Help the people of Zimbabwe

[Elaine Friedland]

A ship carrying arms, including 3 million rounds of ammunition, bound for Zimbabwe is currently trying to find a way of delivering its deadly cargo. It is highly likely that these weapons will be used to fuel violence, killings and intimidation in Zimbabwe’s growing political crisis. THE ARMS MUST BE STOPPED.

Please help stop these arms getting through to Zimbabwe.
The petition and details are at:
http://www.iansa.org/stoptheshipment/

[Elaine Friedland]

October 15, 2009
Zimbabwe Imprisons and Indicts Opponent
By CELIA W. DUGGER

JOHANNESBURG — Roy Bennett, a leader of the political party that long fought Zimbabwe’s president but now shares power with him, was sent back to prison on Wednesday in the eastern city of Mutare and formally indicted on terrorism charges.

Mr. Bennett, who was supposed to serve as a deputy agriculture minister in the eight-month-old coalition government, is scheduled to go to trial on Monday. The Herald, the state-owned daily newspaper, reported Wednesday that the state would oppose bail for Mr. Bennett — who was jailed for almost a month early this year — and was ready to try him on charges of possessing arms for terrorism.

The case against Mr. Bennett, which his party denounces as false, is based in large part on a confession obtained from his accuser through torture, according to two lawyers who have spoken to the accuser. President Robert Mugabe, interviewed in New York on Sept. 24 by CNN, said he would swear in Mr. Bennett as a deputy minister only if he was acquitted.

Mr. Bennett’s prosecution and the arrests of over a dozen Parliament members from his party, the Movement for Democratic Change, by a criminal justice system still firmly controlled by Mr. Mugabe’s party, ZANU-PF, have soured relations between the sides and undermined efforts to restore the rule of law in a nation that Mr. Mugabe, 85, has ruled for almost three decades.

“In Zimbabwe, the law is a sword used against perceived competitors of ZANU-PF,” said Nelson Chamisa, spokesman for the Movement for Democratic Change and the communications minister in the coalition government. “Roy Bennett’s a senator and he’s being treated like a criminal.”

Even as Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, was praised last week as a contender for the Nobel Peace Prize, journalists and human rights workers in Zimbabwe said they saw fresh reasons to doubt ZANU-PF’s commitment to democracy and press freedom.

This month, Webster Shamu, information minister and a ZANU-PF member, named retired senior military officials to the boards that oversee the state monopoly on television broadcasting, a step the Media Institute of Southern Africa described as “extremely disturbing.” After Mr. Mugabe came in second in the first round of elections against Mr. Tsvangirai last year, senior military commanders organized a campaign of brutality against the opposition.

At an open forum with members of the press, George Charamba, Mr. Mugabe’s spokesman, also warned editors of a new newspaper not to operate without a license. The newspaper would be the first independent daily in the country since 2003. The commission that is supposed to license newspapers has yet to be appointed.

“It would be foolish not to be concerned about such a statement from such a powerful public official,” said Trevor Ncube, who owns the Mail & Guardian in South Africa and two independent weeklies in Zimbabwe, and is backing the new paper. “There are negative signs. We’re also concerned about the militarization of the media commissions.”

Mr. Tsvangirai has described progress made under the government he leads with Mr. Mugabe: the halt to hyperinflation, the relative peacefulness, the return of goods to grocery store shelves and children to the classrooms. But under severe pressure from regional leaders, his party entered a government in which ZANU-PF retained control of the military, the criminal justice system and the media.

Mr. Tsvangirai has sought the intervention of the Southern African Development Community, the 15-nation regional bloc that negotiated the power-sharing deal, to help resolve issues his party believes are hobbling the country’s economic recovery and its ability to attract foreign investment. So far, S.A.D.C., as the bloc is known, has done nothing.

“I hope S.A.D.C. see that ZANU-PF has not shifted from its position of abusing the powers it has to decimate the M.D.C. — powers given to them by S.A.D.C.,” said Beatrice Mtetwa, a human rights lawyer who represents Mr. Bennett.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/15/world/africa/15zimbabwe.html?ref=...

[Elaine Friedland]

Tsvangirai Boycotts Zimbabwe Government
By FARAI MUTSAKA

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said Friday his party had cut contact with President Robert Mugabe and will boycott weekly cabinet meetings until Mr. Mugabe agrees to share power more equally.

The move is the latest of several gambits by Mr. Tsvangirai, who joined a unity government with the autocratic president in February after violent and contested polls last year. Since agreeing to join Mr. Mugabe, Mr. Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change have accused the president and his ruling Zanu-PF party of holding onto most real levers of power and persecuting MDC members.

In a press conference in Harare, Mr. Tsvangirai said he is boycotting the government to protest the jailing of Roy Bennett, the MDC treasurer, who the party had chosen as its nominee for deputy agricultural minister.

He was arrested on weapons charges the day the cabinet was sworn in in February. He has been granted bail, but Mr. Mugabe has refused to admit him into the cabinet.

A court on Wednesday ruled that Mr. Bennett should be imprisoned while he stands trial. Mr. Bennett denies the charges, which the MDC and human-rights groups say are trumped up.

Mr. Tsvangirai was careful not to threaten to leave the government.

"We are not pulling out (of) the government," said Mr. Tsvangirai, who has long maintained that working inside a power-sharing arrangement is the best way of forcing change on Mr. Mugabe.

Mr. Tsvavgirai said MDC ministers and officials will continue with government business, but without communicating or consulting with Mr. Mugabe. Given the frigid working relationship between the two sides, it's unclear what practical ramifications the decision will have.

"If MDC wants to disengage ... we don't have a problem with that," Ephraim Masawi, a Zanu-PF spokesman, told the Associated Press. "We were having problems with MDC, working together. We have been trying but it was not easy."

Still, the move underscores the still-unstable balance of power in Zimbabwe more than a year after Mr. Mugabe was forced into a violent run-off election with Mr. Tsvangirai, triggering a bitter feud over power sharing that only ended after intense international pressure.

It could also complicate recent efforts by Zimbabwe and some of its southern African neighbors to convince international donors to open their wallets again to Zimbabwe. Mr. Tsvangirai's role in government has been a condition for many countries to reengage Harare.

But most big donors have been reluctant to recommit funds, accusing Mr. Mugabe of implementing reforms too slowly. The U.S. has maintained it wants to see evidence that Mr. Mugabe isn't still calling the shots.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125569146514789737.html

[Elaine Friedland]

* OCTOBER 24, 2009, 5:43 P.M. ET

Mugabe Loyalists Raid Rival's Home http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125641602365605979.html

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Police loyal to President Robert Mugabe raided a house used by the prime minister's supporters Saturday and accused them of hoarding weapons in a move that is likely to push Zimbabwe's fragile coalition government closer to collapse.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change said Saturday the police raid on a house where the party's executives stay was provocation by Mugabe's party who wants the coalition to fail.

Mr. Mugabe was forced into a power-sharing government with Mr. Tsvangirai, the country's longtime opposition leader, in February after disputed elections last year. Tsvangirai withdrew temporarily from the coalition government on Oct. 16.

Mr. Mugabe, 85, has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980 and many fear he will hang on to power at all costs.

Finance Minister and MDC Secretary-General Tendai Biti said about 50 armed police "ransacked" a house used by party executives in Harare on Friday night.

He said a guard, Moffat Nyandure, and his wife were assaulted. Police told Mr. Nyandure to dig in the yard around the house in search of weapons, he said. Mr. Nyandure was made to dig with his bare hands for five hours.

A room occupied by a party official, who was at the house at the time of the raid, was searched and "valuable party documents' were taken, Mr. Biti said. Police "claimed" they had a search warrant, he said.

The house is used by MDC executives who visit from outside of the capital.

Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena had no immediate comment.

"They are behind this attack," Mr. Biti said, referring to Mr. Mugabe's ZANU-PF party. "Our decision of pulling out of the inclusive government infuriated ZANU-PF and this is the price we now pay for that decision."

Mr. Tsvangirai's boycott has been a setback for the country's struggle to emerge from political gridlock, economic collapse, and international isolation and sanctions.

Both parties have said they are committed to the coalition but it has been strained by disagreements that have paralyzed the country.

Mr. Tsvangirai has condemned unilateral moves by Mugabe to fill government posts, continuing human rights violations and attacks on activists by ZANU-PF militants and security forces.

The only positive sign for unity and democratic reform in Zimbabwe came weeks ago when the Supreme Court released nine activists and dropped terror charges against them because they had been tortured and beaten in jail.

But the catalyst for Mr. Tsvangirai's withdrawal was the prosecution of Roy Bennett, a popular party member nominated as deputy agriculture minister.

Prosecutors unsuccessfully tried to send Bennett back to jail to await trial on charges linked to discredited allegations that he had plotted the violent overthrow of Mugabe.

Mr. Biti said the MDC was adamant it would not return to the coalition until there was movement from Mugabe's party.

"These acts of harassment are an attempt to intimidate us but we will not be intimidated and our disengagement will not be reversed until outstanding issues are resolved," Mr. Biti told reporters Saturday.

Mr. Tsvangirai is looking to regional leaders to help resolve the stalemate. This week he met with the leaders of neighbouring countries and a team of southern African ministers will also visit the country Thursday.

However, Mr. Mugabe and his party have treated Tsvangirai's boycott with contemptuous indifference.

In his first comments on the issue Friday, Mr. Mugabe called the split a "non-event" and said his party would not change its course.

"No amount of pressure will make ZANU-PF yield to any one of their demands," he told state television on his return from a summit of African leaders in Uganda.

"What the MDC wants is to have complete executive authority and that we cannot allow," Mr. Mugabe said.

Mr. Mugabe has demanded that Mr. Tsvangirai do more to get international sanctions lifted and foreign aid and investment restored. He claims the sanctions have been illegally imposed by Western nations and have contributed to the country's economic decline.

However, sanctions such as those imposed by the European Union are largely targeted against Mr. Mugabe and his cronies whose assets have been frozen and travel restricted.

Critics blame Mr. Mugabe for Zimbabwe's economic meltdown which began after he ordered the seizures of thousands of white-owned commercial farms in 2000, disrupting the agriculture-based economy in the former regional breadbasket.

[Elaine Friedland]

October 28, 2009
World Briefing | Africa
Zimbabwe: Opposition Ministers Boycott Cabinet Session Again
By CELIA W. DUGGER

Government ministers from the Movement for Democratic Change, led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, boycotted the cabinet meeting on Tuesday for the second week in a row, following their decision to stop dealing with President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party. They contend that ZANU-PF has violated the power-sharing agreement that brought the two enemies into the same government. A team from the Southern African Development Community, the 15-nation regional bloc that brokered the deal, is scheduled to arrive Thursday. Mr. Tsvangirai’s spokesman, James Maridadi, said he hoped the representatives will help resolve the crisis.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/world/africa/28briefs-Zimbabwe.ht...

[Elaine Friedland]

Zimbabwe Deports U.N. Investigator

JOHANNESBURG -- Zimbabwean immigration officials barred the United Nations' torture investigator from entering their country and returned him to South Africa Thursday, an act he termed a "serious diplomatic incident" that reflects a split in the coalition government.

"There are certainly some parts of the government who do not want me to assess the current conditions of torture," Manfred Nowak angrily told reporters in Johannesburg upon arrival from Zimbabwe.

Mr. Nowak said he had a meeting scheduled with Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai Thursday at the start of his mission to investigate alleged attacks on Tsvangirai supporters by militants linked to President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party.

Mr. Tsvangirai, a longtime opposition leader, joined the government with Mr. Mugabe in February, but withdrew temporarily from Cabinet earlier this month after accusing ZANU-PF of human rights violations.

Mr. Nowak called his treatment "alarming" evidence of the split in the southern African country's coalition government.

He had received word from other Zimbabwean officials that he shouldn't come only after he had flown from Austria to South Africa en route to neighboring Zimbabwe. Still, Mr. Nowak flew to Zimbabwe Wednesday, citing his invitation from Mr. Tsvangirai. When he arrived, airport immigration officials told him the foreign ministry hadn't cleared his meeting with the prime minister, he said. He spent the night in the airport.

"I have never been treated as rudely by any government as the government of Zimbabwe," Mr. Nowak snapped.

Mr. Nowak said that he contacted Mr. Tsvangirai's office from the airport, which sent a high-level delegation to fetch him. The delegation was barred by airport security, and was even told Mr. Nowak wasn't at the airport, the U.N. envoy said.

Mr. Tsvangirai's spokesman, James Maridadi, said Thursday that Mr. Nowak's trip had been cleared and that he couldn't immediately say why he had been barred.

"We are surprised that he was detained last night at Harare International Airport," Mr. Maridadi said.

Joey Bimha, the top civil servant in the ZANU-PF-controlled foreign ministry, said Mr. Nowak had been told he couldn't come because officials were engaged with Mr. Tsvangirai's temporary withdrawal from the Cabinet. A trio of foreign ministers from neighboring countries was holding talks with the factions Thursday and Friday in an attempt to end the impasse.

"We had no option but to send (Nowak) back because we had informed him that his services were no longer needed here," Mr. Bimha said.

Mr. Nowak said he could have modified his trip if he was given the chance to discuss that during his planned meeting with Mr. Tsvangirai. He said unilaterally calling off a trip at the 11th hour that had taken weeks of consultation with Zimbabwean officials "is diplomatically not acceptable."

If Mr. Tsvangirai "is not in a position to clear my entrance to the country, that is a very, very alarming signal about the power structure of the government," Mr. Nowak said.

Under Zimbabwe's coalition agreement, the foreign ministry is controlled by Mr. Mugabe's party, in power for nearly three decades and accused of trampling on human rights and democracy. Home Affairs, which oversees immigration as well as police, is shared by ZANU-PF and Mr. Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change after the longtime rivals were unable to agree on which would control the key ministry.

"This is not the way the United Nations should be dealt with by a member state of the United Nations," Mr. Nowak said, demanding an explanation from Zimbabwean authorities.

The office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement Wednesday that Mr. Nowak was initially invited to Zimbabwe from Oct. 28 to Nov. 4.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125681496672315631.html

[Elaine Friedland]

November 6, 2009
Tsvangirai Calls Off Cabinet-Meetings Boycott
By CELIA W. DUGGER

JOHANNESBURG — Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai of Zimbabwe announced at the conclusion of a gathering of southern African leaders late Thursday night that his party had called off its boycott of cabinet meetings with President Robert Mugabe, but it was unclear what Mr. Tsvangirai received in return for backing down.

His spokesman, James Maridadi, said in an interview that leaders from the Southern African Development Community, meeting in Maputo, Mozambique, had agreed to monitor progress in resolving bitter disputes between Mr. Tsvangirai and Mr. Mugabe over crucial appointments in the government, with the aim of settling them within 30 days.

Mr. Tsvangirai was also encouraged by the personal involvement of President Jacob Zuma of South Africa, the region’s richest, most powerful nation, in seeking to resolve the problems in Zimbabwe, Mr. Maridadi said. Mr. Zuma, in office six months, attended the meeting in Mozambique and will visit Zimbabwe within 15 days to follow up on negotiations, Mr. Maridadi said.

“Now there are time frames, and Jacob Zuma has said when he comes to Zimbabwe it will not be business as usual,” Mr. Maridadi said. He added, “Look, he’s a fresh pair of hands with a fresh perspective on the issue.”

Vincent Magwenya, Mr. Zuma’s spokesman, reached at nearly midnight Thursday, said he could not comment on the outcome of the meeting of representatives of the 15-nation regional bloc until it released an official communiqué on the talks.

Mr. Zuma’s own views on the Zimbabwe crisis — and Mr. Mugabe’s 29-year rule of the nation — have been enigmatic in the months since he took office. If he has, indeed, decided to use his influence more directly to settle festering political conflicts there, it would be a major development.

Thabo Mbeki, Mr. Zuma’s predecessor, was known for pursuing “quiet diplomacy” in the almost decade-old Zimbabwe crisis — an approach Mr. Mbeki’s many critics said was tantamount to siding with Mr. Mugabe, who has ruthlessly held on to power for 29 years through the liberal use of violence against his adversaries at election time.

Until now, Mr. Mugabe has refused to give an inch on the issues that led to Mr. Tsvangirai’s decision to boycott cabinet meetings. For example, Mr. Tsvangirai wants the replacement of two of Mr. Mugabe’s key loyalists: Gideon Gono, who heads the Reserve Bank and is widely blamed for the hyperinflation that devastated Zimbabwe’s economy, and Attorney General Johannes Tomana, held responsible for the selective prosecution of more than a dozen legislators from the Mr. Tsvangirai’s party, the Movement for Democratic Change.

Mr. Tsvangirai’s party disengaged from dealings with Mr. Mugabe and his party, ZANU-PF, only three weeks ago. At the time, Mr. Tsvangirai accused ZANU-PF of being “a dishonest and unreliable partner.”

Mr. Tsvangirai’s threat to call for new elections if his concerns were not addressed shook the nine-month-old transitional government that had brought together longtime political enemies. The possibility that the government could dissolve, plunging Zimbabwe back into violence and economic collapse, drew the attention of regional leaders who are supposed to guarantee the political arrangement that they brokered.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/06/world/africa/06zimbabwe.html?ref=...