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Zimbabwe not a place for dictators
Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU)
June 10, 2009

The Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) expresses its strongest displeasure at the visit of Sudanese despot Omar al Bashir and Swaziland's King Mswati during the just ended COMESA Summit held in the resort town of Victoria Falls. The two dictators have a long history of human rights violations and hence we are disappointed that the inclusive government keeps on inviting such despots to this country.

Al Bashir masterminded and implemented a plan to destroy the three main ethnic groups in Sudan. On 14 July 2008, the International Criminal Court (ICC), alleged that Al-Bashir bore individual criminal responsibility for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed since 2003 in Darfur. More than 400 000 innocent civilians have perished so far and close to 2.5 million have been displaced. Al Bashir was issued with a a warrant of arrest by the ICC on the 4th of March 2004 on crimes against humanity.

Like Al Bashir, Swaziland's King Mswati continues to use repressive state apparatus to ban political formations and silence dissent for genuine liberation of the Swaziland democratic struggle. PUDEMO President Mario Masuku and other civic activists are languishing in jail fighting for the total liberation and democratisation of Swaziland.

It is high time that SADC put serious pressure on Mswati for the democratisation of Swaziland. We extend our solidarity to the people of Swaziland for their struggle for democracy.

It is disturbing that our government is lavishly hosting dictators at a time when the majority of Zimbabweans do not have access to basic social services namely health and education.

We, as the students of Zimbabwe reiterate the call we made when the Presidium of the DPRK visited Zimbabwe that, dictators and all men who are at the helm of human rights abuses at our most revered transition deserves no seat in this country. We are aware and conscious to the fact that Mugabe feels warmth and comfort when dictators like him are around him and hence we call upon our colleagues especially those from the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) that in future they should boycott attending any process or gathering that accommodates and embrace dictators who are causing untold suffering to innocent civilians in their respective countries.

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