Friday, January 23, 2009

Resolution on Zimbabwe by CSOs attending the NGO Forum preceding the AU Summit January 2009:


Deeply concerned about the needless deaths arising from cholera due to failing public health service delivery arising from the unresolved political crisis;

Concerned further about the prevailing climate of impunity including the rampant and escalating politically motivated and organized violence, the abductions of civil society activists and legitimate political opponents;

NOTING WITH CONCERN that the SADC led mediation process was not done in full conformity with the AU resolution on Zimbabwe adopted at Sham El Sheikh and has further failed to bring an end to the political stalemate or to alleviate the deteriorating and worsening humanitarian crisis;

Deeply disturbed that despite 5.1 million Zimbabweans requiring humanitarian assistance, the government continues to frustrate the efforts of NGOs to work freely in areas of need;

Gravely concerned that the Zimbabwean crisis has assumed regional dimensions and now poses a real threat to regional security;

Taking note that in the face of serious human rights violations in member states, the AU has increasingly applied the principle of non-indifference over the principle of non-interference;
Recommends that:
1. African Union publicly condemns and calls for an end to the violations/abuses taking place in Zimbabwe and a full restoration of basic economic, social, political and civil rights of Zimbabwean people;
2. African Union formally recognizes that the SADC mediation has failed and that the resolution of the Zimbabwean crisis be done under the direct authority of the AU
3. African Union invokes the responsibility to protect Zimbabweans from the serious violations and the humanitarian catastrophe currently unfolding in Zimbabwe.
4. African Union decisively deals with Zimbabwe government's failure to respect African institutions and their decisions such as those of the SADC Tribunal and the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights.
Courtesy of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum

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