Back to Index

This article participates on the following special index pages:

Police harass diplomats after visit to Zimbabwe hospital
Stephen Kaufman, USINFO
May 13, 2008

http://www.america.gov/st/democracy-english/2008/May/20080513174301esnamfuak1.343936e-02.html

U.S. officials say conditions do not exist for free and fair runoff vote

Washington -- The May 13 detention and questioning of the U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe and diplomats from five other missions in Harare by Zimbabwean security forces constitutes harassment and reflects the current troubled atmosphere in the country, the U.S. State Department says.

Ambassador James McGee and the chiefs of mission from the United Kingdom, the European Union and Japan, plus officials from the Netherlands and Tanzania, were detained and questioned for 45 minutes by security forces at a roadblock near the capital, Harare, and again outside a hospital they were visiting, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters May 13.

McCormack said the incidents are "indicative of the kind of atmosphere that exists in Zimbabwe right now," and that if foreign diplomats in Zimbabwe are being treated this way, "you can only imagine for Zimbabwean citizens what life is like if they make an effort to speak up, to voice their opinions."

A senior State Department official said the diplomats had gone to meet with Zimbabwean citizens who had been hospitalized after being attacked by forces loyal to President Robert Mugabe. Violence has been escalating in the country since the March 29 election in which Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party lost its majority in parliament and Mugabe himself trailed behind challenger Morgan Tsvangirai in the presidential vote.

In remarks to the Associated Press (AP) May 13, McGee said the United States has confirmed reports of at least 20 deaths and more than 700 incidents of violence since March 29. In a letter published May 12, McGee accused President Mugabe's party of orchestrating violence to intimidate opposition supporters before a proposed presidential runoff election.

The AP article said the convoy of diplomats visited an alleged ZANU-PF interrogation camp and two hospitals in order to document government-orchestrated violence against its political opposition.

AP reported that at one point during their detention, a police officer threatened to beat a senior U.S. Embassy aide. After McGee demanded the officer's name, the police officer got into the ambassador's car and lurched toward McGee, making slight contact with the ambassador's shins. AP said McGee then climbed onto the hood of the car while his aide snatched the keys from the ignition.

None of the individuals were physically harmed and nothing was confiscated during the incidents, McCormack said. However, "by definition, if, on two occasions, you're held up for ... nearly two hours and questioned about what you're doing, by security officials, then yeah, that's harassment," he said.

Violence must end, monitors needed in order to have a run-off election

According to official election results released more than a month after the vote, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai won the most presidential votes, but not enough needed to avoid a runoff election.

Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer said May 12 that conditions currently do not exist in Zimbabwe for the country to hold a free and fair vote.

"Those conditions would have to include an end to the violence, which is essentially state-sponsored violence against the opposition. [And] it would have to include a massive number of monitors that can go out into the rural area," she said.

She also called for guarantees of safety for Tsvangirai, who is currently outside the country, and for the admission into the country of the international press to provide greater transparency for the election proceedings.

Frazer said the United States is "prepared to assist and support the creation of those conditions" by supporting organizations such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union, and by working with the United Nations.

Zimbabwe's government has not announced the date for the runoff election. "Certainly, if they pull a surprise and they say that the runoff is in a week, it's very unlikely that you're going to have the number of monitors there necessary for a free and fair runoff," she said.

*USINFO is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP