From The Independent (UK), 28 November

Zimbabwe students fight with riot police

Riot police in Zimbabwe fought running battles with students yesterday and arrested 19 pro-democracy activists, including a prominent intellectual, after they tried to stage a demonstration in the capital, Harare. At Westminster, the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, said Britain remained "profoundly concerned" at the recent increase in violence in the country and denounced as "preposterous" signals last week from President Robert Mugabe's office that journalists, including The Independent's Harare-based correspondent, are "assisting terrorists". The University of Zimbabwe students stoned police, who retaliated with tear gas, after they tried to stage a campus demonstration over the killing last Saturday of fellow-student Lameck Chemvura, 23, thrown to his death by soldiers from a train. A soldier is under arrest. The students yesterday branded President Mugabe a "terrorist" and called on him to resign. Mr Chemvura died after soldiers harassed passengers and accused them of supporting the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The party was declared a "terrorist group'' last week, although it has 57 seats in Parliament.

The demonstration by activists from Zimbabwe's largest civic group, the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), was called to protest plans by 77-year-old president Mugabe to change electoral laws. Those arrested included the respected and outspoken law professor, Lovemore Madhuku, chairman of the NCA. In yesterday's Independent, Mr Madhuku said President Mugabe was effectively running Zimbabwe under a state of emergency. Last night, NCA executive director Perpetua Bganya said Mr Madhuku remained in custody and she and lawyers had been refused access to him. It appeared the activists were being detained for "obstructing the flow of traffic". Last week, police thwarted a similar NCA demonstration to protest plans to amend Zimbabwe's Electoral Act. The amendments will ban foreign monitoring of Presidential elections due by April, forbid private organisations from conducting voter education and deny voting rights to more than million Zimbabweans living abroad.

In the Commons yesterday Mr Straw staged the vigorous defence of the rights of journalists to report the situation in Zimbabwe and praised the "great courage" shown by Zimbabwean journalists, including The Independent's Basildon Peta, "recording the situation against the most flagrant intimidation". Last week, Mr Peta was included among a small group of journalists whom the government said it would treat as though they were "assisting terrorists". Mr Straw also told the Commons that the Commonwealth ministerial action group would discuss Zimbabwe in a tele-conference next month and hold a meeting in London in January. If violence continues to rise, the Commonwealth is likely to back planned European Union sanctions from February. These would include an end to EU aid, suspension of trade privileges and travel bans on Mr Mugabe, his family and aides.

The World Association of Newspapers yesterday awarded its annual press freedom prize to Geoffrey Nyarota, 50, editor-in-chief of Zimbabwe's only independent daily newspaper, The Daily News for his commitment to reporting the truth despite a "constant campaign of intimidation".

From The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (UK), 27 November

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw:

We regularly raise land reform with the Government of Zimbabwe. I did so at Abuja in September and with Zimbabwe's Foreign Minister, Mr Mudenge, in New York on 10 November. My noble friend Baroness Amos discussed it during the Commonwealth Ministerial visit to Harare in October. At Abuja, Zimbabwe agreed a set of proposals for a fair, just and sustainable land reform programme. Among other things, the Government of Zimbabwe committed itself to restore the rule of law to land reform and to respect the Commonwealth Harare Declaration. Its actions since Abuja show scant regard for these commitments and have seriously undermined the agreement. My Hon. friend the member for Exeter (Ben Bradshaw) set out Government policy on Zimbabwe in this morning's Adjournment Debate. But let me emphasise again to the House that we remain profoundly concerned at recent developments, including violence against the opposition, interference in the judicial system, moves to disenfranchise Zimbabweans living overseas and preposterously labelling journalists as people who have been assisting terrorism. Our European and Commonwealth partners and neighbouring states in Southern Africa share these concerns. At the 29 October General Affairs Council, the European Union therefore opened formal Article 96 consultations with the Government of Zimbabwe under the Cotonou Agreement. Cotonou states that if there is no progress within 75 days, "appropriate measures" may be taken.

A UN Development Programme technical team is now in Zimbabwe to look at the prospects for a credible land reform programme. Once its report is available, we will discuss this with Commonwealth and EU partners and key donor nations including the US. We shall of course, consult Southern African countries as well. I will at that stage make another statement to the House. All the way through this issue, I have been concerned to ensure that we work in partnership with Commonwealth countries, the EU and with the other southern Africans. Apart from the poor people in Zimbabwe who are suffering grievously from the results of President Mugabe's policies, it is the countries contiguous to Zimbabwe who are most affected by the disastrous economic and political management of Zimbabwe. We will continue to work with all these partners on the issue of election observers. What is striking is that President Mugabe's refusal to date - we hope he will change his mind but I don't hold out too much hope - to accept election observers in at the beginning of the electoral process not just at the end not only appears to be a breach of various EU and Commonwealth declarations to which he is signed up, but also to a very detailed declaration of norms and standards for elections in the southern African region to which President Mugabe himself signed up in only March last year and which specifically commits all southern African countries including Zimbabwe to the admission of independent election observers at the beginning of the electoral process as well as through it and polling day.

The issue of measures by the Commonwealth is a matter for the Commonwealth as a whole and not just for the United Kingdom. And I will just say this: nothing would play better with President Mugabe than if he was allowed to present this issue as one between black Zimbabwe and the old colonial ruler the United Kingdom rather than what it in reality is: a major issue of multinational and international concern. As far as the Commonwealth is concerned, I spoke this morning to the Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Don McKinnon, about the situation. We are likely to have a teleconference of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group of which I'm a member in December and a proper meeting in January – that meeting should coincide with the end of the 75 day period under the Article 96 process under Cotonou. In addition to that we will continue discussion with Southern African countries. Because it is clear that there have to be significant changes in the arrangements which President Mugabe is in practice willing to put in place for observers to the election process and the election process itself if that election is to carry any credibility with the rest of the world and with the voters of Zimbabwe itself. We are all profoundly concerned about what's been happening on behalf above all of the people of Zimbabwe who have suffered so badly with 80% inflation, a decline in the growth rate of what was once the bread basket of Africa and the impoverisation of what was a very prosperous country. I would counsel against the UK taking unilateral action. That would work to President Mugabe's benefit. The important thing is that we work on the basis of partnership with the Commonwealth, EU and above all southern African countries.

The journalists who President Mugabe portrayed as assisting terrorism were Zimbabwean citizens who should only be mentioned for the great courage they have shown in reporting the situation in Zimbabwe against the most flagrant intimidation by those acting on behalf of President Mugabe and the Zanu PF party. Following the reports, our High Commissioner in Zimbabwe, Brian Donnelly, made very strong representations at my specific request to the Zimbabwean Government. We continue to work with independent media, NGOs and others to ensure that so far as possible the media is able to report fairly and independently what is happening in Zimbabwe and where they are prevented from doing so, the world knows. Building coalitions is exactly what we have been about for months. That was the purpose of the Abuja discussions. It was crucial that we broke away from this parody which President Mugabe had allowed himself to invent that this was a bilateral dispute between the United Kingdom and Zimbabwe. Nothing of the kind. That's why the Abuja declaration was of crucial importance because Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Jamaica as well as old Commonwealth countries were signed up to that. That's why the discussions between President Mbeki and our Prime Minister were also important and the decision by the General Affairs Council of the EU to move from Article 8 to 96 and the meeting which took place last week between Commissioner Patten and High Representative Solana in Zimbabwe. All those are part of moves that we are making along with our partners to ensure there is exactly that coalition so that, unlike in the early 1980's when the previous Government sat on its hands while over 5000 people were murdered in Matabeleland, we take effective action based on an international consensus.

From Africaonline.com, 27 November

Zimbabwe farm decree scuttles land reform funds

Harare - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) team, which recently held talks with the Zimbabwe government over its controversial land reforms, will not be recommending the release of donor funding for the reforms, sources close to the talks have said. The UNDP team was in Zimbabwe to follow up on the implementation of a Nigerian-brokered agreement under which President Robert Mugabe pledged to halt his drive to seize land from white farmers in exchange for British funding for a rational and transparent land reform plan. The UNDP team, led by Abdoulai Janneh, a United Nations assistant secretary-general and regional director of the UNDP’s Africa region, was to assess the government’s on-going land reforms and recommend an alternative plan that is funded by Zimbabwe’s former colonial power Britain and other international donors. But highly placed sources said recently that the UNDP mission, piqued by Mugabe’s stepping up of farm seizures last week just as the team flew into Harare, would certainly not recommend that donors bankroll the reforms. "Nobody should be under the illusion that the UNDP team will come up with a plan that recommends the immediate release of donor funds," one source said. UNDP resident representative in Harare Victor Angelo could not be reached for comment. He was reportedly out of his office coordinating meetings between Janneh’s team and various stakeholders in the country. Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge was also said to be out attending meetings.

The sources said Mugabe’s decree last week ordering white farmers off their land within three months of their designation for seizure by the government had killed whatever little chance there was of the UNDP coming up with a report recommending immediate donor funding for land reforms. The UNDP was also expecting the government to have now taken more steps to calm down the land dispute by ensuring a strict adherence to the law, removing its supporters from all land not gazetted by the state as well as de-listing farms that did not meet the set criteria for acquisition. "We were expecting the government to freeze things and allow the whole situation to calm down, but what have we found on the ground is unacceptable: more listings and in some cases new farm invasions since the Abuja agreement was signed," another source said. Under the Abuja agreement signed in September, the government must enforce the rule of law by ending the illegal occupation of farms and general lawlessness on commercial farms and across the country. Mugabe and his government were to also uphold democracy by ending political violence, which has ironically widened and, in some cases, escalated through the invasion of new farms since Abuja. A Commonwealth mission which visited Harare last month to check on the government’s progress in upholding Abuja said Mugabe had done little to honour the agreement, although the panel felt the process was still on track. Britain, which is expected to provide the bulk of financial support for the land reforms in Zimbabwe, says it will only do so on the recommendations of the UNDP.

From The New York Times, 27 November

Zimbabwe: Friends can observe vote

Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa told Parliament that the government would invite election observers from friendly countries to assess the coming presidential election, expected early next year. He emphasized that the observers would not be from groups or countries that have called for sanctions against Zimbabwe, which has been criticized for harassing opposition members, white farmers and journalists. "We cannot allow people who are our enemies to come to our soil," Mr. Chinamasa said.

HOUSE : International Relations - 10:15 a.m. Afghanistan Freedom Act; discussions on Zimbabwe and Taiwan.