http://www.iol.co.za
March 05 2009 at 07:17AM
Harare -
Zimbabwe's Supreme Court said late on Wednesday that a judge will
issue a
ruling on Thursday on the case of whether senior opposition
politician Roy
Bennett can be released on bail.
The court said Judge Paddington Garwe
would rule on whether to allow the
state to appeal against a bail ruling for
Bennett, Zimbabwe's deputy
minister designate and a member of the Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC)
party.
State counsel Chris Mutangadura
said his side had been asked "to make more
submissions" in the
case.
Bennett who is being held in Mutare about 300km east of Harare, is
facing
charges of terrorism, sabotage and banditry. He was arrested on
February 13
at a small airport outside Harare as he was leaving the country
for South
Africa.
He was granted bail on $2 000
by a High Court judge last week, but the state
challenged the order,
requesting seven days to decide to appeal against the
ruling. The state
contends that Bennett might try to flee the country.
Bennett's lawyer
Beatrice Mtetwa said: "He ought to be free by now. This is
a political case
and everybody needs to cover their backs."
Mtetwa said the judge had
requested the state to make more submissions which
they would have to
respond to before he makes a ruling, but the ruling was
expected before the
end of the day on Thursday. - Sapa-dpa
http://www.politicsweb.co.za
Nelson Chamisa
04 March
2009
Statement issued by the Movement for Democratic Change, March 4
2009
Lawyers for MDC Treasurer General, and Deputy Minister of
Agriculture
designate, Roy Bennett by mid-morning had complied with all
requirements and
paper work for the release of Roy Bennett.
However,
the otherwise co-operative court and prison officials in Mutare say
they
have been instructed by Mr Chinamasa and Attorney General Tomana to
defy two
Harare High Court orders, ordering the immediate release of MDC
Treasurer
General and Deputy Minister of Agriculture designate Roy Bennett.
Roy
Bennett is still being held at Mutare prison.
The country has to return
to the rule of just law if a sustainable
reconstruction agenda is to be
meaningfully implemented. Zimbabwe is not,
and can not be a lawless jungle.
Citizens of Zimbabwe liberties can not be
at the mercy, whims and pleasure
of Ministers however powerful they think
they are, and however resistant
they are to the winds of change.
These court orders must be respected,
and a genuine return to the rule of
just law be visible. Roy Bennett must be
released immediately.
Statement issued by the Movement for Democratic
Change, March 4 2009
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
President Barack Obama has said he
was prolonging US sanctions on Zimbabwe
President Robert Mugabe's regime for
a year, because the country's deep
political crisis remained
unresolved.
Last Updated: 3:50AM GMT 05 Mar 2009
"I am continuing
for one year the national emergency with respect to the
actions and policies
of certain members of the Government of Zimbabwe," Mr
Obama said in a
statement.
The move came less than a month after Morgan Tsvangirai,
Mugabe's long-time
and bitter rival became prime minister in a unity
government.
The European Union has also said it will not lift sanctions
against Zimbabwe
until the new government fully complies with the terms of
the power-sharing
deal.
The African Union and South Africa had called
for the lifting of sanctions
against Zimbabwe, following Mr Tsvangirai's
decision to join the government.
Under US law, Obama was required to
inform Congress by Friday that he
intended to continue the sanctions regime
targeting members of the Zimbabwe
government, or it would lapse.
"The
crisis constituted by the actions and policies of certain members of
the
Government of Zimbabwe and other persons to undermine Zimbabwe's
democratic
processes or institutions has not been resolved," the president
said in a
separate message to Congress.
"These actions and policies pose a
continuing unusual and extraordinary
threat to the foreign policy of the
United States.
"For these reasons, I have determined that it is necessary
to continue this
national emergency and to maintain in force the sanctions
to respond to this
threat."
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Hendricks Chizhanje Thursday 05 March
2009
HARARE - Zimbabwe's High Court on Wednesday ordered
police to allow family
members to visit three men they are holding under
protective custody in case
of banditry and terrorism involving some members
of Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai's MDC party.
The three, Fanny
Tembo, Lloyd Tarumbwa and Terry Musona are also members of
the MDC but
allegedly turned state witnesses after state agents abducted
them last
October together with scores of other party members accused of
plotting to
overthrow President Robert Mugabe.
They have been held incommunicado
since then with relatives barred from
seeing them as police insist they were
being kept in custody for their own
safety after they betrayed their
colleagues by agreeing to cooperate with
the state.
But Justice Ben
Hlatshwayo ordered the police to allow relatives to visit
the three men.
Hlatshwayo issued the directive during an application by
human rights lawyer
Chris Mhike seeking the court to order police to release
the men.
The
judge gave the state up to end of day today to respond to Mhike's
application for the three men to be released. - ZimOnline.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Wednesday, 04
March 2009
Banks in the city have imposed cash withdrawal limits
for clients who
want to withdraw from foreign currency accounts (FCAs),
without approval
from the minister of finance and the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe (RBZ), The
Zimbabwean has learnt.
The government and many
private companies now pay their workers in
foreign currency and have
encouraged them to open FCAs so that they can
receive their salaries through
the bank.
However, limits as low as US$15 a day have now been set by
banks that
claim they don't have enough foreign currency.
Some
frustrated clients who spoke to The Zimbabwean said, only two
weeks ago, the
same banks had put adverts in papers and notices outside
their premises
encouraging people to open FCAs and withdraw all their cash
in foreign
currency.
"US$200 was deposited in my account by my bosses as my
salary, but I
have been withdrawing US$15 a day.We are back to those days
where our monies
were locked in the bank for long time," said Danai Zhou,
who works for a
clothing company.
"I bank with ZABG and I haven't
been able to withdraw a cent from my
FCA for the past three days. They claim
they have no more foreign currency.
I think the new minister of finance
should intervene," said Godfrey Hlalo, a
civil servant.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=12842
March 4, 2009
By Owen
Chikari
MASVINGO - Some rural schools in Masvingo Province remain closed
after
health and education officials here decided that the institutions had
become
breeding grounds for cholera as their water and sanitary facilities
were in
a deplorable state.
As a result officials have advised the
affected schools to remain closed
until a full assessment of the facilities
has been conducted to avoid loss
of human life.
Masvingo regional
director Clara Dube confirmed on Wednesday that some
schools were still
closed after it was felt that the sanitary and water
facilities at the
institutions were not proper.
She however could not give the number of
schools affected.
"We have teachers who have refused to go back to their
stations not because
of remuneration but because the water and sanitary
facilities are very poor",
said Dube.
"We have sought the assistance
of health officials so that we assess the
situation at the affected schools
before teachers and children are allowed
to use them."
Masvingo
provincial medical director Robert Madyirandima said there could be
disaster
if some schools were allowed to open their doors before an
assessment was
done.
"We have to avoid loss of human life because some of the facilities
at our
schools are just death traps in view of the cholera epidemic", said
Madyirandima.
"We have advised the education ministry to wait for us
before the schools
can become operational".
As a result education
officials here are appealing to well-wishers and the
donor community to
rehabilitate water and sanitary facilities at most
schools in the
province.
Nearly all schools in the country had been closed since
September last year
when teachers embarked on an industrial action over poor
salaries.
Some classrooms are now roofless while toilets have collapsed
making it
difficult for pupils to resume lessons in view of the cholera
epidemic.
The teachers' strike was called off last week after teachers
were offered
purchasing vouchers worth US100 each as allowances.
The
Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart
stuck
a deal with the teachers' unions, resulting in schools opening their
doors.
According to the World Healthy Organisation WHO Cholera has
killed about 3
000 people since August last year while over 73 500 people
have been
affected.
WHO has warned that the cholera epidemic is far
from over due to poor water
and sanitary facilities in the
country.
Health officials here announced a fresh out break of the
cholera epidemic
in Gutu and Chiredzi districts in the southern part of the
country.
According to health officials at least 10 people died last week
in Gutu and
Chiredzi districts alone, following a fresh outbreak of the
epidemic.
http://www.citizen.co.za
Thursday
March 5 2009
CHRIS
BATHEMBU
JOHANNESBURG - ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe launched a
scathing
attack on former president Thabo Mbeki's quiet diplomacy policy on
Zimbabwe,
blaming it for the collapse of that country.
Speaking at a
seminar organised by the SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry
in Johannesburg
yesterday, Mantashe said SA had a responsibility to
"rebuild" Zimbabwe. "I
do not understand this quiet diplomacy when we (the
two countries) are
separated by only a river," he said.
Mantashe, who was seated next to
former comrade Mosiua Lekota, now leader of
the Congress of the People
(COPE), also defended the government's labour
laws, saying SA was the only
country in the world where it was not easy to
fire an
employee.
Lekota argued that there could be no progress for the
country's economy as
long as crime and corruption were still rampant. A COPE
government also
would focus on skills empowerment for the unemployed, he
said.
Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille called for a separation of
powers
between the state and the ruling party.
"The state has a role
to ... stop power abuse by the ruling party. We need
to create an open
opportunity society for all - that is why the DA says one
nation, one
future."
The United Democratic Movement's Bantu Holomisa accused the
business sector
of being biased towards the ANC in as far as funding was
concerned.
The Independent Democrats said the party promised to
introduce a minimum
income grant should it govern the country.
politics@citizen.co.za
http://business.timesonline.co.uk
Tom Hickman
Robert
Mugabe vowed recently to continue his land reform programme involving
the
seizure of white-owned farms. But the strategy has been dealt a blow by
a
recent ruling of a little-known international tribunal. Upholding the
claims
of 79 landowners, the tribunal of the Southern Africa Development
Community
(SADC) held that that the seizure of land by the Government of
Zimbabwe is
arbitrary, racially discriminatory and contrary to the rule of
law.
In a major embarrassment to Robert Mugabe and his
administration, the
tribunal also ordered the Zimbabwean Government to
protect the occupation of
those of the applicants who remain on their land
and to pay compensation to
those who have been evicted. If Zimbabwe does not
comply with the order it
will be in clear contravention of its international
obligations to its
Southern African neighbours.
Mugabe had gone to
extreme lengths to try to prevent the tribunal from
delivering judgment.
Last June the original applicants, Ben Freeth and
Michael Campbell, together
with Campbell's wife, aged 75, were abducted from
their farm north of Harare
by a local militia with close links to Mugabe's
administration (the farm,
incidentally, is where many of the mangos on our
supermarket shelves are
grown).
The three were beaten to within an inch of their lives and were
ordered to
sign a declaration stating that they would withdraw their claim
before the
SADC tribunal. Mr Campbell was unable to sign the document
because his
fingers had been broken and Freeth had been beaten unconscious.
Mrs Campbell
signed the document only after a hot stick had been put down
her throat and
a gun was held to her head.
Related Links
a..
Mugabe's cohorts begin the final land grab
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terror kidnapped
a.. Police beg us for food. What hope is there?
The
only reason the three were not killed appears to be that, as Freeth had
written exposés of the brutality of the Zanu (PF) party during last year's
election campaign in The Times, Times journalists had been alerted to
Freeth's
abduction and were trying to track him down.
Despite being
subjected to this brutality, Campbell and Freeth pushed on
with the case.
They were joined by 77 other white landowners.
The ruling of the SADC
tribunal was its first substantive judgment. It is
all the more
extraordinary because the SADC treaty under which it is
constituted is not a
human rights treaty. It provides a framework for
co-operation in matters as
diverse as trade, science and diplomacy. It is
focused particularly on
economic development.
Three features of the treaty combine to explain and
justify the approach of
the tribunal.
The first is that the treaty
expressly envisages not only economic and
scientific development, but also
cultural development through respect for
human rights. Notably, the origins
of SADC are to be found in the
determination of a number of Southern African
states in the 1980s to reduce
their dependence on apartheid South Africa.
The treaty, signed in 1992,
makes a number of prominent references to human
rights, including in the
preamble. Most importantly, Article 4 provides that
states shall act in
accordance with principles of "human rights, democracy
and the rule of law"
and Article 6 includes an undertaking that states will
not discriminate on
grounds that include race and ethnic
origin.
Secondly, the treaty expressly directs the SADC tribunal to
"develop its own
community jurisprudence", and to do so "having regard to",
among other
things "general principles and rules of public international
law". As the
tribunal stated in its ruling, this settles the question of
whether it is
entitled to look to general international human rights
principles to flesh
out the bald references to human rights and the rule of
law in the SADC
treaty.
These two features of the SADC regime combine
with a third to give the
tribunal teeth as a regional human rights tribunal.
This is that the
tribunal has jurisdiction not only to determine disputes
between signatory
states but also to determine disputes "between natural and
legal persons and
states". Without such a provision, the commitment to
protect human rights
would depend for its enforcement on the political will
of the Southern
African states to bring claims against each other. Freeth
and Campbell would
never have been able to bring their claim and almost
certainly the tribunal
would never have been asked to rule on the legality
of Mugabe's land reform
programme.
Even with such sure foundations,
it required a bold and enlightened tribunal
to uphold the applicants'
claims. Yet the tribunal easily dismissed the
Government's argument that the
expropriation "cannot be attributed to racism
but circumstances brought
about by colonial history", holding that, on the
contrary, the impact on
white farms was unjustifiable and disproportionate.
There was no evidence
that the lands acquired had been distributed to the
poor, landless or
marginalised. Moreover, it held that the seizure of land
was based,
"primarily on considerations of race" and was therefore directly
discriminatory.
The tribunal also reasoned that a right of access to
a court is a component
of the rule of law and therefore protected by the
SADC treaty. Since the
Constitution of Zimbabwe ousts the jurisdiction of
the Zimbabwe courts to
consider the legality of the land reform programme,
this was also a breach
of the SADC treaty.
Jeffrey Jowell, QC,
Professor of Law at University College London and a
practising barrister,
who was one of the counsel who represented the
applicants before the SADC
tribunal, stated that the ruling has gone, "some
way to rewarding those who
have the courage to stand up to Mugabe's regime
as repugnant to common
values".
It is to be hoped that the political pressure that SADC can
exert (with the
ultimate sanction of expulsion) will be sufficient to ensure
compliance with
the judgment. There are already signs of defiance. In
January, Zimbabwe's
deputy chief justice at the official opening of the
legal year, claimed that
the SADC tribunal had lacked jurisdiction because
the applicants had not
exhausted their domestic remedies.
It is,
then, the wider implications of the ruling that may yet prove the
most
significant. In this respect, the SADC tribunal has set out its stall
as a
regional human rights tribunal and has demonstrated a fearless
independence
in advancing human rights in Southern Africa.
The author is a practising
barrister at Blackstone Chambers
http://www.nehandaradio.com
05 March 2009
By Langton
Mbeva
Pressure group Justice for Agriculture (JAG) recently slammed as
'ludicrous'
the High Court's decision to nullify the SADC Tribunal ruling
which said
Zimbabwe's white farmers have clear legal title to their
land.
Hard as it is for me to say this, the murderous regime of Robert
Mugabe, are
quite right to dismiss the jurisdiction of the SADC
court.
Lawyers in Zimbabwe are displaying their incompetence by advising the
farmers wrongly and simply raking in thousands of US dollars in legal
fees.
Anyone with a basic understanding of international law will tell
you
Zimbabwe cannot be bound by a protocol that it is not party to.
For
the record, Zimbabwe did not ratify the protocol establishing the SADC
Tribunal which made the ruling in the case involving the farmers. The
protocol has not been domesticated by Zimbabwe's Parliament and therefore
cannot be part of Zimbabwean law. Its decisions are therefore academic and
not binding for the Harare administration.
The same can be said of
the Rome Statute that established the International
Criminal Court (ICC).
The United States government never ratified that
treaty and so is not bound
by it. It remains a controversial issue for the
US government but equally we
should not apply double standards when dealing
with treaties that have not
been ratified by Zimbabwe.
It's a simple requirement of international law
that countries cannot be
bound by treaties they have not ratified unless
some provisions of such
treaties establishes pre-emptory norms of
international laws (jus cogens).
This week High Court Judge Anne-Mary
Gowora dismissed an order sought by
farmer Richard Etheredge who wanted the
President of the Senate, Edna
Madzongwe removed from his Stockdale Farm.
Judge Gowora ruled that the
Tribunal's decisions and rulings do not apply
and cannot be enforced unless
Parliament ratifies the protocol that set up
the tribunal.
While the judiciary in Zimbabwe has been largely
compromised and prostituted
by the Mugabe regime, the decision by Justice
Gowora is painfully correct.
There could not have been any other
ruling.
John Worsley-Worswick from JAG called the ruling "a true
reflection on the
complete breakdown of governance and adherence to the rule
of law that
exists in Zimbabwe now,' and said it is an "attempt by the
government to
fast-track land seizures.' He is right in slamming the violent
land reform
as a method but legally on the issue of the SADC tribunal he is
wrong.
Source: Institute for War and Peace
Reporting (IWPR)
Date: 04 Mar 2009
Rights groups say country's
new administration doing little to address
widespread hunger.
By Jabu
Shoko in Harare (ZCR No. 183, 4-Mar-09)
As growing numbers of Zimbabweans
queue up for food aid, humanitarian
workers have called on the country's new
authorities to help the
increasingly hungry population.
"We believe
the new government should prioritise [dealing with food
shortages] as more
and more people are going hungry and coming to our
churches seeking food
handouts," said Useni Sibanda, coordinator of
faith-based organisation the
Christian Alliance of Zimbabwe.
Sibanda told IWPR that the new inclusive
government had made little
difference to people's welfare.
"We can
only do so much, as we also have members [of our organisation] who
need our
assistance. The new government must find the resources," he
said.
Observers say the food shortages result from a combination of a
poor harvest
and President Robert Mugabe's political and economic
policies.
This year's grain yield was about 500,000 tonnes, leaving the
country - once
the breadbasket of Africa - with a deficit of about 1.3
million tonnes.
An estimated 60 per cent of the 12 million population is
now relying on
international donors such as the World Food Programme, WFP,
for sustenance.
The situation is particularly grave in remote areas of
the country, where
villagers are reportedly scavenging for wild fruits,
berries, and other
edible roots to survive.
"The. [number of people
requiring food aid] is now up to 7.5 million and
some of them. are those who
previously would otherwise be able to meet their
food needs," said Fambai
Ngirandi, spokesman for National Association of
Non-Government
Organisations, NANGO.
The economic crisis facing Zimbabwe has led to the
dollarisation of the
economy, under which local currency is no longer
accepted. Basic
commodities, which are now only available on the black
market, are too
expensive for most.
Meanwhile, humanitarian agencies
are scaling down their operations as a
result of donor fatigue and
uncertainty about the new government, which was
inaugurated in February
2009.
The new inclusive administration was formed following the signing
of a
power-sharing deal between President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF and Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change, MDC, in
September 2008.
Analysts attribute worsening food shortages to the
fact that throughout
their negotiations, Mugabe and Tsvangirai appear to
have ignored the plight
of the people they lead.
They note that as
the rivals continue to wrangle over who will assume which
roles in the new
government, little attention is being paid to securing
food, especially
maize - the staple of the Zimbabwean diet.
Ngirandi said there had been a
general decline in humanitarian conditions
since the signing of the
power-sharing accord.
"No-one [in the government] has been paying
attention to social service
delivery, but the bigger issue now is that food
[supplies] have dried up and
a commitment to [providing] new food aid has
not been forthcoming from
traditional donors," he said.
Western
donors and foreign investors are said to be cautious about putting
money
into Zimbabwe, while Harare-based diplomats say they want to see
concrete
signs that a democratic government has been created and economic
reforms
implemented before any further funds are released.
"The donor community
has adopted a wait-and-see attitude towards Zimbabwe,
and this has reduced
the NGO sector's capacity to deal with the crisis,"
said
Ngirandi.
Although Tsvangirai has said his priorities include addressing
the
humanitarian crisis gripping the country, analysts say that efforts to
tackle food shortages are hampered by the fact that the prime minister has
inherited a bankrupt administration.
In an address to his party
faithful last week, the new prime minister
admitted that the government is
"broke".
According to reports, Tsvangirai has turned to South Africa for
economic
support, saying the stricken country may need up to 5 billion US
dollars in
aid.
The new government has also reportedly sought some 20
billion South African
rand from Southern African Development Community,
SADC, countries. The
request was said to have been made last week during a
meeting between a
Zimbabwean delegation led by Finance Minister Tendai Biti,
Foreign Affairs
Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi and regional finance
ministers.
SADC members have called a summit of the group's 15 heads of
state to
discuss the possibility of aid to Zimbabwe. This is set to precede
the G20
meeting - of a group of finance ministers and central bank governors
from 20
economies - scheduled to be held in London on April
2.
Catherine Bragg, United Nations Assistant Secretary General for
Humanitarian
Affairs, who led a delegation in Zimbabwe at the end of
February, said the
UN required a total of 500 million dollars to assist the
country.
Bragg told journalists in Harare on February 25 that the UN had
raised some
85 million dollars so far, and would continue to appeal for more
funding
from the international community in order to provide help to farmers
in time
for the next planting season, which begins in September.
The
UN acknowledged that there were at least 7.1 million people on the list
of
food aid recipients.
It also said that assistance was needed to treat the
cholera outbreak, which
broke out last summer.
Neighbouring
countries, such as Botswana, South Africa and Namibia - nations
which are
also affected by the epidemic - have recently chipped in with
essential
drugs to combat its spread.
Despite their efforts, statistics released by
the World Health Organisation,
WHO, on February 25 revealed that there have
been 84,027 reported cases of
the illness in Zimbabwe, and 3,894
deaths.
WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib told reporters in Geneva that an
inter-agency
UN team which carried out an evaluation in the country had
described the
humanitarian crisis as "grave". She noted an absence of clean
water, blocked
sewerage systems and uncollected refuse throughout the
country.
To add to the country's woes, fresh farm invasions are also
reportedly
thwarting the new government's efforts to restore the beleaguered
agricultural sector.
On February 25, Tsvangirai stated publicly that
the recent illegal land
grabs were undermining Zimbabwe's ability to revive
farming and to restore
confidence in the country.
Jabu Shoko is the
pseudonym of an IWPR-trained journalist in Zimbabwe.
http://www.amnestyusa.org/
Amnesty
International Press Release
For Immediate Release:
Wednesday,
March 4, 2009
----
Renowned Speakers Address Immigration Detention,
Human Rights and the Obama
Administration; Honor Women's Human Rights
Defenders
Contact: Wende Gozan at 212-633-4247, wgozan@aiusa.org, or
Joshua Rubenstein
at 617-515-6179 jrubenst@aiusa.org
(New York) --
Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) members, staff and activists
from across
the country will tackle some of the most pressing human rights
issues facing
the world today at the organization's 2009 Annual General
Meeting (AGM) in
Boston, March 27-29.
The conference, "Seizing the Moment, Building the
Movement", will be held at
the Boston Park Plaza Hotel and Towers. The
public is invited to attend.
Registration is $100 for the weekend and $25
for Saturday.
"The United States has entered a new era with a crippling
financial crisis
and a marred international reputation as its backdrop",
said Larry Cox,
executive director of AIUSA. "Amnesty International members
recognize the
importance of making human rights the centerpiece of reform
and positive
leadership. Our activists shine during times of adversity, and
the 2009
annual conference stands to bring a bold, dynamic energy to our
critical
mission" said Cox.
The conference kicks off at 3:30 pm
Friday, March 27, when up to 500
activists will march from the Boston Park
Plaza Hotel to the JFK Building in
Government Center to protest the
treatment of immigrant detainees in the
United States.
The march and
subsequent rally, which includes members of the Massachusetts
Immigrant and
Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA), and the Service Employees
International
Union will help launch the AIUSA report Jailed Without
Justice: Immigration
Detention in the United States, which describes the
plight of the thousands
who are detained without being given a court
hearing, to determine if
detention is necessary.
"While migration to the United States tends to
evoke images of Ellis Island,
hundreds of thousands of immigrantscome to
their new home via Boston", said
Joshua Rubenstein, northeast regional
director of AIUSA. "Bringing our
annual conference to Boston is not only a
nod to our strong and dedicated
northeast activist base, but is also a
logical setting for highlighting the
treatment of immigrants today", said
Rubenstein.
Following the rally, activists will return to the hotel to
the conference's
opening plenary, moderated by human rights activist Kerry
Kennedy (7:00
p.m.) Congressman Michael Capuano and Mayor Thomas Menino will
welcome the
conference to Boston and express their regard for Amnesty
International's
human rights campaigning. Yolanda Becerra, president of
Colombia's
Organizacion Femenina Popular, will be honored with AIUSA's 2009
Ginetta
Sagan Fund Award for Women's & Children's Rights.
Becerra
is being recognized for pursuing women's rights and human rights in
Barrancabermeja, Colombia, despite receiving death threats and being
assaulted for her work. Two other renowned women's human rights defenders
will also address the conference: Jenni Williams of Women of Zimbabwe Arise,
who received a U.S. Department of State's 2007 International Women of
Courage Award after she was arrested and harassed because of her activism
defending women's human rights, and Charon Asetoyer, who founded the
nation's first reservation-based resource center for Native American women,
the Native American Women's Health Education Resource
Center.
Attendees are invited to participate in mid-morning program
sessions on
topics ranging from health care as a human right to responding
to
international human rights crises. At Stories from the Trenches: personal
narratives from the Abolition Movement , activists will hear from Juan
Melendez, a Florida death row exonoree; Chad Stokes, lead singer of State
Radio, who has been advocating on behalf of death row inmate Troy Davis; and
Renny Cushing, member of New Hampshire's House of Representatives, and
director of Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights. At The Threat of
Hope: Zimbabwe's Activists Under Fire, Jenni Williams and Geoffrey Nyarota,
award-winning Zimbabwean journalist and author, will address the
audience.
In light of President Obama's recent pledge to close
Guantanamo, the
Saturday late morning plenary (11:45 -1:00 p.m.) will
include remarks by
attorney Stephen H. Oleskey of the firm Wilmer Hale, who
represents
Guantanamo detainees and is co-lead counsel in the case of
Boumediene v.
Bush. Matthew Alexander, author of How to Break a Terrorist,
will offer his
expertise on U.S. military interrogation in
Iraq.
Rounding out the panel is Scott Horton, a human rights attorney and
legal
affairs contributing editor at Harper's Magazine.
The
conference comes full circle on Sunday with a closing plenary on
immigration
detention in the United States. Sarnata Reynolds, policy
director, Refugee
and Migrants Rights at AIUSA, will moderate; scheduled
speakers are Eva
Millona, executive director, MIRA; Margaret Huang,
executive director,
Rights Working Group; Sherif Elsayed-Ali, head of
refugee and migrants
rights at Amnesty International's International
Secretariat in London; and
Rosa Clemente, immigrant rights campaign director
for AIUSA.
Amnesty
International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots organization
with
more than 2.2 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than
150
countries who campaign for human rights worldwide. The organization
investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public and works
to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are
denied.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Wednesday, 04 March 2009
Mugabe is like the urine-soaked, geriatric uncle at a wedding -
embarrassing
everybody, yet with no-one brave enough to stand up to him in
case he throws
a tantrum.
The discordant note that is coming out of the transitional
government
sends the wrong message to Zimbabweans and to the already
skeptical
international community. The world has been saying that the
situation in
Zimbabwe has not changed. Mugabe is not sharing power and he
confirmed it
himself in Chinhoyi at his weekend birthday bash.
This
is bad news. The MDC politicians who entered into the new
arrangement have
been saying that the situation has changed. That is true -
but only to a
very small degree. We still have a very long way to go.
Mugabe has
demonstrated beyond all reasonable doubt that he is only
interested in
personal survival and not in saving the country or the people
of
Zimbabwe.
SADC has demonstrated beyond all reasonable doubt that it is
a
toothless bulldog with neither the will nor the stomach to do anything to
bring about equitable sharing of power in Zimbabwe. They are simply not
prepared to force Mugabe to do anything he does not want to do.
It
is therefore gratifying to see Arthur Mutambara now standing up to
Mugabe's
bully-boy tactics. He and Morgan Tsvangirai, earlier this week,
confronted
Mugabe about his unilateral appointments of Zanu (PF) permanent
secretaries
and governors, and the continued detention of MDC supporters and
human
rights activists.
We are delighted that they have made some headway.
Tsvangirai has now
been put in charge of identifying new permanent
secretaries, and there has
been agreement on the proportional representation
of governors. This is what
the GPA stipulated in the first place. The fact
that so much time and effort
has had to be expended in forcing Mugabe to
stick to the terms of the
document to which he appended his signature is
deplorable.
If this government wants the world to take it seriously it
has to
reign in Mugabe somehow. Every time he opens his mouth he frightens
potential investors with his rhetoric on land and his blatant disregard for
the rule of law.
His demands at the weekend that all white farmers
vacate their land
immediately contradicted his minister of lands, Herbert
Murerwa, who said on
Monday that the farmers should stay on until they had
reaped their crops.
Meanwhile Zanu (PF) supporters continue to invade
farms at the
instigation of the attorney general and other Zanu
fatcats.
Mutambara and Tsvangirai have made an important step forward
this
week. We salute them and encourage them to stick to their guns.
http://www.globalpost.com
Experts say International Criminal Court
decision against Sudan's president
sends a warning.
By Paul Ames and
Tristan McConnell - GlobalPost
Published: March 4, 2009 18:28 ET
The
decision by the International Criminal Court to issue a warrant for the
arrest of Sudan’s president Omar Hassan al-Bashir on charges of war crimes
and crimes against humanity in Darfur was a legal landmark.
It is the
first time since the Hague tribunal was set up in 2002 that it has
indicted
a standing head of state. The decision was immediately hailed by
human
rights campaigners as a warning to dictators around the world.
“This
announcement is an important signal, both for Darfur and the rest of
the
world, that suspected human rights violators will face trial, no matter
how
powerful they are,” said Irene Kahn, secretary general of Amnesty
International.
The court said Bashir, 65, was suspected of being
criminally responsible for
directing attacks against “an important part of
the civilian population of
Darfur, murdering, exterminating, raping,
torturing and forcibly
transferring large numbers of civilians and pillaging
their property.”
However, the panel of judges voted two-to-one against
charging Bashir with
genocide, saying that prosecutors had failed to provide
sufficient evidence
that Bashir had specific intent to destroy ethnic,
racial or religious
groups.
The United Nations estimates that at
least 300,000 Sudanese have died and
2.7 million have been forced from their
homes in the fighting that has
convulsed the western region of Darfur since
2003.
The indictment places Bashir firmly at the front of a rogues’
gallery of
leaders accused of horrific crimes, alongside the likes of
Yugoslavia’s
Slobodan Milosevic and Liberia’s Charles Taylor. Both these
leaders were
eventually brought to trial after leaving office, and the
warrant for Bashir
serves notice to other leaders that nobody is above the
law. It may give the
likes of Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe a sleepless
night.
The warrant means that all 108 nations that are members of the
court are
bound to arrest Bashir, who has been president of Africa’s largest
nation
since 1993.
Despite that, bringing Bashir to trial won’t be
easy. The Sudanese
authorities say they will ignore the warrant, and a
defiant Bashir has
mocked the court, telling the judges they can “eat” the
warrant.
Bashir danced on the podium before a crowd of thousands at the
opening of a
new hydroelectric dam in northern Sudan where he told his
supporters that a
warrant′ would “not be worth the ink it is written
with.”
Sudanese officials said Bashir plans to attend an Arab summit
later this
month in Qatar, which does not recognize the court. They also
indicate that
African nations — even the 30 that are members of the court —
will not seek
to detain Bashir or prevent him travelling for
summits.
Some diplomats believe African and Arab states may seek to have
the
prosecution suspended by the UN Security Council. The court’s statutes
allow
for such a move although it could be blocked by the United States and
other
Western nations that have been strongly critical of the militias loyal
to
Bashir for their brutal suppression of the rebellion in
Darfur.
The ICC has no police force, and the 30,000 UN and African Union
troops in
Sudan have no mandate to arrest Bashir.
The ICC issued the
warrant despite diplomatic concerns that it could provoke
a backlash from
the Sudanese government and its supporters, jeopardizing a
fragile 2005
peace agreement that ended decades of civil war between
Khartoum and rebels
in the south of the country as well as negotiations to
end the conflict in
the western Darfur region.
One veteran UN diplomat who regularly travels
to Sudan told GlobalPost the
warrant risked destabilizing peace and
reconstruction efforts without having
any real impact on Bashir’s position,
particularly since Asian nations, such
as China, India and Malaysia, which
have invested heavily in oil-rich Sudan
have not signed on to the
international court.
Thousands of Bashir’s supporters gathered in
Khartoum on Wednesday to
protest the indictment, raising fears of
retaliation against Western
interests. The medical aid group Doctors Without
Borders (Medecins Sans
Frontieres) said that it had been ordered by the
Sudanese government to
immediately remove all international staff from
relief projects in south and
western Darfur, saying it could not guarantee
their safety.
Although the decision is unlikely to lead to Bashir’s early
arrest some
observers believe it could undermine support for him among the
Sudanese army
and the ruling National Congress Party (NCP).
“There
are increasingly those within the senior ranks of the NCP who believe
Bashir’s policy of confrontation with Sudan’s peripheral regions has been
counterproductive,” the International Crisis Group said. “To preserve its
economic interests and guarantee its survival, the NCP is likely to look for
a way out of a situation, by changing its policies or
leadership.”
The think tank’s deputy president, Nick Grono, played down
fears that the
court’s decision could spark wider unrest, saying Sudan’s
international
backers in China and the Gulf States would put pressure on the
government to
avoid instability that would threaten their economic
interests.
“For the millions of Darfuri victims, this landmark decision
provides
independent legal recognition of the massive crimes committed
against them,
and confirms that there are reasonable grounds to believe that
Bashir is
personally criminally responsible” Grono said.
The Save
Darfur Coalition welcomed the warrant as “a game changing moment”
and called
on the U.S. to play a key role in ending the conflict in Darfur.
“The
Obama administration should take advantage of this opportunity to lead
a
coordinated international effort to negotiate peace in Darfur, while
ensuring immediate protection of civilians and support for the court’s
pursuit of justice,” said Save Darfur’s president Jerry′ Fowler.
But
while the warrant was welcomed by some — mostly in the West — there were
protests and defiance from others in Sudan itself.
The government
there has branded the ICC bid to bring Bashir to justice
neo-colonial and a
Western plot. “It is a flawed decision,” said Mahjoub
Fadul, Sudan’s
presidential spokesman. “We do not recognize it, nor the
court that issued
it and we do not care about it at all.”
Bashir’s scorn seemed not to
worry the ICC chief prosecutor, Luis
Moreno-Ocampo. “Omar al-Bashir's
destiny is to face justice,” he said. “In
two months or in two years, he
will face justice.”
Ames reported from Brussels; McConnell reported from
Nairobi.
Email: jag@mango.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Please
send any material for publication in the Open Letter Forum to
jag@mango.zw with "For Open Letter Forum" in the
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.
Zimbabwe Progress Report
2. Shingie Chabikisa
3. Anon
4.
God's Word to me - Martin
Tracey
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.
Zimbabwe Progress Report
Dear Jag
Progress Report
MDC has
been inside the tent for 10 days - it was only Friday the week
before last
when the Ministers were finally sworn in and they started work
last Monday.
By now they have found their new cars (that did not take
long!) and their
offices - some do not even now have a permanent office or
support staff, but
they are operating.
As is to be expected, some of the Ministers hit the
ground running, others
were more hesitant and unsure of themselves. Some
mistakes have been made
and some progress achieved - not as much as we may
have wanted, but some.
Certainly the atmosphere has improved a bit although
Mugabe does his best
to knock us all down from time to time.
There
have been some notable achievements in this short space of time. The
Ministry
of Finance has affected some reforms and the public service has
received hard
currency allowances. More will be paid this week. Teachers
are back at work
and I think most medical establishments are also working -
to varying
degrees, but they are open. Food supplies in the commercial
markets are more
or less in free supply and as a result prices have started
to decline - some
by a significant margin.
In areas receiving food aid there has been a
notable reduction in political
interference and a sharp increase in food
distribution. In fact in February
a remarkable 75 per cent of the total
population will have received food
from the aid agencies. I think this is the
highest percentage of a national
population in receipt of food aid anywhere
and at any time - not even
Ethiopia during the famine in that country,
reached this level of need
across the whole country.
There has been a
serious explosion at the only functioning fertilizer plant
in the country at
Sable Chemicals - this uses 30 per cent of our national
power consumption and
as a result we have had no power cuts for a week.
It's not because the MDC
Minister concerned has waved a magic wand - it's
just that we have more
electricity to go around now that the plant is out
of action. I have argued
for some time that we should have in fact closed
the plant down and used the
electricity for other purposes.
Water supplies have gone back to the
urban councils where they belong and
the Councils are slowly picking up the
pieces and trying to rectify
matters. Water supplies in Harare are now up to
50 per cent of needs - from
30 per cent and quite a bit of investment is
taking place. Sewerage and
solid waste disposal is still a problem and will
be for a long time but a
team of consultants is visiting all towns and cities
to investigate what
needs to be done and is making recommendations to the
Councils.
We have made some progress in the field of media reform - the
Zanu PF
Minister has been tasked with this responsibility and as a start, to
stop
political interference with the State controlled media. After
an
encouraging start the State media resumed its delinquent practices and
more
action is now required - perhaps a bit of surgery.
It is tragic
that in those areas where the SADC has responsibility, only
very patchy
progress has been made. Although they signed the Global
Political Agreement
on the 15th September last year and then supported the
adoption of
constitutional reform in February with the President signing
the new
legislation into law on the 15th, the old regime shows little sign
that they
intend either to honour their part of this deal or to work with
us on the
many urgent problems that need to be addressed.
The National Security
Council Act is yet to be signed into law, the basic
tenants of the GPA are
yet to find expression in the way the State operates
and every possible
obstacle is being put in the way of progress. The
abductees remain mostly in
detention or missing, farm invasions have
intensified and segments of the
administration are simply refusing to
reform or to act when instructed to do
so by the new Ministers.
At the same time, a secret criminal cabal has
been established - working
downwards from the Presidents Office to remote
police stations and army
barracks. The paymaster is Gono and the principle
role players are senior
Cabinet Ministers assisted by a number of senior
civil servants. It is
difficult to determine just what they want to achieve
but it would appear
that they have a number of objectives.
They want
to prevent any substantive aid coming to the country in the
belief that this
will then discredit the MDC in the eyes of the majority.
They want to try and
force us to quit the transitional government by
holding our people in
detention on false charges and allegations, they want
to frustrate any new
reforms that might usher in a period of media freedom
and a more open
society. They want to skew the upcoming debate on the
constitution and
electoral reform; they want to protect their key players
in the
administration and to sustain their activities by using
state
resources.
This past week we saw an open challenge to the
authority of the Prime
Minister when the administration unilaterally
announced the appointment of
Permanent Secretaries to head ministries.
Tsvangirai immediately repudiated
the action and rescinded the appointments.
A subdued Mugabe conceded they
had exceeded their mandate and violated the
GPA by doing so. The Prime
Minster will now handle all those appointments
properly today. On Friday we
obtained information of an attempt to shift
responsibility for the
telephone system from the MDC Minister responsible to
a Zanu PF Minister.
This was confronted and prevented.
Despite the
fact that all farm invasions are illegal after the signing of
the GPA and
despite instructions to the contrary by the Prime Minister, the
President
stated that they would continue and the Chief Magistrate ordered
the Courts
to ignore binding legal agreements in regional Courts. Farmers
with cows in
milk, fruit on trees and crops in the ground have been told to
leave their
farms and homes at 24 hours notice. If they refused they were
jailed and in
many cases beaten. Private assets and homes are being
occupied illegally and
assets looted. Clearly this criminal activity will
have to be addressed - but
who is the policeman in all this - surely SADC
and in particular, the South
African government.
So here we are - still no action on the key issues
that the SADC leadership
said should be resolved by the new government -
governors are not yet
appointed, the Attorney General and the Reserve Bank
Governor - all
appointed in violation of the GPA have not had their positions
reviewed and
agreed, the National Security Council is yet to be constituted
and begin
operations. The Prime Minister is yet to be allowed to function
in
accordance with the GPA and the new constitutional provisions.
Illegal
detentions have continued and the farm invasions
intensified.
On top of all this, regional governments are yet to come to
the assistance
of the new administration. When approached for help they
disingenuously
argued that we "Must settle our debts and they will give us
help to do
so!". We owe over US$5 billion to our creditors - have done little
or
nothing to settle these debts for over 15 years and now - as we take over
a
bankrupt and devastated State, regional governments sit on their
hands!
Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 2nd March
2009
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.
Shingie Chabikisa
Dear Jag
Time to Support a Smooth
Transition
Zimbabwe is desperate for peace. Its people are tired, yet
they are
raring to go. At this juncture in the history of this beautiful land
the
Mdc leadership, its supporters and Zimbabweans across political
divide
have been given a golden yet delicate opportunity to transform
this
nation to ascendance once and for all. A collective approach need to
be
embraced to lead this nation to sustainable peace and
prosperity.
The Zimbabwean populace needs to support the global political
agreement
in every way possible. This political arrangement is fragile,
threatened
by a few dogmatic loyalists of an old system of corruption, greed
and
self aggrandizement. It it high time every Zimbabwean, pauper or
affluent
start to realize what is good for the nation. The wait and see
attitude
that had become the norm should be replaced by a burning urge to
work
tirelessly to resolve the economic and political decay.
It is
high time individuals and companies start rebuilding the nation, in
turn
earning themselves good reputation. A vendor can start by selling
wares at
reasonable prices and the parasitic tendency that had become the
order of the
day need to stop. Such a vendor would soon realize the
reward of reaping what
you saw through increased sales volumes, and a
consistent customer base.
Retailers alike also need to lower their prices
and thrive on competition
instead of profiteering. This has already begun
to be noticed at some retail
outlets particularly those selling basic
commodities although shops selling
clothing and durable goods such as
fridges still have a lot of homework to
do.
Honesty and hard work need to be embraced by both workers and
employers.
The worker has a pivotal role in the turnaround of the nation.
Workers
need to do their best at their workplaces to rebuild the
shattered
economy. There should be increased productivity which can only
be
realized if every worker gives all to their work. Signs of the effect
of
a dedicated employee are beginning to show on the faces of the
once
demotivated civil servants. This should stand as a warning to
the
corporate world that has in the old era resorted to an affinity
for
retaining super profits than human resources. Employers need to be a
bit
more human and start contributing to the welfare of their employees.
Then
workers should reciprocate by minimizing costs at their workplaces
for
instance through spending less time on the phone or by stopping abuse
of
company vehicles.
The Mdc leadership has people behind them, home
and away. They need to
set realistic goals, uphold democracy and human
rights, lead by example
and deliver on their promises. People understand the
complex entanglement
they have inherited. True patriotic Zimbabweans are
quite patient and
sympathetic. The leaders of the Mdc must not be tempted by
their
counterparts who have a history of deceit, arrogance, greed, laziness
and
corruption, for the people have bestowed their trust upon
them.
The donor community would never have a better opportunity like this
to
lend a hand to Zimbabweans out of this mess. If they offer their hand
to
the government in solidarity with the Mdc then they would have played
a
crucial part in the process of transforming this nation. This is
the
right time for the Mdc to be given the boost it certainly needs
to
complete the change Zimbabwe has waited for. Aid is crucial during
this
transitional stage. Anybody who cares for Zimbabweans has a chance
to
play a part to bring democracy to the people of Zimbabwe.
There are
people who have been feeding on the flock instead of feeding
the flock. There
are people who have built mansions when the majority
could not obtain a
single meal a day. Such people would never believe in
this new dispensation
and would do everything possible to stall this
transitional process. Such
people need to be acquainted with the fact
that this global political
agreement is the best option not only for the
majority of their fellow
Zimbabweans but also for themselves. They need
to ingest their smugness and
start working for the good of the nation in
order to safeguard the future of
their brood. After all `the future
belongs only to those who prepare for
it'.
From:
Wokwawo
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.
Anon
Dear Jag
British tabloids have taken to calling him `Mad
Bob.'
On Saturday, Zimbabwe's president seemed to be living up to the
moniker.
Robert Mugabe threw himself a £100 000 party with 3,000
spectators
celebrating his 85th year on this planet.
And, really,
what's a party without a 187-POUND CAKE?
Nevermind that more than half
the population is on emergency food aid, that
inflation (by far the world's
highest) floats somewhere well above 200
million percent, or that his own
government just days ago asked its
cash-strapped neighbours for $2 million
more in aid.
Oh yeah, and then there's that cholera epidemic that's
blamed for claiming
nearly 4,000 lives in recent months: a tragedy, that
stems from government
failure at the most basic levels. The outbreak even
threatens regional
stability.
But none of that stopped Mr. Mugabe from
throwing such a lavish birthday
bash.
This is Mugabe holding
back
To be sure, he's been more extravagant, as The New York Times point
out.
"But perhaps hard times call for restraint," quips the
paper.
What Mugabe party would be complete, though, without a renewed
promise to
seize Zimbabwe's last few hundred white-owned farms. Yep, Bob was
"playing
the
hits."
ANONYMOUS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.
God's Word to me - Martin Tracey
Dear Jag
Herewith the prayer
that I have been using frequently since 1999.
God is still on the
throne.
Yours sincerely,
Martin Tracey
The Lord has
sustained me for 9 years now with a "word", for which I have
not had
authority to tell any one, even Jill. But on Sunday, * He gave me
permission
to tell people. The "word" is from Isaiah 8:9-10. and I have
made a prayer of
it for myself, by prefacing it with an adaptation of
Psalm 119:49, and I have
used this prayer daily and often, and the Lord
has used it to sustain
me.
"Thank you, Lord, for Your word to Your servant, for You have given
me
hope. GOD IS WITH US! Therefore Satan and your minions, Devise
your
strategy, but it will be thwarted; propose your plan, but it will
not
stand, for GOD IS WITH US."