Back to Index

Arms and corruption - Fuelling human rights abuses in Zimbabwe
Brian Johnson-Thomas & Peter Danssaert, International Peace Information Service (IPIS)
July 13, 2009

http://www.ipisresearch.be/arms-trade.php

Download this article
- Acrobat PDF version (181KB)
If you do not have the free Acrobat reader on your computer, download it from the Adobe website by clicking here.

The following examples of irresponsible arms transfers involving Zimbabwe and other actors should be of great concern to the international community. The examples cited below are intended to illustrate further the need to ensure that the proposed international Arms Trade Treaty is as comprehensive as possible, and fully reflects the obligations of States to prevent arms transfers which pose a substantial risk of being used in serious violations of international human rights law. It is perhaps not a coincidence that these examples involve, amongst others, China and the U.S.A. - both of whose governments have been amongst the 'doubters' in the ongoing United Nations General Assembly deliberations on the ATT since 2006. Hopefully, as the new Obama Administration reviews the U.S. approach to the control of conventional arms, the U.S. position will become more constructive.

Example 1: Ammunition from DR Congo to Zimbabwe

In December 2008 the United Nations Security Council's Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) reported on several ammunition deliveries from the DRC to Zimbabwe. These deliveries took place between 20 and 22 August 2008. A Boeing-707-3B4C (registration number 9Q-CRM) - and registered in DRC as belonging to Enterprise World Airways - performed four flights delivering a total of 53 tons of ammunition to the Zimbabwean regime.

Who initially supplied the ammunition to the D.R. Congo, and whether that supplier intended to use the D.R. Congo merely as a transit route to Zimbabwe, has not been verified. However, the U.N. Group of Experts undertook a review of the safeguards that have been put in place inside the Congo to prevent the loss of arms and ammunition and in December 2008 reported that: "The Group focused on stockpile security, maintenance, marking, record-keeping and the accountability of small arms and light weapons and ammunition. According to foreign military advisers and sources within FARDC, stockpile management is almost non-existent. The Government does not know how many of its arms are stored at which depots and with which units. There are accordingly few safeguards in place to prevent the illegal sale of weapons and ammunition"

Amnesty International and IPIS have previously reported on the close relationship between the governments of the DR Congo and Zimbabwe for the procurement of military equipment. For instance in 2001 the Zimbabwe Defence Industries (ZDI) entered into a joint venture with a DRC company, Strategic Reserves, to form the Congo-Duka company to facilitate the shipping of arms and foodstuffs. Moreover a document dated 3 February 2000 speaks of a meeting between a Czech company, Arms Moravia, and a Congolese general about the sale of 6 RM70/122mm rocket launchers, 1,000 RPG-7s (rocket propelled grenades), and 500 machine guns for a total value of US$1,128,500. Arms Moravia submitted two documents dated 19 January 2000 to the Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade. One handwritten document lists the Zimbabwe National Army as client, while the other typed document lists the Ministère de la Défense de la République du Congo, but both refer to the sale of 1,000 RPG-7s. This discrepancy regarding the destination of the arms may reflect an attempt to circumvent controls on the transfers of arms and ammunition to state forces with a perceived record of serious human rights violations, by presenting licensing authorities with an alternative destination.

Local and international human rights organisations, as physicians and lawyers, have documented a pattern of serious human rights violations carried out by Zimbabwe government security forces against suspected opponents of the ruling ZANU-PF party, including torture, rape, excessive use of force by the security forces, extra judicial killings and enforced displacement. For example, Amnesty International documented unlawful killings, torture and other illtreatment, including beatings, as well as harassment and intimidation of mainly Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) supporters and human rights defenders in Zimbabwe following elections on 29 March 2008. There are also widespread allegations of the existence of torture camps. Last year's elections were characterized by excessive violence from the security forces and ZANU-PF supporters against the opposition. On 21 July 2008 Robert Mugabe and the leader of the opposition Morgan Tsvangirai finally agreed to discuss a power-sharing deal. But on August 12 the talks halted when Mugabe refused to cede power. Negotiations restarted in September 2008 and the resulting fragile power-sharing arrangement has not prevented the security forces under Mugabe's control from committing further serious violations. In early December 2008 police and security forces opened fire, including from military helicopters, on thousands of illegal diggers in the diamond fields of Chiadzwa in eastern Zimbabwe, resulting in least 50 civilians dead and hundreds more wounded.

Download full document

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