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ZIMBABWE: AU inaction "distressing" says UN official
IRIN News
June 27, 2005

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47833

JOHANNESBURG - A senior United Nations official has described the failure of African Union (AU) leaders to intervene in the forced eviction of informal settlers in Zimbabwe as a "distressing".

In an interview with IRIN, Miloon Kothari, Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing with the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR), was critical of African leaders' failure to respond to the crisis that has been unfolding over the past five weeks.

"Influential leaders like South African President Thabo Mbeki and the Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo could have intervened in the crisis which has left 240,000 people homeless," he told IRIN.

AU spokesman Desmond Orjiako reportedly said last week that it was "not proper" for the union to interfere in the internal affairs of Zimbabwe.

The eviction campaign - described officially as an attempt to rid the capital, Harare, of illegal structures and criminal activities - has now moved into 29 other urban centres and rural settlements, "with some reports stating that up to a million people may face eviction if the operation continues," said a joint statement on Friday by 10 UN experts condemning the action.

The Zimbabwean government had "not responded" to UNCHR's calls to stop the campaign, said Kothari. "We [the UNCHR] are continuing to call for an immediate halt of the evictions and the opening up of space for humanitarian agencies to intervene. Acknowledging the crisis, the UN secretary-general, Kofi Annan, has appointed Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka, the Executive Director of UN-HABITAT, as his Special Envoy for Human Settlement Issues in Zimbabwe."

Tibaijuka arrived in Zimbabwe on Sunday to assess the situation. The official newspaper, The Herald, quoted President Robert Mugabe as saying, "I have agreed to receive the United Nations Secretary General's special envoy in the country, so as to enable them to understand and appreciate what we are trying to do for our people, who deserve much better than the shacks that are now being romanticised as fitting habitats for them."

Kothari said, "We will have to await the report from the UN envoy. We are putting pressure on the special envoy to get the government to at least open up the space for humanitarian agencies to intervene, to immediately attend to the needs of the people left homeless. We also need a political assessment of the impact of the campaign."

The Zimbabwean government was in a "state of denial", according to the special rapporteur. "Until recently there was no acknowledgement from the government that there was a grave crisis - there was this humanitarian disaster unfolding - and that they needed any support. This has made it very difficult for humanitarian agencies to assist: it is very cruel towards the people. There is lack of access and the media is very stifled, and we are told that the demolitions have affected areas with high population densities, which only worsens the situation," he said.

"We need to identify those with HIV/AIDS among the people left homeless. The evictions have targeted families living in informal settlements, which include women with HIV/AIDS, widows, children with disabilities and HIV/AIDS orphans. Many evictees, including women, are reported to have been beaten by police. The evictees have been given no prior notice, no opportunity to appeal, and no opportunity to retrieve property and goods from homes and shops before their destruction," Kothari pointed out.

"In a country with over 24 percent HIV prevalence, decreasing access to health services can severely increase mortality rates of people living with HIV, as well as increase HIV transmission," he observed.

The Zimbabwean authorities had taken "grossly inadequate measures" to provide interim settlement, the UN official added. The UNCHR had received reports of six suicides following the demolition of settlements.

"Two of the suicides took place in rural areas, we are told, out of desperation: they did not have land and no food. We have also received information on the adverse situation in the villages, where there are no adequate medical services available. We have received lots of reports of women who were forced to give birth exposed to the winter conditions," Kothari said.

He urged the Zimbabwean government to communicate with the people. "The government has to immediately draw up a framework of compensation for the affected communities - resettlement is not enough," the special rapporteur commented.

Kothari also called for an investigation into eviction operations carried out by the Zimbabwean police, saying, "We have received reports that the police has been very brutal, and demolished homes without any permits."

Although there was concern over the plight of those who had been left homeless, he added that "it is important to remember the history of the country".

"Why was this situation created? People have sought refuge in the urban centres since independence, as the government has failed to deliver on its social policies on housing, health and employment ... so you had lots of people living in informal settlements. The only solution for the authorities was to adopt a heavy-handed approach to order and peace: there was no consultation, no notice; the campaign was conducted in in a very arbitrary, indiscriminate manner. A majority of those affected are innocent - the actions are not rational," he said.

The Herald reported on Monday that the government had over the weekend announced housing plans that would allow about 20,500 people to settle in Harare.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International has rejected AU's claims that it would not be "proper" for the AU to interfere in the "internal" affairs of Zimbabwe.

"The people of Zimbabwe are being sold out – in the interests of a false 'African solidarity'. This conspiracy of silence amongst African leaders is fuelling a human rights catastrophe for the people of Zimbabwe. African solidarity should be with the people of Africa – not with governments responsible for grave human rights violations," said Kolawole Olaniyan, director of Amnesty International's Africa Programme, said in a statement.

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