THE LATEST ON ZIMBABWE

Dear Friends,

The Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ Zimbabwe) issued two Daily Media Updates over the weekend. Firstly, Update no. 31 of 19.2.08 notes that the government controlled papers continue in ‘their cheerleading role for ZANU PF’. The second, Update no. 32 issued on 20.4.08, states that “While the privately owned ‘Standard’ was reporting a widespread campaign of violence against MDC supporters that has claimed as many as 10 lives so far, the ‘Sunday Mail’ and ‘Sunday News ’ (20/4) continued to passively report on the country’s political crisis as normal electoral procedure in the nine stories they carried.”

Further to our last mailing, a atetement of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) which noted that on-going recount of votes was both in contempt of court and unlawful, today, we refer you to ‘Bill Watch’ produced by Veritas and released on 18.4.08 and containing more information and linkages to other sources of information. Please follow the link to the Kubatana website to access this
http://www.kubatana.net/html/archive/legisl/080418veritas.asp?sector=LEGISL&year=0&range_start=1

In relation to the issue of the re-count of votes, the Institute for Democracy in Southern Africa (IDASA) has today, 21.4.08, released a Guide to the Delay in Zimbabwe election results The Inconvenient Truth. The guide follows what IDASA describes as confusion amongst the media and several political analysts as to precisely what ought to have happened after people went to the polls in Zimbabwe on March 29. IDASA notes that confusion could have been avoided by referring to the Electoral Act. They conclude that ‘SADC observers left before the announcement of the results and were not present to witness the vicious retributive campaign unleashed by ZANU PF’. IDASA concludes that the ‘excuses’ given by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) for the delay in releasing the presidential results evokes scepticism. Please see the full report at: http://www.idasa.org/

Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a report on Saturday, 19.4.08 about the setting up, by ZANU PF, of ‘torture camps’ and how opposition voter have told of beatings and intimidation. HRW reports that torture and violence are surging in Zimbabwe and that ZANU PF is using a network of informal detention centres to beat, torture and intimidate opposition activists and ordinary Zimbabweans. To access the report, please follow the web link below:
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/04/19/zimbab18604_txt.htm

In further reports of violence an Alert was issued on 19.4.08 by the Murewa Community Development Trust (MCDT) about how the war veterans and youth militia have set up detention centres which are being used to torture opposition and human rights activists throughout the communities around Murewa district, 75km east of Harare in the province of Mashonaland East.

The Zimbabwe Solidarity Forum released today a Press Statement entitled ‘Every Day of Inaction is a Crime against the People of Zimbabwe’. The statement notes growing concern about the escalation of retributive violence perpetrated by the Zimbabwe state security forces and paramilitaries against civilians across the country. They recommend a number of actions to be taken by SADC, the African Union, the ANC and the South African Government.

Further to the reports about the Chinese ship carrying arms for Zimbabwe , IANSA, the International Action Network on Small Arms, have launched an on-line petition. We refer you to the following link where you can sign the petition
http://www.iansa.org/stoptheshipment/stoptheshipment.php

Finally, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban ki-moon, arrived in Accra Ghana on Saturday 19.4.08 for the 12th UN Conference on Trade and Development ( UN CTAD). In an ‘off the cuff’ remark, he referred to various crises in Africa, including that in Zimbabwe, and noted that he intended to raise the issue during his meetings with regional leaders over the weekend. His full comments can be read via the following link
http://www.un.org/apps/sg/offthecuff.asp