EU monitoring mission goes ahead

The European Union (EU) is going ahead with preparations to monitor Zimbabwe's presidential elections in March, despite the lack of a formal invitation from President Robert Mugabe, EU officials told IRIN on Monday. The EU mission in Harare believes that a formal invitation will arrive within the week. Said an official: "It could come today, tomorrow or Friday, anytime within the week." Francesca Mosca, head of delegation of the European Commission in Harare, was a little more circumspect. "He (President Mugabe) said he would extend an invitation to the EU to come to observe ... it could be either sent to us (the Harare office) or to the (EU) presidency or a single member state," she said. As to the readiness or otherwise of an EU observer mission, Mosca said: "We have been planning (and are ready) to send observers anytime. We are ready to do so but are not gong to do so until we have the written invitation." With regard to the possible size of the observer contingent Mosca said: "We are working on the numbers, we are working on everything but we will have to see what's workable and what's possible. During the parliamentary elections in 2000 there were 100 to 150 international observers working with the EU. (The numbers of observers that could be deployed) will very much depend on when we get the invitation." The EU had earlier given Mugabe until Monday 4 February to allow outside observers and international media to cover the elections. "It's quite clear the position that has been taken (regarding sanctions should observers not be deployed), I hope the written invitation comes soon," said Mosca. Meanwhile Abid Hussain, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, said Zimbabwe would be contravening declarations on human rights, to which it is a signatory, if its controversial repressive Access to Information and Privacy Bill is signed into law by Mugabe. Hussain expressed deep "concern" about the passing of the Access to Information and Privacy Bill in Zimbabwe last week. He has written to Mugabe's government to reconsider the provisions of the Bill and not to pass them into law. The bill would make it illegal for journalists to work without accreditation from a commission appointed by the minister of state for information. It bans foreign journalists from living in Zimbabwe and it also limits visits to Zimbabwe. "The provisions infringe on the right to freedom of opinion and expression as guaranteed in article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Zimbabwe is a Party. Zimbabwe has therefore an obligation to fully comply with the provisions contained in Article 19," Hussain said. Meanwhile, it is expected that a Southern African Development Community (SADC) delegation that visited Zimbabwe last week is to report back on its findings on Tuesday.