ULTIMAS DO ZIMBABWE

Dear Friends,

A Press Statement expressing the gravest concern at the unacceptable delay in the release of election results was issued today, 4.04.08, by the Media Institute for Southern Africa (MISA Zimbabwe). Of particular concern is the statement that there is good and reliable record that the ZANU PF party has already embarked on a retributive and violent campaign before the final results for the Senate and Presidential elections have been announced. We attach this here.

A further release from MISA Zimbabwe was issued today, 4.04.08, and we will publish it soon. It concerns the arrest of a number of foreign journalists who were in Zimbabwe to cover the country’s election.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Chair of the board of the National Democratic Institute (NDI), issued the following statement on 3.04.08 calling for the immediate release of its member Dileepan Sivapathasundaram, a United States citizen and a senior program officer with NDI, who was taken by Zimbabwean authorities at the Harare airport as he was departing the country on Thursday 3.04.08. http://www.ndi.org/

Our member organisation, the Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ) issued the latest Daily Media Update No.15 yesterday, 3.3.08 focusing on the post election period. It notes that the two government controlled daily newspapers both ‘deliberately suffocated news that ZANU PF had lost control of the House of Assembly for the first time since independence. Attached here is the Update. You can also visit the MMPZ website for this and other reports at http://www.mmpz.org

Representatives of Churches in Zimbabwe ’s eastern province of Manicaland have expressed their concern and joined the urgent appeal for the release of results in the Presidential vote. Please see the attached appeal to the Chairman of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, dated 3.04.08 and attached here.

Yesterday, 3.04.08, Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition issued the latest Crisis Information No. 8 with disturbing reports of alleged plans to unleash ‘agents of violence’ in Zimbabwe , including the notorious Youth Militia and operatives from the Central Intelligence Agency. Please see the Crisis in Zimbabwe website for this and other topical updates on the unfolding situation in Zimbabwe http://www.crisiszimbabwe.org/news.php

A wide spectrum of Kenyan civil society groups grouped under the National Civil Society Congress and Kenyans for Peace with Truth and Justice (KPTJ) issued a joint press statement on Zimbabwe yesterday, 3.08.04. The statement says that Kenyans ‘know too well, and indeed witnessed on the ground in Zimbabwe , that both the political environment and the administration of the elections did not facilitate free and fair elections’. Noting the heavy presence of riot police and army in the streets of Zimbabwe ’s two largest cities, the statement demands that Zimbabwean security forces do not interfere with the ‘sovereign will of the people’. They recommend that Kenya and Zimbabwe should both regain their rightful place as leaders of the continent’s struggles for democratic and human development. The statement can be found at the Crisis in Zimbabwe website at:
http://www.crisiszimbabwe.org/news.php