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Zambia deports 60 Zimbabwe human rights activists
Tichaona Sibanda, SW Radio Africa
August 15, 2007

http://www.swradioafrica.com/news150807/zambia150807.htm

Zambian immigration authorities on Tuesday night blocked 60 Zimbabwe Human Rights activists from travelling to Lusaka. They then deported them back into the hands of state security agents at Chirundu border post.

However 20 activists managed to slip through the net and sneaked back into Zambia, while 40 remain with authorities in Chirundu. The activists were travelling to Lusaka for the 27th Southern African Development Community summit, which opens in the Zambian capital on Thursday. The detained activists spent most of Wednesday being interrogated at Chirundu police station.

Joy Mabenge, a human rights activist who organised the trip for the group, said they had gone through most of the immigration formalities, including having visas stamped in their passports when Zambian authorities decided to search their bus.

Mabenge said the group had a consignment of T-shirts inside the bus that were inscribed with the words 'SADC people's summit, let the people speak' and immigration officials thought they were going to Lusaka to demonstrate.

'At first, immigration officials told the group they were going to confiscate the t-shirts and when the activists did not object to it, they made a u-turn and said they have instructions from high offices in Lusaka not to let them in,' Mabenge said.

Fortunately he added, 20 of the activists managed to sneak back into Zambia under the cover of darkness because they already had visas. Enraged pro-democracy Zimbabwean activists already in Zambia for the summit said they would make an issue of the deportations with the Zambian authorities.

'The activists were coming here to talk about a just and equal society, but again we are having to talk about our lost rights, freedom of expression, freedom of association, and other human rights violations where we thought we were safe,' Mabenge said.

A heavy presence of central intelligence organisation agents has also generated an atmosphere of intimidation among pro-democracy activists in Lusaka.

While many are able to talk and participate freely in forums and meetings they are however coming under physical and verbal intimidation from planted government agents.

'For example, we have delegates from Zimbabwe who have been briefing others here about the situation back home and have been heckled and threatened by people claiming to be patriots of Zimbabwe,' Mabenge said.

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