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Statement on the African Union report on Zimbabwe
The Accountability Commission Zimbabwe
July 06, 2004

The Accountability Commission-Zimbabwe (AC) welcomes with relief the African Union Executive Council report on Zimbabwe. The report condemns the government of Zimbabwe for ‘flagrant human rights abuses’, arrest, harassment and torture of opposition Members of Parliament, human rights lawyers and journalists as well as the breakdown of the rule of law in general.

As a human rights organisation involved with victims of gross human rights violations in the country, the AC feels that civil society has been vindicated in noting that the Zimbabwe government is ruling the country through terror, torture and tyranny. Indeed, the AU has urged the government of Zimbabwe to take measures to ensure that the country ‘withdraws from this precipice’. The AC would like to see this unprecedented and forthright condemnation followed by tangible and concrete action from all African countries to force the ZANU (PF) regime to restore fundamental human rights and to create an environment in which every citizen of Zimbabwe can elect his or her own government freely.

The AC also urges the Southern African Development Community and individual governments, in particular South Africa, to take the cue from the African Union and stop shielding the Mugabe regime from international pressure. To condemn human rights abuses on our continent is an imperative for all progressive countries and is also consistent with the principles that guide the New Partnership for Africa’s Development and the African Renaissance.

Visit the Accountability Commission fact sheet

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