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UN expert hits out at silence on Zim
Mail & Guardian (SA)
August 08, 2005

http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa&articleid=247543

A United Nations human rights expert on Monday sharply criticised major African leaders, saying their failure to condemn President Robert Mugabe's housing demolition campaign in Zimbabwe is tantamount to a "cover-up".

The UN special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Miloon Kothari, said Zimbabwe is heading towards a disaster if the government fails to change course on the forcible eviction of about 700 000 people from townships.

"The silence of major governments in Africa continues to be shocking," Kothari told journalists.

"And of influential individuals like Nelson Mandela, I don't understand why they don't speak out," he added, referring to the former South African president. "There is a kind of a cover-up that is there as far as President Mugabe is concerned."

Kothari also called on leading developing nations outside Africa, such as Brazil and India, to speak out against the demolitions.

"What needs to be impressed upon President Mugabe is that he has to change course -- you cannot rule a country by arbitrarily demolishing thousands and thousands of people's homes," he added.

"You cannot run a government by that kind of direct animosity towards your population because what we are looking ahead to is a much greater disaster," Kothari said.

Kothari said UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is ready to spearhead a coordinated campaign by the world body on the situation in Zimbabwe.

About 700 000 Zimbabweans have lost their homes and livelihoods in the campaign and a further 2,4-million people have been affected, according to a UN report released last month.

The report by UN envoy Anna Tibaijuka said the demolitions had been "carried out in an indiscriminate and unjustified manner, with indifference to human suffering".

Kothari, an Indian legal expert, said he is concerned that there have been no moves by Zimbabwe's authorities since the UN report to resettle or compensate those who were thrown out of their homes.

Mugabe on Monday said he has invited Annan to Zimbabwe "so that he can have an appreciation of what we are trying to do for our people in the sphere of housing and informal business".

Zimbabwe's president also lashed out at critics, calling them "long-distance philanthropists who romanticise shacks".

Kothari said he is willing to travel to Zimbabwe to provide help with a fair housing policy. -- Sapa-AFP

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