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This article participates on the following special index pages:
Talks, dialogue, negotiations and GNU - Post June 2008 "elections" - Index of articles
Crisis
offices raided & activists deported despite "progress"
in talks
Alex
Bell, SW Radio Africa
August 08, 2008
http://www.swradioafrica.com/News080808/Crisis080808.htm
Despite the
power sharing talks, once again civil society groups have become
victims of the government's continued anti-activism clamp-down this
week.
The period of
the talks has seen little change on the ground in Zimbabwe, despite
the signing the Memorandum
of Understanding that agreed to facilitate peace and ease suffering.
Reports of violence have continued and the government ban on humanitarian
aid has still not been lifted, leaving millions of Zimbabweans in
a daily battle to survive.
Meanwhile, despite
reports of progress at the talks, police in Harare raided the offices
of the Crisis
in Zimbabwe Coalition on Thursday, under the pretence of investigating
an illegal mining company. At the same time, about
10 activists from various groups were deported from Zambia after
immigration officials there claimed the group were trying to disrupt
the power-sharing talks.
Macdonald Lewanika,
a spokesman for the Crisis Coalition, told Newsreel on Friday that
the police raid was "tantamount to harassment" and "completely
unexpected in context of the dialogue taking place". He said
the police officers used an excuse to conduct the raid and added
that the group has since been ordered to "provide an explanation
for operating under the government's directive for NGO's to cease
operations".
Lewanika was
also part of the group of activists that was deported on Thursday.
He said the group had travelled to Zambia for a consultative meeting
with individuals from across Africa, who had gathered to describe
"how government transitions were managed in their countries".
He explained that while they were offered no explanation from the
Zambian government, immigration authorities insisted that the meeting
would be "aiding renegades who discuss things that are not
in the spirit of the dialogue".
Lewanika said
the talks been undermined by the ongoing threat to civic society
and the Zimbabwean people, and added that the process has no validity
in the face of the continued clamp down on humanitarian efforts
and the obvious suffering experienced by the people. But he added
that civic society has been given little choice but to "wait
and see what kind of an agreement is reached".
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