Stop harassment of Mugabe critics - churches

February 13 2011 at 07:50pm

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AP

Zimbabwean churches demanded a meeting with the police commissioner to ask him to end what they said was the harassment of those who had been driven from their homes by gangs loyal to President Robert Mugabe. Photo: AP

Harare - Zimbabwean churches on Sunday demanded a meeting with the police commissioner to ask him to end what they said was the harassment of those who had been driven from their homes by gangs loyal to President Robert Mugabe.

The last three weeks has seen a surge in the number of attacks in the capital, Harare, on supporters of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. The premier says more than 1,000 people have been displaced by the violence.

Observers have said the attacks are directly linked to Mugabe's threat to call early elections this year. The two-year-old, power- sharing government led by Mugabe and Tsvangirai is close to collapse due to disagreements over political reform.

The Christian Alliance, an umbrella group for most of the country's Protestant churches, said Sunday that police had last week twice raided a church property in Harare where people accused of being Tsvangirai supporters and driven from their homes had found shelter.

In the town of Glen Norah, police raided and assaulted about 100 people sheltering in another church property, activists group Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said.

The Christian Alliance said it was seeking an audience with police commissioner Augustine Chihuri to protest the alleged violence.

Earlier this month, a mob of youth marched from the offices of Mugabe's Zanu-PF party to Harare's business district, attacking foreigners and looting foreign-run businesses, whom they accused of destroying the economy.

At the end of January, an independent watchdog, the Southern African Coalition for Survivors of Torture, also warned of increasing incidents of political brutality and violent intimidation by militias under Mugabe's control.

Meanwhile on Sunday, state media reported that Mugabe had flown to Singapore on Friday for a check-up following an earlier operation there to remove a cataract.

The government in January denied press reports that Mugabe was ill and had undergone surgery in the Far East. - Sapa-dpa

Student Activist Abducted

09/02/11

A student activist Archford Mudzengi was this afternoon abducted by suspected ZANU-PF youths in Mbare following suspicions that he had gone to fuel the disturbances currently engulfing Mbare. ZANU PF youths have virtually made Mbare a no go area as violence intensifies ahead of possible elections this year. Mudzengi is alleged to have been beaten up then detained by the road side before being taken away.

The last week has seen political turmoil with the MDC-T offices in Mbare being raided and trashed by ZANU-PF youths. Women and children suspected to be supporters of the MDC have been displaced from Mbare and are now in hiding fearing further victimization. The violence is fast evolving into political chaos as ZANU-PF youths are now on the rampage carrying out ruthless attacks on opposition members. So intense is the level of unrest that the usually silent Joint Monitoring Implementation Committee JOMIC held a crisis meeting and provincial chairpersons of the three parties to the global political agreement have called for calm. According to the MDC-T spokes person Nelson Chamisa, more than 1000 families have been displaced from Mbare and the surrounding areas in the past two weeks. The Student Solidarity Trust demands the immediate release of Archford Mudzengi and that the perpetrators of these abductions be prosecuted. The trust is concerned about the rate at which political unrest is unfolding in the country and the risk this poses to students who have been viewed as sympathetic to the opposition in the past.

Police action disturbs Bishop

By Staff Reporter
Saturday, 29 January 2011 17:53


HARARE - Bishop Chad Gandiya, head of the Church Province of Central Africa (CPCA) has expressed deep concern over a fresh order that gives the police power to restrict CPCA members from within a 200 metre radius of any of their Anglican church buildings. In his latest pastoral letter dated January 21 to the Anglican congregation , Bishop Gandiya, whose church is at war with the faction led by Bishop Nolbert Kunonga said he is “deeply disturbed by the prolonged suffering of our people at the hands of the police who continue to claim to be receiving orders ‘from above’ to prevent us from using our church buildings.”The Bishop said he was disturbed that on 16 January this year, police accompanied by two priests from Bishop Kunonga’s faction harassed CPCA parishioners who were attending a church service at the St Andrews Church in Chipadze, Bindura.He said the priests claimed that they had court orders to evict the CPCA church members from the church buildings but they could not produce them.

Bishop Kunonga’s faction, which defected from the main church a few years ago, continues to defy a High Court ruling that the two factions should share the church properties.An interim High Court order was issued on 4 June 2010 by High Court Judge Justice Mavangira saying the two factions must share the church properties pending the resolution of the matter in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is yet to make its ruling.Members of the Bishop Gandiya faction continue to be harassed by members of the Bishop Kunonga faction and many are attending church services in buildings belonging to other churches like the Catholic and Methodist for fear of being beaten up.Bishop Kunonga is a strong Zanu PF supporter who has benefitted from the land reform programme.

http://www.dailynews.co.zw/news/34-news/1553-police-action-disturbs-bishop.html

Biti sounds warning over Zim elections

JOSHUA HOWAT BERGER JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Jan 20 2011 07:08

Zimbabwe's finance minister warned on Wednesday that his country could face a "bloodbath" at elections this year and urged the international community to do more to prevent crises in Africa.

Tendai Biti, a former opposition stalwart who has helped bring Zimbabwe's economy back from the brink of collapse, warned of "disastrous, debilitating consequences" if there is a repeat of the violent, contested elections of 2008."The tell-tale signs are already there that you could have another bloodbath," he told Agence France-Press (AFP) on the margins of a global poverty forum in Johannesburg."What is required is pro-activeness to prevent quite clearly a foreseeable situation," he said, alluding to the need for foreign states to step in.Stand-offPresident Robert Mugabe, who has led Zimbabwe since 1980, has called for new elections this year, saying the tense power-sharing government formed after the 2008 vote is no longer working.

Biti's party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and Mugabe's Zanu-PF formed a coalition government in 2009 after a violent presidential poll that saw MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdraw from the race, citing violence against his supporters.The stand-off ground the country to a halt and sparked an economic crisis that saw hyperinflation reach world record levels of billions of percent.Biti, who told AFP he inherited "the worst job in the world" as finance minister, oversaw an economic overhaul in which the country ditched its inflation-ravaged currency and adopted the US dollar.The move helped bring inflation down to a figure of 3,2% last month.However, Biti warned of a return to economic crisis if new elections unleash fresh violence or if Zimbabweans see them as unfair."If citizens feel that this is not an election, this is a sham and an excuse for assaulting us or torturing us, of killing us, of destroying our livestock, there will be capital flight, there will be physical flight across the border," he said."If that is the case, yes, there will be disastrous, debilitating consequences. All the work we have done, all the construction we have done, will dissipate ... in seconds."'International institutions have failed Africa'

Biti also criticised the international community for reacting late to developing crises in Africa, and urged the United Nations, the African Union and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to prepare for the possibility of a fresh crisis in Zimbabwe."International institutions have failed Africa. They are reactive. They wait for crises to happen," he said, citing the current political stand-off in Côte d'Ivoire as an example."

What is required is pro-activeness to prevent quite clearly a foreseeable situation," he said.A poll published on January 5 showed that 70% of Zimbabweans want elections this year, but less than half the electorate believed such polls would be free and fair.One in seven also feared election campaign intimidation or violence, which characterised the 2008 vote, amid slipping confidence in the unity government.The Afrobarometer survey questioned 1 192 citizens across Zimbabwe in October last year. --

Sapa-AFP
Source: Mail & Guardian OnlineWeb Address: http://www.mg.co.za/article/2011-01-20-biti-sounds-warning-over-zim-elections

Pastoral Letter of the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference 2011

Click here to read Pastoral Letter of the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference 2011

courtesy (www.zimbabwesituation.com )

First certify pre-poll conditions …. ZESN tells SADC

Saturday, 04 December 2010 13:41

HARARE – Zimbabwe’s largest independent election monitoring group says the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and other organisations should deploy advance teams to certify if the present political conditions in the country are conducive for the holding of free and fair polls next year. The Zimbabwe Electoral Support Network (ZESN) said advance monitoringteams should be deployed “now to assess the political environment” and should remain in the country at least a month after the polls toensure there are no post-election skirmishes as happened two years ago.The polls should only go ahead after the advance parties have certified the climate conducive for the unfettered participation of all stakeholders.

Read More:

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=36057:first-certify-pre-poll-conditions--zesn-tells-sadc&catid=69:sunday-top-stories&Itemid=30

Swiss Church Group criticizes certification of Zimbabwean diamonds

Bread for All criticizes the certification of Zimbabwean diamonds

Lausanne, 25 November 2010 Press Communiqué

Numerous human rights violations are being committed in Zimbabwe’s diamond mines by state security forces. Bread for All (Switzerland) is calling on the Government of Switzerland, as a member of the Kimberley Process, to demand the exclusion of Zimbabwean diamonds from the Kimberly Process (KP) which certifies diamonds for international trade. The Swiss Government must also call on the Kimberley Process to broaden the definition of blood diamonds to include diamonds originating from areas where human rights violations are committed by government forces.

Zimbabwe is one of the world’s biggest producers of rough diamonds. Marange district, eastern Zimbabwe, experienced a diamond rush in 2006 with the invasion of more than 30 000 illegal miners. The Geneva-based Zimbabwe Advocacy Office, a partner of Bread for All, reports that several human rights violations have been committed in Zimbabwe’s diamond mines by state security forces.

In October 2008, the Government of Zimbabwe deployed its army in order to control the region. During the military operation more that 200 miners and villagers were killed according to a Human Rights Watch report.[1] Since the military’s installation around the diamond fields, human rights are being committed frequently, notably, forced labour, child labour, torture, beatings and abductions. In addition, soldiers are reportedly forcing miners to work for them and smuggle diamonds.

Certification despite human rights violations

Zimbabwe is a member of the Kimberley Process, an organization that brings together governments, businesses, and civil society with the goal of regulating international trade in diamonds in order to combat “blood diamonds”, that is to say diamonds that serve to finance wars of rebel groups against governments. In November 2009, the KP suspended sale of Marange diamonds. In July 2010, after two missions of enquiry, the KP adjudged that Zimbabwe had met “the minimum criteria of the certification process for selling its uncut diamonds”, since diamond sales do not finance rebel groups. Zimbabwe was therefore authorized to hold a first diamond auction to international buyers in August 2010. Rapaport, a leading diamond brokerage company based in the US, immediately announced that it would not purchase Marange diamonds due to their connection with serious human rights violations.



Strict certification criteria is necessary

Currently the production of diamonds is not going towards national development as the diamond trade is being controlled by an army under the heel of President Mugabe. This situation is all the more alarming in that Zimbabwe suffers from widespread hunger and a severe economic crisis.


Bread for All therefore makes the following recommendations:

To the Government of Switzerland:

As a member of the Kimberley Process, Switzerland should request that Zimbabwean diamonds be excluded from KP Certification Scheme.
The Swiss Government should ask the KP to include in its criteria for ‘blood diamonds’, the human rights violations committed by the government forces (not only by the rebel groups).

To the Diamond Sector:

Refuse transactions on Zimbabwean diamonds, as long as the human rights situation does not improve.

To Swiss Consumers:
Make enquiries with jewelers on origin of the diamonds and refuse to buy those originating from Zimbabwe.


For more information:
Yvan Maillard Ardenti
Programme Officer, Finance and Corruption
Phone: 031 380 65 73 or 079 267 0109

http://www.ppp.ch/fr/francais/archivesgenerales/single-news/article/46/264/

[1] Human Rights Watch, ‘Deliberate Chaos, Ongoing Human Rights Abuses in the Marange Diamond Fields of Zimbabwe’, New York, June 2010