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This article participates on the following special index pages:
Operation Murambatsvina - Countrywide evictions of urban poor - Index of articles
Public
statement in response to the UN report on Zimbabwe's 'Operation
Murambatswina'
North
American Coalition for a Free Zimbabwe
July 28,
2005
The UN Report
on Zimbabwe's Operation Murambatswina (literally "drive out the
filth") is out, and it is a damning report. The United Nations envoy,
Mrs. Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka from Tanzania, has revealed in her
report to the United Nations Secretary General the depraved indifference
that attended the flouting of international law and the creation
of a grave humanitarian crisis. What the government of President
Robert Mugabe has been doing in the past one and a half months is
not just a crime against humanity but a calculated attempt to destroy
what ever semblance of socio-political order was left in the country.
A leading Catholic Cleric described Operation Murmbatswina as "social
reconstruction with a sledge hammer and bulldozer".
By destroying
people's homes, bulldozing dwellings while children screamed inside,
leaving AIDS patients out in the open to face the elements and to
die in the cold at night, forcing people to go to rural "homes",
forcing people to go hungry and not allowing churches and charities
to feed them, Robert Mugabe has joined that small clique of brutal
dictators whose only reason for existence is to control and subjugate
their citizens. It is clear now that Robert Mugabe seeks to destroy
any political opposition to him and will do anything to achieve
that goal, including causing death, destruction and destitution.
The dislocation and displacement of seven hundred thousand people
and the characterization of the displaced persons as "maggots" and
"filth" should be viewed as a preamble to genocide.
It is not enough
to call for a halt to what the Mugabe government has been doing.
The damage is doneand it is immense. The international community
is urged to put the crisis in Zimbabwe on the Security Council agenda
through the agency of the United Nations, and to work out a process
where by human rights, democracy and the rule of law are restored
as soon as possible. The United Nations Secretary General, Kofi
Anan is urged to galvanize the United Nations Security Council to
action, and together with leaders of the Southern African countries
should convene an urgent meeting to get all the parties to the crisis
in Zimbabwe to a negotiating table where an internationally approved
process can be put in place to bring Zimbabwe back into the fold
as a free and democratic country.
Further, the
North American Coalition for a Free Zimbabwe (NACFREEZ) calls upon
the United Nations, the African Union, the European Union, the United
States and other concerned parties to:
- Urgently
establish and implement a plan to feed the hungry and dispossessed
masses of Zimbabweans affected by Operation Murambatswina, to
provide urgently needed health care facilities and medicines,
and to construct temporary and permanent housing for those that
Mugabe has rendered homeless and destitute;
- Appoint a
special envoy for Zimbabwe to establish procedures and a time
table for all the parties to the Zimbabwe crisis to negotiate
a return to the rule of law, free and fair elections and the re-establishment
of a democratic dispensation in the country;
- Develop a
set of stringent sanctions against the regime of Robert Mugabe
and set a deadline for their imposition if he does not negotiate
a new dispensation for Zimbabwe in earnest;
- Urge the
International Criminal Court to commence without delay an investigation
into the claim that a crime against humanity has been perpetrated
and those responsible for perpetrating this egregious act must
be brought to justice;
- Endorse
and sanction the trial of those responsible for Operation Murambatswina
for crimes against humanity in internationally recognized jurisdiction
if the Zimbabwean Government does not adhere to the demands of
the international community on the restoration of order in Zimbabwe
under a given timetable.
The proposals
above are minimum requirements. In the long term, the international
community and its financial institutions will need to help Zimbabwe
restore economic viability and socio-political stability. Zimbabwe
can, as it has done in the past, feed itself, provide jobs for its
people, educate, house and provide good health care for its citizens.
The Mugabe government and radical political extremist elements within
the ruling Zanu-PF party have systematically destroyed the country's
potential in the name of nationalism. It is time for the world family
to stop the carnage and to abandon polite diplomatic maneuvers in
the face of a gathering threat to the stability and security of
the Southern African region. Robert Mugabe and the criminal elements
of his Zanu-PF party must not be allowed to drag the region into
a dark abyss.
This statement
is endorsed by the following members of the North American Coalition
for a Free Zimbabwe:
- The Association
of Concerned Zimbabweans (ACZ)
- The Association
of Zimbabweans Based Abroad (AZBA)
- The Alliance
for Southern African Progress (ASAP)
- The Movement
for Democratic Change - North America District (MDC-NAD)
CONTACT:
Mr. Ralph Black
The Association of Zimbabweans Based Abroad (AZBA)
(469) 223-6201
ralphblck@yahoo.com
Dr. Handel N. Mlilo
The Association of Concerned Zimbabweans (ACZ)
(240) 505-0179
hmlilo@verizon.net
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