3. International Human Rights Day 2005: Zimbabwe

Extracts from recent news items – reasons to say ‘enough is enough’:

1. Quotes from Jan Egeland, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, following his visit to Zimbabwe this week:

   “Crimes were committed” (The Guardian)

   “The situation is very serious in Zimbabwe when life expectancy goes from more than 60 years to just over 30 years in a 15-year span [...] It’s not just a crisis – it’s a meltdown” (The Telegraph)

   “A growing number of people are suffering. There is chronic food insecurity, health problems and a shortage of shelter exacerbated by these evictions” (allAfrica.com)

   “It’s heartbreaking to meet victims of the eviction campaign who now are back in the same place, only in much worse shelter than the house that was bulldozed” (VOA News)

2. Press briefing by Emergency Relief Coordinator on his mission to Zimbabwe
3. Paul Themba Nyathi, a member of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party, and Trevor Ncube (publisher of the South African Mail and Guardian newspaper, as well as Zimbabwe’s The Standard and Zimbabwean Independent newspapers) have both had their passports seized by the Zimbabwean government:
   

   Mugabe’s government controversially amended Zimbabwe’s constitution last August to allow it to seize passports from citizens it says may harm “national interests” if they are allowed to travel abroad.

   [...]

   The Law Society of Zimbabwe, pro-democracy and human rights groups criticised the constitutional amendment saying it would breach citizens’ right of movement which is enshrined in the Bill of Rights.

   Political analysts also warned that the amendment would be used to ban MDC leaders and other government critics from going abroad to mobilise international pressure against Mugabe and his ruling ZANU PF party. (Zimonline)

4. Up to 6 million people in Zimbabwe will need food assistance between January and March. International agencies are planning to provide food to more than 3 million people. Food is hard to find; prices are skyrocketing above most people’s ability to pay; and the country has a critical shortage of both fuel for distributions and foreign currency. (Reuters AlertNet)
5. Zimbabwe signs a deal for UN food aid:
   

   Zimbabwe has agreed with the UN food agency to feed at least three million people in the country until next June.

   [...]

   Last year, President Robert Mugabe said Zimbabwe could feed itself without aid (BBC)

6. The price of fuel went up in the past week in response to the relaxation of import regulations on the product announced by Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa last week.
   

   This opened flood-gates as private importers brought in the commodity – in severe short supply since March this year. A litre of petrol now costs between Z$90 000 and Z$120 000, up to five times the price fixed by the government until last week.

   Prices of most basic commodities shot up this week in sympathy with the new fuel prices, with the cost of the staple maize-meal rising from around $175 000 for a five-kilogramme bag to $320 000 in the space of a few days. (ReliefWeb)

7. Zimbabwean inflation passes 500% (BBC)

Mugabe’s response to Zimbabwe’s crises and to criticism: (ReliefWeb)

• “You can see how they raise this, so that the rest of the international community can say human rights in Zimbabwe are being violated, people are suffering in the hope that the United Nations can support the British in their evil campaign to try and have control here”
• Of Jan Egeland: “He tells lies, utter lies [...] It’s a damn hypocrisy and a lie.”
• The 81-year-old president said he would tell UN Secretary General Kofi Annan “not to send men or women who are not his own but the agents of the British because we don’t trust men and women from his office anymore.”
• Britain still wanted control of Zimbabwe to exploit its vast mineral and agricultural wealth, Mugabe told delegates [at his party's annual conference], charging: “They would want Zimbabwe therefore to subject itself to their will so they can manipulate the government here so they can have a grip on our economy.” (SABC News)

Sokwanele – Zvakwana – Enough is Enough

Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, International Human Rights Day, Mugabe, murambatsvina, Human Rights, food aid, inflation, poverty

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