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Zimbabwe's Elections 2013 - Index of Articles
Crisis Director gives testimony before US House of Rep’s Subcommittee
Crisis
in Zimbabwe Coalition
September 13, 2013
Crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition (CiZC) Director MacDonal Lawenika on Thursday, September
12, 2013, in Harare have a testimony
on the state of affairs in Zimbabwe to the United States (US) House
of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health,
Global Human rights and International Organisations.
Lawenika addressed
the Subcommittee at its invitation and in line with civil society’s
attempts to influence to influence US and global policy on Zimbabwe,
where he spoke on a number of current issues n the country.
Among the issues
that Lawenika discussed was the need to maintain humanitarian assistance
to Zimbabwe by US aid agencies such as USAID in the fight to combat
diseased such as HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis. But he maintained
that on the democratisation front the current stance of pressuring
the Zimbabwean government to uphold human rights emphasizing that:
“With
a dominant Authoritarian regime, the need to support alternatives
and to continue supporting democratic actors cannot be overstated.”
On the issue
of diamond mining in Zimbabwe, Lawenika urged the US to be more
supportive of the call by local civil society to ensure transparency
in mining subsector and reform of the Kimberly Process towards a
focus on human rights noting:
“The US
government and other international players need to implore the new
government under the Zanu-PF stewardship to support and strengthen
this initiative (Zimbabwe Mining Revenue Transparency) since it
can play a pivotal and strategic role in enhancing Zimbabwe’s
beneficiation and value addition in Diamonds and extractive industry
as a whole.
Lawenika also
spoke about the deviation of SADC from its Principles
and Guidelines in judging the July
31 Zimbabwe elections, and AU ‘s seeming lack of commitment
on democratisation and the appointment of the new Cabinet as it
relates to the foreign relations of Zimbabwe with countries such
as the US and other strategic global players.
He also spoke
on the need for security reform in the country in line with SADC’s
protocol on Politics Defense and Security Cooperation among other
issues.
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in Zimbabwe fact
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