Reuters
Sat Sep 16, 2006 10:27 AM GMT
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The
economic prospects for Zimbabwe are "grim", the
International Monetary Fund
said on Saturday, after data from the southern
African nation showed annual
inflation rose to a record high above 1,200
percent in
August.
Siddharth Tiwari, deputy director in the IMF's Africa Department,
said there
were no bounds on how high inflation could rise and that any
changes would
depend on corrective policies.
"The country is in a
difficult situation and has faced six years of
continuous output decline,
rising prices, increasing poverty and a decrease
in public services ... it's
a tragic situation, frankly, and the prospects
are grim," Tiwari told a news
conference to discuss the economic outlook for
Africa.
Official
figures on Friday said annual inflation rose to 1,204.6 percent
compared to
993.6 percent in the year to July, the highest in the world.
The
government has blamed the country's six-year recession on sky-rocketing
inflation but critics blame it on economic mismanagement.
Tiwari said
a foreign financing package for Zimbabwe reported by the media
earlier this
week would help, but he stressed that without proper policies,
the country
would not recover.
Zimbabwe unveiled on September 13 a package of foreign
loans worth nearly
half a billion dollars, including a $200 million facility
from China, to
help ease shortages of foreign currency, fuel and food, and
unemployment
above 70 percent.
Most of the loans will be directed at
the agricultural sector, which has
been hardest hit by a drought and
President Robert Mugabe's backing for the
seizure of white-owned commercial
farms.
The Chinese loan is the first major foreign loan issues to the
country since
Western donors withdrew after the land seizures.
"There
is substantial goodwill on the part of the international community to
help
Zimbabwe, but the first step has to be taken by the authorities,"
Tiwari
said.
By Nasreen
Seria
Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Zimbabwe's inflation rate, the world's
highest, may
surge to more than 4,000 percent next year, according to the
International
Monetary Fund.
Inflation will average 4,279 percent in
2007 ``if current policies are
maintained,'' the Washington-based lender
said in its Regional Economic
Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa today. Consumer
prices rose by a record 1,205
percent in the 12 months through August. The
central bank has printed money
to repay debts.
``They are predicting
that central bank will lose control of its monetary
policy and will try and
print its way out of difficulty,'' John Robertson,
who runs an economic
consultancy in the Zimbabwean capital, said in an
interview today. ``Their
behavior is becoming less disciplined.''
Zimbabwe's economy is in its
eighth year of a recession after President
Robert Mugabe's failed land
reform program cut crop output and export
income. The central bank devalued
the Zimbabwe dollar by 60 percent against
the U.S. dollar on July 31, in an
attempt to boost exports and ease the
currency shortage. The devaluation
pushed up import costs, while printing
money fueled
inflation.
``Maybe the IMF is trying to send a warning signal,''
Robertson said.
``Certainly this rate of collapse is a lot more vigorous
than what we have
seen.''
The IMF estimates Zimbabwe's economy will
contract 5.1 percent this year,
after shrinking 6.5 percent last year.
Zimbabwe's central bank expects
inflation to slow to below 10 percent by the
end of 2008. The government
expects the economy to expand between 0.3
percent and 0.6 percent this year.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Nasreen Seria in Johannesburg at
nseria@bloomberg.net
Dear Family and Friends,
On Friday morning, escorted by uniformed police, two
young girls carried a
banner through the Marondera town centre which
proclaimed: "Protect Life
On Earth." Behind them marched the Prison band in
spotless bottle green
uniforms with shining gold buttons and all carrying
gleaming musical
instruments. Behind the band came dozens of drum majorettes,
young girls
in bright and colourful uniforms. At the rear of the procession,
which had
bought the town to a standstill, were more police and an ambulance.
There
were reporters and ZBC TV cameramen and on the Green tents had
been
erected, seats were laid out and someone announced that the Mayor and
an
Honourable Minister would be arriving shortly. For a few minutes it
was
like being Alice in Wonderland and you had to shake your head and
ask
yourself : is this the same place, the same town which just two days
ago
was over-run by police and engulfed in tension. Life is like this
in
Zimbabwe now, the veneer gets thinner and we swing wildly
between
extremes.
On Wednesday when the Trade Unions had called for
lunch time marches to
highlight the deteriorating conditions in Zimbabwe, the
police and other
state forces moved in and engulfed towns and cities across
the country.
Just a few days before women of WOZA marched with placards
calling for
clean drinking water and improved services in Harare. 107 women
were
arrested and detained for four days in police custody. By Wednesday
it
seemed the state were not going to take any chances and allow people
to
air their grievances and the signs were there for all to see by early
in
the morning. From Harare came reports of road blocks and large
deployments
of police in the centres. Similar reports came from Bulawayo and
Masvingo.
In Marondera the water cannons were visible and the town was
swamped with
police - patrolling on foot in two's and fours and in pairs on
bicycles.
Throughout the town police pick up trucks were parked in strategic
places,
filled with uniformed men. The gates to the police station were
closed,
guarded by an armed police woman and people had to show ID before
they
were allowed in.
Right across the country the union lunchtime
marches were doomed - crushed
before they had even started. Top Union leaders
and organisers in Harare
were arrested and lawyers representing them say
their clients had been
beaten and tortured. Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
said: "From the
look of it they were attacked by the police as soon as they
were herded
into cells. Some have broken limbs. The attacks appeared sadistic
because
some of the people cannot get up on their own." The Union Vice
President
Lucia Matibenga has a fractured arm, was bleeding from her ears and
was
having difficulty in breathing and hearing. The Union Secretary
General
Wellington Chibebe was covered in blood and had a "crack in his
head."
Union President Lovemore Matombo had both his arms fractured and so
the
list goes on - stories of horrors inflicted on the bravest of
brave
Zimbabweans who want only a decent life.
Despite the fact that
the police, the marching bands and the drum
majorettes are also drinking
dirty water, having garbage go uncollected
for weeks at a time and struggle
to survive 1200% inflation - all
complaints are silenced instantly. The
banner proclaiming 'Protect Life on
Earth' would be more appropriate if it
said Protect Life in Zimbabwe.
Thanks for reading, until next time, love
cathy
Copyright Cathy Buckle 16 September
2006.
http:/africantears.netfirms.com
iafrica.com
Sat, 16 Sep
2006
The United States on Friday condemned the Zimbabwe government's violent
clampdown of planned marches by trade unionists.
More than 100 people
were arrested, including senior union leaders, and some
were severely beaten
as part of an effort to prevent the marches from taking
place, US State
Department spokesperson Sean McCormack said in a statement.
"The United
States condemns the Mugabe Government's suppression of planned
marches by
the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions," he said.
Strict security
laws
The actions by President Robert Mugabe's government under strict
security
laws against those wishing to protest on behalf of greater
democracy, better
wages, and access to treatment for Aids sufferers "is
another example of its
denial of the basic rights of its citizens,"
McCormack said.
"We call for the immediate release of those detained and
access to medical
treatment for those who were injured," he said.
A
group of 30 prominent trade unionists were granted bail by Harare
magistrates on Friday after being charged for organising a major
anti-government rally earlier this week.
The defendants were all
formally charged in the court with flouting
legislation which requires all
political rallies to receive prior approval
and for breaching the
peace.
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions was forced to abandon plans
for a
series of anti-government protests on Wednesday after the arrest of
the
organisers.
The labour movement had hoped thousands of protestors
would take to the
streets in nationwide rallies to denounce fuel and food
shortages as well as
unemployment now running at some 80
percent.
AFP
September 16,
2006
By Mabutho Michael Ngcobo
Johannesburg (AND)
International Confederation of Trade Unions (ICFTU)
has urged Zimbabwe
authorities to stop harassment and abuse against
unionists.
This follows the arrest of the leaders of Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Union
(ZCTU) for allegedly participating in a banned strike.
One of
the three leaders Wellington Chibebe was admitted in hospital,
after he was
heavily assaulted by the police.
"These latest reports of
brutality must be condemned by the entire
international community, and the
world trade union movement will do
everything within its power to mobile
international pressure to put a stop
this reign of terror, "Guy Ryder, the
General Secretary of the ICFTU said
today.
"History has shown
time and time again, that such brutal treatment of
people trying to exercise
their democratic rights will simply backfire. With
each act of repression
the Mugabe regime is further isolating itself from
the international
community and those who continue to pay the price are the
Zimbabwean
people," he continued.
"We call on the Zimbabwean government to
stop its continuing campaign
of harassment and abuse of trade unionists. Yet
again, the Mugabe regime has
failed to fulfill its responsibility under the
international obligations it
is party to, namely the ILO Core Labour
Standards on Freedom of
Association," Ryder added.
They
are more than 200 people who were arrested when the much
publicized mass
action was banned on the eleventh hour.
Most of them appeared
in court, they are expected to appear again on 3
October
2006.
Johannesburg bureau, AND
Mail and Guardian
Godwin
Gandu
16 September 2006 06:00
As the
economic situation in Zimbabwe deteriorates, security
forces are being
trained by Chinese military advisers in how to counter
popular
revolt.
Both the police and the army have been undergoing
training in
how to "deal with urban disturbances" after an intelligence
report was
issued on the potential for massive civil unrest, given the
escalating
economic meltdown in the country.
A source
within the Zimbabwean military said training has been
under way for the past
six months at Harare King Georg VI army headquarters
and the Chikurubi
police training depot. According to the same source, the
army instructors on
urban warfare and disturbances are Chinese, and will be
in the country until
December.
This week the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
(ZCTU) staged a
protest against the collapse of the economy. The protest was
thwarted by
police after they sealed off all roads leading to the ZCTU's
regional
offices in the Harare city centre.
Mlamleli
Sibanda, an information officer for the ZCTU, said that
this week's protests
were "just the beginning" .
Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the
Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC), has added his voice to those
supporting mass action: "Our
preparations for sustained resistance are
complete; we are ready to roll out
our programme," Tsvangirai
warned.
Advising the police and military to "stay out of
politics",
Tsvangirai asked the "security forces to refrain from acts that
shall put
them on a collision course with the people".
Political analysts agree that the economic crisis is likely to
increase
popular protest. "We are likely to see a shift from planned
demonstrations
to a spontaneous uprising because the people are fed up,"
says Reginald
Matshava-Hove, a political analyst. "The government is facing
many
challenges and ZCTU, in the long run, might have to change its
tactics."
Political scientist Alois Masepe believes that
the ingredients
for a political revolt are all there, "but people needed to
be mobilised.
Someone has to ignite the flames in the hearts of the people.
It has to
start from the grassroots, with the opposition talking to the
people so that
they can own the uprising," he says. Masepe added that
opposition and civic
groups haven't yet sufficiently mobilised, or
addressed, the population.
The intelligence report on the
potential for mass civil action
was prepared by the Central Intelligence
Organisation and debated at length
in April by the Joint Operations Group
(JOG), which comprises the army,
police, intelligence and penitentiary
services.
It was commissioned to look into whether rising
food shortages
might trigger popular protest. The Reserve Bank averted the
crisis by
importing 900 000 tonnes of grain from South Africa in a
structured deal
involving the Reserve Bank, Merchant Bank of Central Africa,
Nedbank and
Renaissance Bank.
Although that particular
crisis was resolved, the JOG still
believed that the growing economic crisis
was likely to spark MDC and
ZCTU-led protests, and consequently hired
instructors from China to train
army officers on how to deal with urban
disturbances.
Military sources say the current feeling within
the government
is that widespread discontent is likely to provoke a
spontaneous urban
revolt similar to the unprecedented food riots which
caught the government
off guard in 1998.
As pressure to
resolve the deepening economic crisis mounts at
home, the European Union
Parliament has upped the stakes by demanding that
the 82-year-old Mugabe
"stand down, sooner rather than later".
The EU believes this
"would be the largest single step possible
towards reviving Zimbabwean
society, politics and the economy", and towards
positive transition
negotiations between the country's political
stakeholders.
According to the EU, its sanctions against
120 senior Zimbabwean
government officials have "failed to have the desired
impact on those
directly responsible for the impoverishment of Zimbabwe".
The EU now wants
sanctions to be extended to include Zanu-PF members,
supporters and workers,
as well as their family members, and business people
and other prominent
individuals associated with Zanu-PF.
The EU has also cautioned South Africa "that the Mugabe regime
must derive
absolutely no financial benefit or propaganda value from the
run-up to the
World Cup and the tournament itself ... it calls on South
Africa ... and on
Fifa, to exclude Zimbabwe from participating in pre-World
Cup matches,
holding international friendly games or hosting national teams
involved in
the event."
VOA
By Peta Thornycroft
Harare
15 September
2006
Leaders of Zimbabwe's main labor union appeared in court
late Friday to
answer charges they caused a disturbance in Harare during a
brief
demonstration earlier in the week. Among the 30 unionists brought to
court,
half were obviously injured while another was so injured he could not
appear
in court.
The secretary general of the Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade Unions, Wellington
Chibebe, remained hospitalized Friday, too injured
to be brought to court to
face charges of breaching the peace. According to
medical records that were
were presented in court, Chibebe has a broken arm
and head injuries that
needed surgery.
Many of the union leaders who
were able to appear in Harare's lower court
were also injured. Some had
splints on their arms and hands; several others
walked with
difficulty.
The lawyer for the unionists, Alec Muchadehama, told the
court they had been
brutally beaten by five policemen at a suburban police
station after they
were detained on Wednesday for trying to hold a
demonstration to protest
economic conditions in Zimbabwe.
The
demonstration was shortlived, being broken up by police within
minutes.
Witnesses say the unionists were beaten up by police before
being arrested
and, according to evidence presented by the defense, the
beatings continued
in the police station after their arrests.
Defense
lawyers had to go to the High Court for an order to be allowed to
see their
clients and to force the state to take those seriously injured to
hospital
for treatment.
The defense team also told the court that the cells in
which some of the
unionists were held had been declared unfit for human
occupation two years
ago by Zimbabwe's highest court. Defense lawyers said
the detainees were not
allowed to wear shoes and that their cells were
running with raw sewage.
Although the judge, Olivia Mariga, granted bail
to the detained unionists,
they were not freed on Friday. Court officials
said the hearing ended too
late to process the paperwork for their release
so they were locked up for
another night.
Catholic Information
Service for Africa (Nairobi)
September 15, 2006
Posted to the web
September 15, 2006
Harare
Churches in Zimbabwe want a national
debate to secure the future of the
southern African nation, paralyzed by its
worst economic and political
crisis since Independence 26 years
ago.
As a contribution to that debate, Catholic, Protestant and
Evangelical
leaders have published a comprehensive discussion document that
examines the
crisis and offers proposals on the way forward.
Prepared
jointly by the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference, Zimbabwe
Council of
Churches and the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe, the 44-page
document -
titled 'The Zimbabwe We Want: Towards A National Vision For
Zimbabwe' - says
the " nation is desperately in need of a physician, and
that physician is
none other than us the people of Zimbabwe."
According to the report, all
development indicators show that Zimbabwe has
suffered a severe and
unrelenting economic melt-down characterized by loss
of professionals
through massive brain drain, hyper-inflation (now at over
1,000 per cent),
shortage of essential commodities, decline in agricultural
and manufacturing
productivity, shortage of foreign currency, escalating
corruption, drying up
of foreign investments and collapse of tourism.
The crisis, the leaders
say, is due to lack of a shared national vision,
political intolerance,
oppressive laws (particularly the Public Order and
Security Act and the
Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act)
and the failure to
produce a home-grown, democratic constitution.
Other factors are economic
mismanagement and corruption, failed land reform,
international isolation
and inability of churches to speak with one voice on
national
issues.
The church leaders admit their own failure to speak up on behalf
of the
people during the crisis, which they say has been worsening for the
last
eleven years.
"As Churches, we confess we have failed the nation
because we have not been
able to speak with one voice. We have often not
been the salt and the light
that the Gospel calls us to be. We, therefore,
confess our failure and ask
for God's forgiveness."
Zimbabweans need
to clearly redefine a vision of the nation they want and
the core values
upon which to build it, the church leaders say.
"Our vision is that of a
sovereign and democratic nation characterized by
good governance as
reflected in all its structures and operations at all
levels and in all our
institutions; a nation united in its diversity, free,
tolerant, peaceful,
and prosperous; a nation that respects the rights of all
its citizens
regardless of creed, gender, age, race and ethnicity as defined
in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and with a leadership that
puts the
interests of the people of Zimbabwe above all personal gains; and
above all
a nation that is God- fearing."
Some of the core values that would help
realize that vision are spirituality
and morality, unity-in-diversity,
respect for human life and dignity,
respect for democratic freedoms, respect
for other persons, and democracy
and good governance.
Others are
participation and subsidiarity, sovereignty,patriotism and
loyalty, gender
equity, social solidarity and promotion of the family,
stewardship of
creation, justice and the rule of law, service and
accountability, promotion
of the common good, option for the impoverished
and marginalized, and
excellence.
The Guardian
Saturday
September 16, 2006 12:46 AM
By ANITA SNOW
Associated Press
Writer
HAVANA (AP) - Cuba took over leadership of the Nonaligned Movement
Friday,
but with Fidel Castro too sick to promise an appearance, his younger
brother
and his close friend Hugo Chavez of Venezuela were left to mete out
the
anti-American invective.
The meeting hosted by Cuba brought
together some of the staunchest U.S.
foes - the presidents of Iran,
Venezuela and Zimbabwe.
Cuba's Acting President Raul Castro, who was
presiding over the meeting of
more than 50 leaders, said the world today is
shaped by irrational American
desires for world dominance.
``When
there no longer is a Cold War, the United States spends one billion
dollars
a year in weapons and soldiers and it squanders a similar amount in
commercial publicity,'' he said. ``To think that a social and economic order
that has proven unsustainable could be maintained by force is simply an
absurd idea.''
In the United States, President Bush's administration
tried Friday to hasten
the end of the Castro government, proposing that
Cubans hold a referendum to
decide if they want to be ruled by Raul Castro.
The suggestion faced certain
rejection by the island's communist leadership,
but they did not immediately
address it at the summit.
The big
question was whether 80-year-old Fidel Castro would be healthy
enough to
show up for the summit dinner, let alone guide the group during
Cuba's
three-year chairmanship. The ailing revolutionary leader is under
doctors'
orders not to preside over the summit, but could still make an
appearance,
Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque told the assembly.
Castro
temporarily handed power to his 75-year-old brother and a handful of
other
top officials after emergency intestinal surgery in July. And while
Cuban
officials raise expectations of a return to power, Fidel has appeared
only
in photos and video in state media, wearing pajamas while meeting
Venezuelan
President Chavez and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Raul Castro has
settled into his new leadership role, giving several
speeches calling for
unity against U.S. policies. And Chavez, still
campaigning for Venezuela's
bid to join the U.N. Security Council, has
repeatedly asserted himself as
the natural heir to Castro, who remains a
hero to leftists around the
world.
``To be radical is not to be insane, it's to go to our roots.
Let's go to
our roots, let's be truly radical,'' Chavez told diplomats and
leaders from
two-thirds of the world's countries. He concluded by chanting
``Patria o
Muerte!'' - ``Fatherland or Death!'' - a favored Castro rallying
cry.
The 118-nation group gave Raul Castro a round of applause, and
Malaysian
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi expressed satisfaction that
the
movement ``will once again be in Cuba's very capable
hands.''
``Cuba's fight for liberation from imperialism has been a source
of
inspiration for the world's peoples,'' Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad
told the assembly.
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe
also attended the summit. The Bush
administration charges that Mugabe's
authoritarian government is a serious
violator of human rights.
Annan
told the group the world has changed dramatically since Cuba last
hosted the
movement in Havana 27 years ago, and that developing nations have
new
responsibilities to promote democracy, protect human rights and develop
civil societies.
``The collective mission of this movement is more
relevant than ever,''
Annan said.
With next week's U.N. General
Assembly session in New York looming, Chavez
and Ahmadinejad called on
Nonaligned nations to support Venezuela's Security
Council bid and provide
more balance at the U.N. Both said the veto power of
the United States has
made the council a toothless promoter of U.S. policy.
``The U.S. is
turning the Security Council into a base for imposing its
politics,''
Ahmadinejad complained, according to the official translation of
his speech
in Farsi. ``Why should people live under the nuclear threat of
the
U.S.?''
Guatemalan Vice President Eduardo Stein told The Associated Press
in an
interview Friday that his country has secured 90 of 128 necessary
votes, and
denied that U.S. support for Guatemala's bid has made his country
a
``puppet'' of Washington. Venezuela, however, is confident it will win the
seat.
Guatemala has stressed its conciliatory foreign policy in the
U.N. campaign,
while Chavez has made it clear if chosen for the security
council, Venezuela
would support Iran in its high-stakes standoff over its
enrichment of
uranium.
On Thursday, Chavez pledged his country would
stand with Iran if the Middle
Eastern country is invaded, just as it has
pledged to defend Cuba.
The Nonaligned Movement was formed during the
Cold War to establish a
neutral third path in a world divided by the United
States and the Soviet
Union. It now counts 118 members with the addition of
Haiti and St. Kitts
this week.
By Celia W. Dugger The New
York Times
Published: September 16, 2006
WASHINGTON The World Health Organization on Friday forcefully endorsed
wider
use of the insecticide DDT across Africa to exterminate and repel the
mosquitoes that cause malaria. The disease kills more than a million people
a year, 800,000 of them young children in Africa.
Dr. Arata
Kochi, who leads the group's global malaria program,
unequivocally declared
at a news conference on Friday that DDT was the most
effective insecticide
against malaria and that it posed no health risk when
sprayed in small
amounts on the inner walls of people's homes. Expanding its
use is essential
to reviving the flagging international campaign to control
the disease, he
said.
Dr. Kochi has powerful allies on DDT and, more broadly, on
using
insecticide sprays, in Congress and the Bush administration - an odd
bedfellows coalition for an agency of the United Nations, which has often
been at odds with the White House.
At the news conference, Adm.
R. Timothy Ziemer, who leads President
Bush's $1.2 billion malaria
undertaking, stood at Dr. Kochi's side and
described spraying with
insecticides as a tool "that must be deployed as
robustly and strategically
as possible."
The health organization's news release quoted Senator
Tom Coburn,
Republican of Oklahoma.
"Finally, with the W.H.O.'s
unambiguous leadership on the issue, we
can put to rest the junk science and
myths that have provided aid and
comfort to the real enemy - mosquitoes,"
said the senator, a medical doctor.
Dr. Kochi said the most
substantive change in the W.H.O.'s guidelines
on the use of insecticides
would extend the reach of the strategy. Until
now, the agency had
recommended indoor spraying of insecticides in areas of
seasonal or episodic
transmission of malaria, but it now also advocates it
where continuous,
intense transmission of the disease causes the most
deaths.
Dr.
Kochi's new policies and abrasive style have stirred the small
world of
malaria experts. Dr. Allan Schapira, a senior member of the W.H.O.
malaria
team who most recently oversaw its approach to insecticide spraying,
resigned last week.
Reached Thursday on his cellphone, Dr.
Schapira declined to comment on
his reasons, except to say that they were
professional. He did not return
messages left Friday.
His
successor, Pierre Guillet, a medical entomologist, said Dr.
Schapira quit
because he was uncomfortable with the new approach on
insecticide
spraying.
There are fierce debates among experts over when it is
best to use
indoor spraying or mosquito nets impregnated with insecticides
that last up
to five years, though most agree that both spraying and nets
are important
tools.
Dr. Kochi said in an interview that half
the professional staff of the
W.H.O.'s malaria program has left "one way or
the other" since he took over
in October. He described Dr. Schapira as the
"main brain" behind the past
approach.
"He was professionally
insulted by me," Dr. Kochi said.
In answer to a question, Dr. Kochi
acknowledged that he had indeed
told members of the staff in meetings that
they were stupid. "They are very
inward looking, and they do not communicate
outside the malaria field," he
said. "It's ridiculous."
Dr.
Kochi earlier headed the W.H.O.'s tuberculosis campaign until he
was forced
out after his blunt manner alienated important partner
organizations.
He has brought the same in-your-face approach to
malaria. In January,
he demanded that 18 drug companies - all named - stop
selling some forms of
a new malaria drug he believed could speed up drug
resistance. If they did
not comply, he threatened to try to disrupt sales of
their other medicines.
In April, he accused the Global Fund to
Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and
Malaria, through which rich countries finance
health campaigns, of ignoring
W.H.O. rules that forbid treating malaria with
herbal-based therapy alone -
a charge that Dr. Bernard Nahlen, a senior
adviser at the Global Fund,
called "outlandish" on Friday.
There are now 17 African countries using at least some indoor spraying
of
insecticides to combat malaria. Only 10 of them use DDT - Eritrea,
Madagascar, Ethiopia, Swaziland, South Africa, Mauritius, Mozambique,
Zimbabwe, Namibia and Zambia - the W.H.O. said. Too many countries in Africa
have shied away from DDT, Dr. Kochi said, because of the nasty environmental
reputation it earned in an earlier era when it was widely sprayed on crops -
dangers that do not apply when spraying small amounts indoors.
DDT has carried a special stigma since the publication in 1962 of
Rachel
Carson's "Silent Spring," which helped set off the environmental
movement in
America by documenting how mass spraying of DDT entered the food
chain,
causing cancer and genetic damage and threatening to wipe out some
bird
species, including bald eagles.
The nonprofit group, Beyond
Pesticides, distributed news releases on
Friday opposing the W.H.O.'s new
policy, saying a dependence on pesticides
like DDT "causes greater long-tem
problems than those that are being
addressed in the
short-term."
Dr. Kochi said some African countries had also been
reluctant to use
DDT because of fears that European countries would block
food exports if
crops were tainted by even minuscule amounts of DDT. In an
interview, he
called on leaders of the European Union to publicly encourage
African
countries to use DDT against malaria. Uganda, for one, has not used
it
because of what Dr. Kochi called "a bureaucratic standoff between the
ministry of health and the ministry that oversees trade."
A
spokesman for the European Union, Alain Bloedt, said Friday that it
was too
late in the afternoon to get a reply.
Dr. Kochi said he himself did
not worry about whether he would lose
his job if he took on too many
influential players. Success will require
many difficult changes, he said.
"I don't want to fail."
The Times, UK. September 16, 2006
By Our Sports
Staff
TATENDA TAIBU, the self-exiled former Zimbabwe
captain, plans to
return to the international game as a South Africa player.
He will play
there for four years in order to qualify for the national team
by 2010.
Taibu, 23, is likely to join either Nashua Cape Cobras or Fitendia
Warriors.
"I will never return to the Zimbabwe side and I want to
play
Test cricket. South Africa is the best option," he
said.
He has chosen to continue his career in South Africa
rather than
England, where qualification would take him longer and where he
played club
cricket this summer, helping Pyrford to win promotion from the
second
division of the Surrey Championship.
Coincidentally, South Africa beat Zimbabwe in a one-day
international
yesterday in Bloemfontein, winning by five wickets, with 37
balls to
spare.
Boeta Dippenaar, the opening batsman, led his side
past Zimbabwe's
201 for seven at Goodyear Park with an unbeaten 85 after
Jean-Paul Duminy
had struck 60 from 70 balls. Vusi Sibanda top-scored for
the visiting side
with 51.
Zimbabwejournalists.com
By a Correspondent
Violet:
Welcome to the final segment of the teleconference discussion
with Sekai
Holland from the Tsvangirai MDC; Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga
from the
Mutambara MDC; WOZA coordinator Jenni Williams and women activist
Thoko
Matshe.
Last week we ended the discussion on the issue of whether
the
feminists/intellectual agenda is relevant to the daily existence of
people
in Zimbabwe at present. Jenni Williams said the suffering is so great
that
Zimbabweans, mostly women, aren't really interested in great
intellectual
discourse and they don't really want to know what a feminist
is. She said
they just want to demand a socially just Zimbabwe.
I then asked Thoko Matshe to comment
Thoko Matshe: I do agree with
that statement that says unless and
until some intellectuals and feminists
come and rub shoulders with people.
I am a feminist and I rub shoulders with
people on the ground all the time
and I struggle all the time. Brian
Raftopoulos is an intellectual, and he
has worked tirelessly up to a point
that he has had to leave the country and
choose to live elsewhere because
for him to continue to struggle and do
certain things with his family, it's
not happening.
So, it's not about what the different naming because
as people in this
society we are different people doing different things.
And also, for me, I
don't want to be defined by the outside and what they
think the reality in
Zimbabwe should be, because, people tell you 'they did
this in Congo, they
did this there'. The Zimbabwean situation has got
certain things that are
peculiar to this country as much as there are things
that are common for
other struggles. The re-defining of mass action, we
might have to tell
people what, in our context, is what we mean by mass
action, kind of thing.
And, I do agree when people are saying that
people are doing things in
their various ways and it's not everybody who
will be visible, that does not
mean that they are not doing things, and,
it's different things that have
got to be done at different times, OK? Some
of us were there on the 1st
April 2000; that demonstration, the last
demonstration that we did in this
country with a certain level of
organisation and doing, when we had those
people coming with pangas at us.
And, that has informed also what then
people are saying about mass action,
about resistance, because our
resistance and our courage has got to be
strategic to the enemy that is
coming.
Violet: So Thoko, is
unity an absolute pre-condition for mass action
or civil
disobedience?
Thoko: Unity with a commonality. I don't believe in
unity where
people talk about unity in words and, as Sekai said, there are
initiatives
and there are co-ordinations that are starting that are building
up and I'm
sure those coming together are on certain principles and values
and shared
strategies, OK. That is what will work. The unity cannot be in
a vacuum.
There should be certain shared values, shared visions, shared
focus that
will push. And, I do agree, the opposition forces in their broad
spectrum
and those that are within the struggle to push for change, they are
a big
number and chunk to have unity of purpose.
Violet: Mai
Holland?
Sekai: I think we need to understand that as well, and I
have to keep
going back to the great debate. In Zimbabwe, who is an
intellectual, what
is an intellectual is very greatly misunderstood.
Intellectuals reflect
what's going on in their society and intellectuals who
are really
intellectuals do reflect this reality in its diversity and depth
and it is
from that event which takes place with people whose practice
produces that
intellectual focus. Where the unity in that produces
political, social
unity, which then produces the answers that we need to get
our economic
theme right.
I'm just saying that I'm sorry to
hear that Brian Raftopoulos has had
to leave Zimbabwe, but as he leaves
there are others who are coming up in
Zimbabwe to carry the theme forward.
Zimbabwe is a very rich country with
every sector of what is going elsewhere
in the world with a very
sophisticated public.
We are going
through a historical period where we are organising
ourselves to get things
right, and, I think that I appreciate this programme
today because
foundations are being set up for people to really start
debating together,
and, it's through that debate that ideas that are out
there get drawn in for
people to see the actions they are doing in a more
focused way which takes
us forward.
Violet: Ok and I want to go back to Priscilla. Are you
there
Priscilla? I always have to check on you because of your
phone.
Priscilla: I am here.
Violet: Ok, sorry to go
back to this issue because I just need some
clarification and it's important
what Amai Holland has said that it's good
to have this kind of debate so
people can work on finding ways of resolving
this crisis. But do you agree
that there needs to be a united force and that
force is no longer there in
Zimbabwe right now? You know people are looking
for role models but all
groups are split, in their homes, in the newsrooms,
in the communities, in
the opposition, in civic society. Is there a uniting
force that can say
let's do this right now?
Priscilla: Well certainly, and perhaps
some of us do not want to harp
on negativity. You know the split within the
MDC, one cannot underplay it,
one cannot underplay that it has had an impact
in terms of the things that
the progressive forces would be doing or should
be doing or what was
expected of them. But, I think what is important is
that we should get to a
stage where people understand that it's not just
about people being under
the same roof, it's about strategy and it's about
admitting and saying at
this particular point in time we may want to do that
strategy or that
strategy.
You do not necessarily; all of you
have to be called Karamba or
Thokozani: you can be called in your different
names; I can be Priscilla, I
can be Thoko, I can be Sekai, but still work
around a united process and a
united front. We saw it happening in South
Africa when they had the UDF,
all these different institutions did not
necessarily need to be in one
particular place. The ANC did something else,
PAC did something else, the
other groups were doing other things, the
Churches were involved, the
Desmond Tutus were doing different things but
they had a kind of consensus
and agreement and I think it is important to
acknowledge that particular
discussion and debate is indeed taking place and
that there is an agreement
that we need to have an organised strategy, an
agreed strategy, but still
remain in our spaces doing the kind of things
that we are supposed to do. So
even unity needs to be understood; it's not
unity about people being under
the same roof - it's unity around principles,
around values, around
strategies.
So, that we are not just
being united for the sake of being united; we
are united for purpose, for
values, for a particular vision. We want to see
a different kind of
Zimbabwe and I think that is what we are working towards
and I think that is
what is actually going on. Like I said, agreed, we
have gone through a
crisis, where some of the differences that have taken
place in the
progressive movement have had an impact in terms of the energy
and images
that we should apply.
Violet: And Thoko, you know, some say there
is a need for a new
coalition or a new broad alliance. What kind of a new
coalition do you
think needs to emerge right now in Zimbabwe?
Thoko: I think if I were to buy in that I would say that coalition
should
take the different struggling points and focuses into that coalition.
I
would say it would be the opposition political parties, it will be the
different movements; the women's movement, the constitutional movement -
which will be the NCA, it will be the legal guys and things like that. So,
if I were to summarise it I would say it would be civil society as defined
without the political parties in it, and the Churches, sorry, the Churches
is a big chunk.
Violet: Did you say without the political
parties in it?
Thoko: I mean if I were to say civil society because
sometimes people
define civil society and say political parties are not in
civil society, and
then I would say civil society in its entirety including
Churches and the
opposition political parties. That's the coalition that
involves everyone
who is struggling.
Violet: Do you agree Amai
Holland?
Sekai: Well, I wanted to respond to Priscilla and now
Thoko is raising
that point. I really find the word 'split' in our media
language very
worrisome. In a family, in a political party when certain
people in a group
say now 'we want to go and do something else', I think
people should really
learn that democracy is about accepting diversity,
about accepting
difference, about people really growing up to set themselves
in new ways and
new growths reflecting the same desire for positive change
for society.
So, the thing which has happened in MDC, myself,
personally, is
something that has happened in the male domain, in
patriarchy, because I
still don't know what is the wider division occurring,
and, I see it as very
healthy because people have gone their separate ways
and people are moving
in their separate ways with their programmes and there
is nobody who is
worrying about 'why did so-and-so go there'; except the
men. So for me the
word 'split' I find very, very worrisome because growth
taking place is
positive growth in the quest for democracy in
Zimbabwe.
The second point I wanted to make is this; that the unity
that comes
cannot be discussed on this programme or among leaders, it's
something that
really in Zimbabwe comes from people going through processes
of
consultation, consensus, consensus-building, and I think that process has
been taking place now in the past six years when people finally responded to
the crisis by agreeing that they need to come together.
So I
think it's a nation wide thing that will happen and it is
happening, and I
think we need to really appreciate the importance of us
talking together and
seeing where we are doing our things and allowing each
other the space to do
those things, so that, in front, up there in time, we
are going to come
together with one concrete thing. Zimbabweans have every
element of what we
need to build something much better than what we went to
fight for in the
war. Much, much better than anything happening elsewhere
in Africa. This
is not a theory, this is something that Zimbabweans have
done which they are
capable of doing, which I believe, in our different
places and situations,
we are working towards.
Priscilla: I need to respond to what Amai
Holland has just said. I
think it's important to acknowledge the fact that
there has been a split in
the MDC, there has been a division on issues of
principles and of values and
the more we can accept that fact, the better we
can move forward. I think
it is unfortunate to say that division is within
the male domain.
Sekai: For me it is!
Priscilla: We
may have political differences that are largely
patriarchal but it's
actually about principles and about values, and some of
us still believe we
are women, unless something has changed along the way.
I think there are a
majority of women both, in the grassroots, both in the
leadership where that
split has taken place.
I don't think the debate should be about who
is wrong who is right -I
think we may have another debate about that but
it's important to
acknowledge the fact that there has been a split in the
MDC and that that
split has had an impact in terms of the democratic
movement in this country,
it is important, that split actually
happened.
Sekai: Well, I want to differ with that, very
much!
Jenni Williams But you see, for me, the issue here is there
is too
much pre-occupation with power and positions, and too little time
taken to
speak to people and their problems and motivate them to demand a
better
Zimbabwe. And, therein lies the problem. If we look at the last
second or
two minutes of this discussion here, it's about the split in the
MDC when it
actually should be about people and mobilising them to take
their power.
Sekai: People are still mobilising and they are not
talking about the
split, they never did, it's in the media.
Someone laughs
Violet: But isn't this what Priscilla is actually
saying that it is
important to talk about the split because it did actually
happen.
Sekai: But we need a different programme for that, the
programme today
was about mass action and women. We can have another
programme on the
split.
Violet: Yes I think it's very
important
Thoko: can I just say something.?
Violet:
Before you do Thoko, I think it's very important that we
actually have
another programme to talk about this split. I can see that we
will not move
on until and unless we have dealt with this problem, so
hopefully.
Jenni: Please excuse me from that programme because
I think I am not
interested in factions. I'm interested in people and their
problems and
mobilising them for a new Zimbabwe and somewhere along the way
we'll find
how to make that political change a reality.
Priscilla: I think everybody is interested in the problems of the
country.
Thoko? I think that when the MDC was formed in 1999
it changed with
other things that were happening there. It changed
drastically the politics
of this country, and it gave courage to people who
for twenty, was it
twenty, or twenty-five years had been suffering silently.
When the split
happened it affected the energies of the opposition forces in
this country,
and that split did not just happen within the opposition
political party.
It has caused all sorts of splintering within civil
society.
Priscilla (in the background): Oh yes!
Thoko:
And that's why in everything that we are doing we have what
Sekai says - we
are moving towards coordinating. So I am hoping that in that
moving towards
doing things together and unity, we have re-covered, we have
picked up
ourselves, we have picked up the energies that are there. The
split in a
way - politics is politics and people differ - is healthy, we don't
want a
one party state.
Sekai (in the background): Thank you! Thank
you.
Thoko: And why we are struggling is that we don't want a one
party
state.
Sekai: Exactly!
Thoko: . and what I
would say personally to my friends in the
different factions is let's get on
with it. OK.
Sekai: We are getting on with it.
Thoko: We
organise, mobilise.
Sekai (in the background): We are mobilising we
are moving and I don't
think it's a problem.
Thoko: .we
co-ordinate until we see Morgan and Mutambara holding hands
saying we have
got a unity of purpose. Let's then work towards that and have
it as a lived
reality, OK?
Sekai (in the background): I am saying I am moving, we
are moving.
Thoko: There are things that caused that split, maybe
they are for
another programme, it had an impact but lets MOVE
ON.
Priscilla (in the background): Precisely and we acknowledge
what has
happened.
Violet: OK. Thank you very much
ladies.
All: Ok, thank you Violet, bye
Violet: There
remains much to talk about, but unfortunately we have to
bring this
particular discussion to an end. Perhaps the biggest question for
the future
is; can the different parties come together and find a common
cause for
change?
Comments and feedback can be emailed to: violet@swradioafrica.com
Raw Story
Deutsche Presse Agentur
Published: Saturday September 16,
2006
Harare- The managing director of Zimbabwe's main milk supplier has
been
arrested for hiking the price of milk without government consent, the
state-controlled Herald newspaper reported Saturday. Benson Samudzimu of
Dairibord Zimbabwe Limited was arrested on Friday morning, said the
newspaper. He was charged with increasing the price of goods without the
authority of the Ministry of Industry and International Trade, the report
said.
Retail outlets Saturday were selling milk at around 250 dollars
(1 US) a
pint, up from around 185 dollars. The wholesale price of milk is
now 245
dollars.
The authorities have been waging a losing battle
against rising prices in
inflation-ridden Zimbabwe. President Robert
Mugabe's government has imposed
price controls on some basic goods, but
these are regularly flouted.
The government says greedy producers and
retailers are to blame for the
price hikes, but they point to the
ever-rising cost of inputs, many of which
are imported.
Samudzimu is
to appear in court soon, said the Herald. Police have warned
that
surveillance teams have been put in place countrywide to monitor
traders and
dealers who may be tempted to raise prices.
Zimbabwe's annual inflation
rate hit 1,204.6 per cent in August, a new
record for the once-prosperous
southern African country.
© 2006 DPA - Deutsche
Presse-Agenteur
Released by the US
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
This report is submitted to the
Congress by the Department of State in
compliance with Section 102(b) of the
International Religious Freedom Act
(IRFA) of 1998. The law provides that
the secretary of state, with the
assistance of the ambassador at large for
international religious freedom,
shall transmit to Congress "an Annual
Report on International Religious
Freedom supplementing the most recent
Human Rights Reports by providing
additional detailed information with
respect to matters involving
international religious
freedom."
Zimbabwe: The constitution provides for freedom of religion,
and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There
was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom during
the
period covered by this report, and government policy continued to
contribute
to the generally free practice of religion.
While the Government has
historically had good relations with the majority
of religious groups
(primarily Christian), it continued to criticize,
harass, and intimidate
religious leaders who were critical of government
policies or who spoke out
against human rights abuses committed by the
government. Unlike in previous
years, there were no reported instances of
violence against religious
leaders who were critical of government policies;
however, church leaders
and members who criticized the Government faced
arrest, temporary detention,
and, in the case of foreigners, possible
deportation.
The generally
amicable relationship among religions in society contributed
to religious
freedom. An interfaith council, formed in 2004, continued to
work towards
creating closer ties between different religious groups.
The U.S.
government expressed its position on religious freedom through its
publication and dissemination of various human rights documents, including
the annual reports on International Religious Freedom, the Human Rights
Report and various other statements. It continued to condemn the
Government's generally poor human rights record and expressed its position
on religious freedom publicly.
Section I. Religious
Demography
The country has an area of 150,760 square miles and a
population of
approximately 12.2 million. It is estimated that between 70
and 80 percent
of the population belonged to the mainstream Christian
denominations such as
the Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Methodist churches;
however, over the
years a variety of local churches and groups have emerged
from these
mainstream denominations. Evangelical denominations, primarily
Pentecostal
churches and apostolic groups, were the fastest growing during
the reporting
period.
While the country is overwhelmingly Christian,
the majority of persons
continued to believe, to varying degrees, in
traditional indigenous
religions as well. For example, individuals may have
worshiped in a
westernized Christian church but also consulted with
traditional healers.
Traditional healers were very common in both rural
and urban areas. They are
licensed and regulated by the Zimbabwe National
African Traditional Healers'
Association (ZINATHA), which has approximately
55,000 members. ZINATHA
officials estimated that 80 percent of the
population consulted traditional
healers during the year. Religious leaders
also reported an increase in
adherence to traditional religion and healers
as the economic situation
worsened in the country.
Islam accounted
for 1 percent of the population and also continued to see
growth,
particularly in rural areas where Muslim-led humanitarian efforts
were often
organized. The remainder of the population included practitioners
of Greek
Orthodoxy, Judaism, and traditional indigenous religions. There
were also a
small number of Hindus, Buddhists, Baha'is, and atheists.
While political
elites tended to be associated with one of the established
Christian
churches, there was no correlation between membership in any
religious group
and political or ethnic affiliation.
Although there were no official
statistics on the prevalence of foreign
missionaries in the country,
Christian and Muslim missionaries from other
parts of Africa, Europe, Asia,
and the United States were generally known to
operate in the country. Most
often, these missionaries ran schools,
hospitals, and humanitarian aid
organizations. As with humanitarian groups
in general, some missionaries
were considered by the Government as being
potentially political and,
consequently, viewed with some suspicion.
Missions generally operated
without government interference, although they
occasionally experienced
delays in having their work permits issued.
Section II. Status of
Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides
for freedom of religion, and the Government
generally respected this
right.
There is no state religion, and the Government showed no
favoritism to any
group based on religious affiliation although the majority
of political
elites adhered to mainstream Christian denominations.
Generally, the
practice of a particular faith was not known to confer any
advantage or
disadvantage in the political arena, the civil service, the
military, or the
private sector.
Christmas and Easter are national
holidays. There were no reports of
non-Christians experiencing
discrimination when celebrating other religious
holidays.
Unlike in
previous years, the Government recognized all religious groups and
reached
out more to religious leaders, including indigenous ones which it
had
previously excluded. For example, President Mugabe and other government
officials met with indigenous religious leaders throughout the reporting
period and included these leaders in the planning for a 2006 National Day of
Prayer.
The Government also appeared to be more inclusive of
indigenous religions,
of which it has traditionally been suspicious, and
tolerant of supposed
witchcraft practices, which it had previously attempted
to restrict. Unlike
in previous years, President Mugabe made no negative
statements about
evangelical or indigenous churches, and he also met with
leaders from these
groups.
In April 2006 President Mugabe signed an
amendment to the previously
criticized Witchcraft Suppression Act (WSA). The
amendment, which was to
take effect on July 1, 2006, identifies witchcraft
practices as "those
commonly associated with witchcraft" and criminalizes
those practices only
if intended to cause harm. Under this new framework,
spoken words alone
would no longer be considered a witchcraft practice or
evidence of illegal
activity. The amendment would also criminalize witch
hunts, impose criminal
penalties for falsely accusing others of witchcraft,
and reject killing of a
witch as a defense for murder.
Proponents of
the WSA amendment applauded it for recognizing certain
elements of
witchcraft as a part of traditional culture and regarded it as a
positive
step in recognizing indigenous religions. ZINATHA, for example,
welcomed the
amendment for differentiating negative witchcraft from
traditional beliefs
and enabling traditional healers to operate more openly,
without fear of
either witch hunters or prosecution. ZINATHA also stated
that the amendment
would facilitate the prosecution of unlicensed
traditional
healers.
The Government does not require religious groups to be
registered; however,
religious organizations that operate schools or medical
facilities were
required to register those specific institutions with the
appropriate
ministry regulating their activities. Religious institutions
were allowed to
apply for tax-exempt status and duty-free privileges with
the Customs
Department. These requests were generally
granted.
Curricula at public primary and secondary schools are set by the
Ministry of
Education. In public institutions of higher education, they are
set by
curriculum boards that usually include Ministry of Education
officials. Many
public secondary schools also included a religious education
course that
focuses on Christian religions but also covers other religions
and
emphasizes the need for religious tolerance. Most public universities
included degrees in religious education which primarily focus on Christian
doctrine.
The country has a long history of Catholic, Anglican, and
Methodist primary
and secondary schools. The Government permitted, and did
not regulate,
religious education in these private schools. Since
independence, there has
been a proliferation of evangelical basic education
schools. Christian
schools, the majority of which are Catholic, constitute
one-third of the
schools in the country. Islamic, Hindu, and Hebrew primary
and secondary
schools were also found in the major urban areas such as
Harare and
Bulawayo. Additionally, several private institutions of higher
education
included religious studies as a core component of the
curriculum.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The Government
maintained a monopoly on television broadcasting through the
Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC). As in recent years, the Government
permitted
limited religious radio and television broadcasting on ZBC and
advertising
in the Government-controlled press by all, rather than selected
religious
groups. The Government generally followed the recommendations of
the
Religious Advisory Board, an umbrella group of Christian denominations,
on
appropriate religious material to broadcast. Although only Christian
groups
were represented on this board, religious programming, which included
statements by religious leaders, radio broadcasts of prayers, and a regular
television show about religion, was representative of non-Christian groups
and was not exclusive in this regard. The television show "Traditional
Voices," for example, included a religious program aimed at Muslims. It was
directed by a local Muslim leader, who was invited by the Government to put
on the program twice a month.
Abuses of Religious
Freedom
During the period covered by this report, church leaders and
members who
criticized the Government continued to face intimidation,
arrest, and
detention by government officials. President Mugabe made
speeches denouncing
church leaders who purportedly "support the opposition"
and frequently
called on these leaders to avoid political activity. Church
leaders who
participated in demonstrations or public events criticizing the
Government
sometimes faced harassment and temporary detention under the
Public Order
and Security Act. Under this act police notification is
required to hold
public gatherings.
On June 25, 2006, President
Mugabe spoke for the first time at the annual
National Day of Prayer
ceremonies. The ceremony was reportedly rescheduled
twice to allow Mugabe to
attend. Buses from the state-owned bus company
transported individuals from
gathering spots where ruling party supporters
often congregated to the
ceremonies. The Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC),
which has publicly
criticized the regime's human rights abuses and organized
past National Days
of Prayer, cooperated with the Government in planning the
event. The ZCC
reported that Mugabe was reaching out more to religious
groups. The
Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe, which has also been critical
of the
Government, also participated in the organization of the 2006 event.
In
contrast to these collaborations, the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance (ZCA)
criticized the Government for taking over the event and other church groups
for collaborating. Despite official government support, turnout for the
event was poor.
Religious groups continued to be challenged by the
Government's restrictive
laws regarding freedoms of assembly, expression,
and association. Although
not specifically aimed at religious activities,
the Public Order and
Security Act (POSA) continued to be used to interfere
with groups organizing
public prayers. In May 2006, for example, the ZCA
planned a prayer
procession in the city of Bulawayo to commemorate the
anniversary of the
Government's 2005 "Operation Restore Order." The group
applied for and
received police clearance for the march; however, police
revoked the
clearance days before the march was to take place. The group
held the march,
as originally scheduled, on May 20 after successfully
challenging the police
in court. Police directed the marchers down a
different, less populated
route than the one planned but otherwise did not
interfere. There were no
reports that police disturbed any of the other
commemoration events planned
at churches. According to the ZCA, other
religious and secular
nongovernmental organizations cancelled or postponed
their commemorations of
Operation Restore Order under "official pressure."
In 2004 POSA was also
used to detain nine women belonging to WOZA on charges
of "praying in
public," an act that allegedly violated Section 19 of the
act. According to
Amnesty International, some of the women were assaulted
during their
interrogations; all were eventually released in October of that
year.
Operation Restore Order mandated the destruction of purportedly
illegal
structures. During the reporting period, some places of worship and
charities run by religious organizations continued to be destroyed. On July
26, 2005, for example, police destroyed a church and a mosque at the
high-density settlement of Porta Farm. In late June, news sources also
reported that two church buildings belonging to the Zimbabwe Assemblies of
God Africa (Zaoga) in Chitungwiza were demolished in late June 2005 for the
alleged illegal occupation of land. Several church leaders, particularly
Zimbabwean Catholic bishops, criticized the Government's actions. There were
no updates to any of these or other cases involving the destruction of
places of worship covered in the previous reporting period.
The
Government also limited religious groups' activities when it attempted
to
block efforts by religious and humanitarian organizations that provided
relief to the victims of Operation Restore Order. In July 2005, for example,
police raided churches in Bulawayo and forcibly removed displaced persons
who were taking shelter at the churches. On July 20 of that same year,
police detained three clergymen when they went to a police station to
inquire about the forced removals. Police arrested a fourth clergyman the
same day while he was filming forced removals. Police released all four men
without charges the next day. One of the clergymen, Reverend Ray Motsi,
claimed that the arrests had been retribution against the churches for
assisting victims. The Zimbabwean National Pastor's Conference (ZNPC)
released a statement three days later criticizing the Government's actions
during the operations and harassment of church groups attempting to provide
humanitarian assistance to the victims
During the period covered by
this report, there were no further developments
in the cases involving
members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise! who were detained
during a prayer vigil
in April 2005 while awaiting election results.
Additionally, no
investigation into the burning of a church building by
supporters of a
ruling party parliamentary candidate in March 2005 was
begun. Rev. Noel
Scott, who went to trial in November 2004 for holding a
street prayer in
2002, was no longer in detention. The magistrate
responsible for the case
failed to issue a judgment scheduled for January
2006, and further action
appeared unlikely.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or
detainees in the country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were
no reports of forced religious conversion, including of minor
United States
citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States,
or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned to
the United
States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The
generally amicable relations among religious groups in society
contributed
to religious freedom, although divisions between mainstream
Christian
religions and practitioners of traditional religions continued.
Unlike in
previous years, there were no reported cases of discrimination
against
Muslims in private work places, although embassy contacts in the
religious
community believed isolated incidents of this type continued to
occur. The
Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Baha'i, and Buddhist religious communities
were
relatively small and, generally, were not in open competition with
Christian
denominations for converts.
The interfaith council formed in 2004
continued to work towards bringing
together practitioners of various faiths
and establishing points of
collaboration.
At least five umbrella
religious organizations continued to operate during
the reporting period.
These groups included: The ZCC, the Heads of
Denominations, an association
of Christian denominations created to enable
collaboration among Christian
groups and the Government in the operation of
religious schools and
hospitals, Fambidzano, a group of indigenous churches,
ZINATHA, an
organization that represents traditional healers, and the
Islamic Council,
an umbrella organization for Muslim groups in the country.
The ZCC served
as the umbrella organization of all Protestant ecumenical
Christian
missionary churches, except for evangelical organizations. A total
of
seventy-two evangelical churches applied for membership to the Council
during the previous reporting period; however, the ZCC turned down all the
applications because the applicant churches allow polygamy.
While
practitioners of traditional indigenous religions experienced improved
relations with the Government, there were continuing reports of tensions
between these groups and mainstream Christian churches. Some indigenous
churches' acceptance of polygamy and avoidance of modern medicine were
common sources of these tensions. In addition, some Christian church
leaders' opposition to the previously mentioned WSA amendment also strained
relations between the two communities. Leaders discussed these issues
productively in meetings of the interfaith council and suggested possible
areas of cooperation, such as HIV/AIDS; notably; however, the head of the
Apostolic church renounced polygamy--a practice it previously considered to
be legitimate.
Reports of possible ritual killings and mutilations
continued to be cited by
newspapers and women and children's rights groups
throughout the period
covered by this report. Police usually investigated
these killings; however,
limited resources prevented police from conducting
many investigations or
identifying perpetrators.
Section IV. U.S.
Government Policy
The U.S. government had regular dialogue with and
supported civil society
organizations that advocated and monitored respect
for human rights,
including freedom of religion.
In support of
religious freedom, the U.S. embassy widely disseminated
relevant reports on
religious rights, and U.S. government officials
privately and publicly
emphasized concern regarding intimidation and
harassment of religious
officials who criticized the Government. The embassy
supported efforts by
religious leaders to highlight the Government's human
rights abuses and
flawed economic policies. It also encouraged these
leaders' attempts to
initiate and sustain a dialogue with government
officials on approaches to
improving the political situation.
Released on September 15,
2006
Source: US State Department
From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 15 September
Three members of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU)
who were
arrested and allegedly assaulted by police on Wednesday had still
not
received treatment by Friday morning. ZCTU president Lovemore Matombo,
first
vice-president Lucia Matibenga and secretary general Wellington
Chibebe were
allegedly assaulted by Zimbabwean police officers at the Matapi
police
station in Mbare after they held a protest against poverty. Matombo,
Matibenga and Chibebe sat in the middle of a street when they saw the police
coming and were then arrested, said national police spokesperson Wayne
Bvudzijena. He said they were arrested for participating in an illegal
demonstration. Spokesperson for the ZCTU, Mlamleli Sibanda, said Chibebe was
admitted to hospital on Friday morning with a fractured arm and bruised head
and that Matombo and Matibenga had still not recevied any medical attention.
But Bvudzijena said all three members had been treated on Friday morning. He
said Matombo, Chibebe and Matibenga were only admitted to hospital on Friday
because the degrees of the injuries had to be ascertained before sending
them for medical treatment.
Sibanda said in a statement that
Matombo and Chibebe could not manage to
stand after the alleged assault and
had to change their clothes because they
were soaked in blood. Bzudzijena
said: "Where would one be able to get a
change of clothes in police cells?
There's no need for people to change
anything." Sibanda told the Mail &
Guardian Online that the police were
trying to conceal the assault. "The
police are brutal here, they are always
assaulting people. It's a warning to
say that [the police] can do whatever
they want with us," he said.
Bvudzijena said the Zimbabwe police force were
investigating the assault
allegations. "We investigate ourselves. There is
no independent authority,"
he said. Bvudzijena said the court case would be
on Friday afternoon.
Sibanda believes that the three members will be charged
under the New
Criminal (Law Codification and Reform) Act. Bvudzijena also
said that
Chibebe was arrested in August when he allegedly "pushed around
and
attacked" a police officer at a road block after he refused to let the
officer search his car.
SABC
September 16, 2006,
16:00
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said it was "deeply
concerned and
outraged" by the arrests and alleged assaults of the Zimbabwe
Congress of
Trade Unions (ZCTU) members by the Zimbabwean police.
"We
are especially concerned about reports that state agents have denied
access
by lawyers to those detained and that several of those detained have
been
severely assaulted," David Coltart, the MDC's shadow minister of
justice,
said in a statement today.
Leaders and activists of the ZCTU were
protesting against poverty and the
government when police arrested and
reportedly assaulted them yesterday. The
Zimbabwean constitution was quite
clear on the right of Zimbabweans to
demonstrate peacefully, Coltart
said.
Those assaulted included Lovemore Matombo, the ZCTU leader, and
Wellington
Chibebe, the secretary general, who were held at Mtapi police
cells in
Harare, a French news agency reported.
Coltart said this was
not the first time that the police in Zimbabwe had
been accused of torture.
"We are keeping records of those responsible for
these heinous acts and will
use all the means at our disposal to bring the
culprits to book."
Zim
government seals off protest routes
Two days prior to the demonstrations, the
police were alerted by the ZCTU of
the routes the demonstrations would take.
They then sealed off these routes.
The ZCTU was forced to abandon plans for
a series of unauthorised
anti-government protests yesterday after union
leaders were rounded up in a
police crackdown, AFP reported.
Dominic
Tweedie, of the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) said Tawanda
Zvakare,
the Zimbabwean state prosecutor, attributed the trade union
leaders'
injuries to "skirmishes" with the police and even tried to allege
that
police were injured as well.
Tweedie said the state alleged that when the
ZCTU leaders were arrested,
they were shouting at the police calling them
"Mugabe's dogs". "But the
activists were chanting workers' songs and slogans
which were witnessed by
at least three journalist on
site."
Yesterday's protests took place in 34 ZCTU districts where
petitions were
delivered to the offices of the ministries of labour, finance
and health
fifteen activists have been admitted to the Dandaro Hospital in
Borrowdale. - Sapa
Analyst cites
partnerships between China, African oil companies
By Jim Fisher-Thompson,
Washington File Staff Writer
15 September 2006 -- Washington -- In its
need for more fuel to supply an
expanding economy, China is pursuing a
dynamic "holistic" approach to energy
partnerships in Africa that has
surprised many Western competitors, says
South African Warrick
Davies-Webb.
Davies-Webb, political analyst at Executive Research
Associates, a
risk-management consulting firm headquartered in Pretoria,
South Africa,
spoke at a September 13 briefing sponsored by the African
Center for
Strategic Studies (ACSS), a U.S. government agency located at
Fort McNair
near downtown Washington.
Established in 1999, ACSS
sponsors seminars and training sessions for
African midlevel military
officers and defense officials. It recently opened
an office in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia, to oversee programs on the continent
aimed at increasing the
professional skill of African militaries while
building closer ties with
U.S. counterparts in the defense community.
With oil, gas and coal use
far outstripping its productive capacity, "China
faces a growing energy
deficit that has great implications for Africa,"
Davies-Webb told his ACSS
audience. Africa has become a "new terrain for
energy battles" in which
Chinese state oil companies seek "to lock in energy
supplies throughout the
continent."
Their approach has become surprisingly sophisticated over the
past 10 years,
leading to partnerships with African state oil companies that
now account
for more than 10 percent of China's total oil imports,
Davies-Webb said.
During that period, China invested more than $4 billion in
Sudan alone, he
said.
As late as 2000, China's only energy presence
was in Sudan, but today its
involvement on the continent includes refineries
in Algeria and Libya,
pipeline construction in Sudan and Nigeria, oil
production in Angola and
exploration rights in Guinea-Bissau, as well as a
number of other
sub-Saharan African nations, Davies-Webb said.
In
2006 alone, China paid $2.2 billion for exploration rights in a field off
Nigeria's coast, and is "aggressively" expanding exploration of offshore
fields in Angola, he added.
China's new "holistic approach" --
offering exploration, development and
financing packages to its African
partners -- is an "attractive competitive
alternative to traditional Western
companies" who do not have a similar
"integrated package of carrots to
offer," the analyst said.
For African nations in financial trouble or
unwilling to meet the
transparency and accountability requirements of the
World Bank and other
international lenders, a Chinese deal literally can
mean an "alternative
economic lifeline."
In 2003, when Angola "found
itself facing a severe cash crisis, China
stepped in with a $2 billion loan
the next year that bailed that country
out." In Chad, where international
lenders threatened to withdraw support
from its new pipeline, "the Chinese
were willing to offer an alternative
package of technical assistance, if
World Bank discussions broke off,"
Davies-Webb added.
Unlike U.S.
government development agencies like the Millennium Challenge
Corporation
(MCC), the Chinese do not focus on human rights, anti-corruption
or economic
reform as requirements for their support, the analyst explained.
This is a
distinct draw to nations like Zimbabwe and Sudan, against whom the
U.S.
government, the European Union and the United Nations have imposed
sanctions
because of human rights violations.
At the same time, U.S. law has
tightened up rules against corruption for
American businesses operating
overseas. The day Davies-Webb spoke, a former
executive for the
Houston-based energy company, Willbros Group Incorporated,
pleaded guilty to
violating the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by
conspiring to bribe
officials in Nigeria and Ecuador and might face prison
time.
On the
macroeconomic level, "since all major economic decisions in China are
made
on a political level by the government and Communist Party, all deals
are
backed by them. Therefore, Chinese companies enjoy risk-free access to
African markets; an advantage Western companies just don't have," the
analyst added.
Entry into Chad's fledgling oil sector is a good
example of the overall
Chinese approach, where "you have had massive
[Chinese] institutional
support that includes trade, foreign aid packages,"
Davies-Webb said.
In addition, the Chinese also have fostered "strategic
linkages" with small
African oil companies that have political influence in
places like Nigeria,
for example, and with companies and banks in Portugal
that have connections
in countries like Angola.
Davies-Webb said the
Chinese also have "piggybacked" on Nigerian oil
companies going into Sao
Tome and Principe offshore oil fields, while they
have employed South
African businessmen with influence in Angola "as useful
Trojan horses to
gain access to key political players" in that oil-rich
country.
Portugal has played a "critical but very underestimated
role" in
facilitating oil deals for the Chinese, who regard the European
nation as
"their back door into the African oil sector," the analyst
remarked.
China also has gone out of its way to cultivate relations with
France,
Davies-Webb said, because of that nation's traditional business
relationship
with many African nations and the belief that the French pose
"a
counterweight to U.S. influence" on the continent.
See also "China
No Threat to United States in Africa, U.S. Official Says"
and "China's
Economic Focus on Africa is Mixed Picture, Scholar Says."
For more
information on U.S. policy, see The United States and China, Africa
and
Trade and Economics.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of
International Information
Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)