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AU exposes Mugabe's human rights abuses
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition
Extracted from Crisis in Zimbabwe Weekly Update
July 02- July 11, 2004

The Zanu PF government was shocked when for the first time, the African Union consistent with its new thrust of monitoring the human rights situation among its member countries produced a damning report condemning the general human rights abuses against perceived opponents of the regime by state-sponsored functionaries.

The Coalition is encouraged by the move taken by the AU that the concept of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) that is meant to sanction errant governments that depart from the agreed norms and standards of democratic rule was applied against Harare without fear or favour.

The AU stance is crucial because it stops nations such as Zimbabwe from sliding into anarchy and joining other failed states such as the Central African Republic and Somalia.

It is therefore misleading for the government to rubbish this wise counsel from the AU by alleging that the British government or its alleged puppets prepared the report.

Instead of concentrating on remedying the serious crisis that was highlighted in the AU report like the arrests and torture of opposition Members of Parliament, arrests of journalists, human rights lawyers and the stifling of freedom of expression and clampdowns on other civil liberties, the government sees it fit to go a warpath against the continental body.

If the regime is not serious like Hitler’s Nazi, it shall create enemies against everybody including the African brothers and sisters serve for itself. The AU’s position should not be taken for granted if the country wants to remain in the community of other civilised nation states.

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