Anti-torture group closes following threats of arrest

Amani Trust, the prominent anti-torture group, has temporarily suspended its work in Zimbabwe following threats against it in a state-controlled newspaper and the country's parliament. "We are in consultation with our lawyers over the current impasse. We will continue to dispute the government's claims that the Trust is an illegal organisation. However, in light of the seriousness of the threats made against us in parliament recently, we have decided to cease operations," Amani Trust director Tony Reeler told IRIN on Friday. Welfare Minister July Moyo alleged in parliament that the Trust was in breach of the country's laws because it was not registered under the Private Voluntary Organisations (PVO) Act. But Reeler said the Harare-based Trust had been operating in Zimbabwe since 1993 as a legitimate organisation and had registered its constitution with the Deeds Registry Office. He said a recent regulation to the PVO Act, which called for organisations to re-register was "unconstitutional". Observers said the NGO had been singled out by the government for its reports on allegations of torture following the disputed March presidential elections. Reeler said that he had hoped the Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum, to which Amani belonged, would continue to report on politically motivated violence and torture. Meanwhile, the Danish NGO Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) on Wednesday launched a scathing report alleging that the ruling ZANU-PF was using food as a political weapon. "The political abuse of food is the most serious and widespread human rights violation in Zimbabwe at this time. We conclude that in the last four months [August-November], manipulation of food was directly related to elections. The threat of being deliberately starved by the government if the opposition won votes, was used to profoundly influence vulnerable rural voters in recent elections in Zimbabwe," said the PHR report. Local and international NGOs have in recent months reported on abuses in the distribution of food through the state-owned Grain Marketing Board. In October the World Food Programme (WFP) temporarily suspended deliveries of aid in Insiza district citing political interference ahead of a by-election there. The WFP reported that ZANU-PF activists had seized 3 mt of maize being distributed by the Organisation of Rural Associations for Progress (ORAP) and had distributed it solely to ZANU-PF supporters, "in an unauthorised manner". Investigations by PHR carried out mainly in Matabeleland province in southern Zimbabwe alleged that the government was selling grain to chosen retailers, who are known to be ZANU-PF supporters. The report said retailers, in turn, have their own lists of people they will allow to buy food. The report charged that the government was deliberately maintaining a situation where there was too little food in the country, by controlling all sales and imports. "Too little food is serving a dual purpose; it allows political control through controlling who accesses food and it facilitates the creation of a ZANU-PF dominated black market, thus enriching the ZANU-PF hierarchy," the report alleged.