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Don Mattera and African solidarity team urge regional action on Zimbabwe
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition
December 01, 2006

Over the past week, in an African solidarity visit to Zimbabwe, civil society leaders from across the continent have been speaking with local NGOs, trade unions, women’s movement, churches, students, and individuals in businesses and government on the challenges facing civil society in the country.   

"Africans have a responsibility to speak out against the suffering of our brothers and sisters.. " says Dr Don Mattera, South African writer and community activist, and a member of the team. 

In the team’s communiqué, released today, they have expressed concern with the ongoing crackdown on freedoms of expression, association and assembly; and the Zimbabwe government’s apathy towards the spiralling poverty in the country. They have also emphasised the importance of renewed and ongoing pressure on Zimbabwe by African states and civil society. 

"As a human rights worker, I have been watching with dismay as the governance, human rights and hence the economy has deteriorated in Zimbabwe over the last five years," says Don Deya, the executive director of the East African Law Society based in Tanzania. "The greatest source of my dismay is that the neighbouring states, especially the Republic of South Africa, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU) have steadfastly decided to do absolutely nothing about it."   

Along with Mattera and Deya, the team included Luckson Chipare, former regional director of Media Institute of South Africa; John Kapito, a commissioner at the Malawian Human Rights Commission; Hannah Forster, executive director of the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies in the Gambia; Jeremias Langa, news director of SOICO, the only independent broadcaster in Mozambique and Fatoumata Toure, of the Global Pan African Movement, based in Kampala. 

In addition to public and individual meetings on human rights and humanitarian issues, the team has held focused discussions on the controversial development of a Zimbabwean Human Rights Commission, and devastating impact of forced removals.

The team will be issuing a brief summary of the visit’s observations on 10 December, with the full report to follow in January 2007.

"We hope that the team’s visit has shown Zimbabwean civil society that their neighbours support them, and that it has delivered a strong regional message to the Zimbabwean government – African civil society will not stand by and watch idly while Zimbabwean citizens are suffering," says Kumi Naidoo, CIVICUS Secretary General.

The solidarity visit is coordinated by Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, a network of 350 organisations in Zimbabwe; and CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, an international organisation with members in over 100 countries, dedicated to strengthening civil society around the world.

Visit the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition fact sheet

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