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Zimbabwe NGOs back critical UN report on blitz
Reuters
July 31, 2005

http://za.today.reuters.com/news/NewsArticle.aspx?

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe-based non-governmental organisations (NGOs) on Sunday welcomed a U.N. report critical about the government's blitz on shantytowns and urged that those responsible be brought to account.

Zimbabwe last week declared an end to the controversial demolitions after a sharply divided U.N. Security Council was briefed by the report's author, UN-HABITAT chief Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka.

In a statement, the umbrella body of NGOs, NANGO, said it supported the U.N. demand to halt the campaign and hold to account people responsible for the blitz.

"It is hoped government will consider the contents of this report with the gravity it deserves and will act swiftly to implement the recommendations," NANGO said adding that this would assure Zimbabweans and the international community that Harare took its responsibilities seriously.

Rights groups have already said they would press regional and international governments, including Zimbabwe's ally China, to demand an end to alleged rights abuses by President Robert Mugabe's government.

Mugabe's government argues that the campaign was necessary to weed out sanctuaries of crime and end illegal trade in foreign currency and other commodities. It says the U.N. report was biased and unfair.

But the opposition Movement for Democratic Change accuses the government of targeting the party's urban strongholds in a campaign that Tibaijuka said had destroyed the homes or jobs of at least 700,000 people and affected the lives of another 2.4 million.

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