me
say
Tsvangirai is an ***hole, a dog, all dirty names. I said it of course,
because they were beating me," Chipowera recounted.
"They raped me
again, and then put me back in the room; they used a whip,
which cut me
across the back, buttocks and legs. All night they punched,
kicked and
slapped me."
Chipowera was released at 5.00 a.m. on 10 June. She was able
to find her
young son, who had spent the night outside their home in the
winter cold.
"I hope God will take them away and kill them all," she
said, holding her
boy. "Now I might have HIV/AIDS those men were so
dirty."
Orchestrated violence
She accuses ZANU-PF leaders in
Epworth of orchestrating the violence. While
she was being tortured, she
recognised a former government minister who was
in the house, but the
militia group was led by a female local councillor,
she said.
The
same local councillor was named by another Epworth woman IRIN
interviewed
last week while she was recovered from her injuries. The
38-year-old MDC
official, who asked not to be identified, was snatched on
the same day as
Chipowera. She managed to get away with just a beating from
the militia the
first time, who also looted her home.
Two months pregnant, she decided to
get out of Epworth, fleeing with another
female MDC activist. But she was
wearing a Tsvangirai t-shirt and was
stopped.
"There were more than
50 of them. They took us to the graveyard on Aerodrome
Road [in Harare].
They put a black cloth over my eyes and they raped me.
Then they urinated
all over my face and put their penis in my mouth. There
was semen over my
face," she said.
"I was trying to fight them off but they were using a
hot wire they put in
the fire to burn me. They raped the other woman too.
She was raped by three
guys and bleeding. They were kicking us; they were
saying, 'You want
Tsvangirai to be president. You want to sell our country
to the whites'."
IRIN is unable to verify the accounts of the two women,
but they are
consistent with the reports of extreme violence meted out by
soldiers,
police and militants of the ruling party. There have also been
accounts of
MDC violence against ZANU-PF supporters and so-called "war
veterans", but on
a far lower scale.
According to the MDC, 86 of its
supporters have been killed since the
general elections on 29 March. Party
spokesman Nelson Chamisa told IRIN that
"state sponsored violence" had
displaced over 200,000 people, with over
20,000 homes destroyed and more
than 10,000 people injured.
[ENDS]
[This report does
not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
HARARE, 23 June 2008 (IRIN) - Despite furious
international criticism of
political conditions in Zimbabwe ahead of this
week's presidential poll,
riot police on Monday picked up around 60 people -
mostly women and
children - sheltering at the headquarters of the opposition
party in the
capital, Harare.
"The women and children were victims of
political violence, who had fled
their homes in rural areas and were at our
head office seeking either legal
or medical attention," said Nelson Chamisa,
spokesman for the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC).
Meanwhile Zimbabwean civil society has backed an MDC decision to
pull out of
the presidential run-off on 27 June, saying it would save lives.
According
to the MDC, more than 86 of its supporters have been killed by
ruling party
militia since the first round elections in March.
While
announcing his decision to withdraw from the poll, MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai told a press briefing in Harare on Sunday that he was willing to
negotiate on a government of national unity, if it is seriously
proposed.
Tsvangirai has since sought refuge in the Dutch embassy in
Harare, but has
not applied for asylum.
Levy Mwanawasa, Zambian
president and the chair of the South African
Development Community (SADC) on
Sunday also called for the postponement of
the presidential run-off on the
grounds that conditions did not exist for a
free and fair
ballot.
Tsvangirai's press briefing came hours after the MDC were
prevented from
holding a public rally in Harare on Sunday by the police and
militants of
the ruling ZANU-PF. The MDC's decision to pullout has been
interpreted by
some analysts as an attempt to persuade SADC, the African
Union or the
United Nations to intervene decisively in the
crisis.
Embarrassment
"I really hope that most leaders will agree
with me that the situation in
Zimbabwe does not allow for free and fair
elections, and if allowed to go
ahead, the outcome of such an election will
be an embarrassment to the
region and the continent as a whole," Mwanawasa
told a press briefing in the
Zambian capital, Lusaka, on Sunday.
The
African Union (AU) Commission chair Jean Ping, has also reportedly
voiced
his concern, and said he had started consultations with AU chairman
Jakaya
Kikwete, the president of Tanzania, and with SADC to see what could
be
done.
Reuters reported that Angola's foreign ministry said on Monday that
SADC
foreign ministers were meeting in Luanda to discuss the Zimbabwe crisis
and
might issue a statement later in the day.
Mwanawasa, explaining
his decision to call for a poll postponement, said
over the past five days
he had tried to contact all SADC leaders: "But
unfortunately I have only
managed to speak to not more than four - there are
supposed to be 14. Now I
had an option to decide whether to leave smatters
the way they are or
exercise my discretion as chairman to do something which
I consider to be
right. I have decided to exercise the second option."
UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday said he backed the SADC chair's
call
for an election delay.
Tsvangirai said the beating of MDC supporters on
Sunday, in the presence of
foreign election observers, had convinced the
party of the futility of
participating in the poll.
Patrick
Chinamasa, the minister of justice, told IRIN that the government
did not
take Tsvangirai's threat seriously. "The law is very clear, if
Tsvangirai
wants to pull out of the presidential race, he should put that in
writing
and inform the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.
"We are going ahead with
our campaign where we will romp home to an emphatic
victory on Friday.
Tsvangirai is now afraid of a humiliating defeat, he is
running
scared."
Withdraw from parliament
Lovemore Madhuku, chair of the
National Constitutional Assembly, an NGO
lobbying for a "people-driven"
constitution, said the MDC's decision to pull
out "will save the lives of a
lot of people but to complete the whole
process the MDC should also withdraw
from parliament because if they attend
parliament they will be endorsing
Mugabe's rule".
The MDC won the 29 March parliamentary poll, and
Tsvangirai beat incumbent
Robert Mugabe in the presidential election, but
fell short of 50 percent of
the vote plus one to secure an outright
victory.
Macdonald Lewanika, spokesperson for the pro-democracy Crisis
Coalition,
said SADC needed to help create the framework for fair
elections.
"Whether Mugabe declares himself winner without an election or
goes ahead
with the election without the MDC, he knows fully well that he is
not
legitimate, so Zimbabwe's problems will not end," Lewanika
said.
[ENDS]
[This report does not necessarily reflect the
views of the United Nations]
Gulf News
Agencies
Published: June 23, 2008, 15:14
Luanda:
Southern African foreign ministers will convene to discuss the
political
crisis in Zimbabawe on Monday, a spokesman for Angola's foreign
ministry
said.
"The withdrawal of the main candidate from Zimbabwe's election is
new and
SADC (Southern African Development Community) will be discussing
this,"
Angolan foreign ministry spokesman Abreu Breganha
said.
Breganha said a statement could be issued at the end of a meeting
of SADC
ministers in Luanda.