Rights activists welcome AU moves to address abuses

Civil rights activists in Zimbabwe have welcomed a move by the African Union (AU) to address allegations of ongoing rights abuses, but called on the regional group to take "concrete steps" towards resolving the current political crisis. In what has been described as the "harshest criticism" to date by the 53-member body, the AU executive council at the weekend adopted a report critical of the Zimbabwean authorities for the arrests and alleged torture of opposition party members and human rights lawyers, harassment of journalists, the stifling of freedom of expression and abuse of civil liberties. The report, prepared by experts from the AU Commission on Human and People's Rights, was based on findings during a mission to Zimbabwe in 2002, and is expected to be considered by the AU's annual summit of heads of state that begins in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on Tuesday. "The mission was presented with testimony from witnesses who were victims of police violence and other victims of torture while in police custody. There was evidence that the system of arbitrary arrests took place. The mission is prepared and able to rule that the government cannot wash its hands of responsibility for these happenings," Reuters news agency quoted the document as saying. Brian Kagoro, chief executive of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, a group of pro-democracy NGOs, said the AU rebuke was "significant" as it signalled a shift in attitude among African nations towards President Robert Mugabe's government. "The AU must now move beyond condemnation towards increasing the pressure on Mugabe to undertake immediate remedial steps to resolve the current crisis. Civil society has always maintained that the disbanding of the youth militia and the war veterans is an important measure as both groups only serve to facilitate the ongoing repression," Kagoro told IRIN. Although the mission was unable to find definitively that rights violations by ruling ZANU-PF activists were part of an orchestrated government policy, "there was an acknowledgement (by government officials) that excesses did occur". Zimbabwean officials have reportedly protested against the adoption of the report, saying that the government had not been given an opportunity to review and respond to its findings. ZANU-PF chairman John Nkomo on Monday told IRIN that he had not been briefed on the proceedings in Addis Ababa and could not respond to the report until he had read the document. The report also called for the repeal of tough legislation which "shackled the media". According to an annual survey by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), Zimbabwe is allegedly the most repressive country in Southern Africa in terms of media freedom. Last year media freedom alerts received from Zimbabwe represented 54 percent of the total recorded by MISA in 10 countries. "The AU must cajole the authorities to open up democratic space in Zimbabwe so that there is greater freedom for citizens to protest. There should also be considerable effort towards the equitable treatment of citizens irrespective of their political affiliation," said Kagoro. In the past African governments have been accused of ignoring the alleged rights abuses of the government, as it clamped down on the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). However, there has been growing pressure from the international community, especially donors, for the AU to take a lead over Zimbabwe, one locally-based analyst said on Monday. "The AU has never really condemned member states unless the situation was really critical for example in Rwanda or the Congo. But there has been considerable pressure on African leaders from Western countries to deal with the Zimbabwe situation," John Makumbe, a senior political science lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe, told IRIN. "There is also concern among AU member states that unless African leaders are seen to be tackling the problems on the continent, it is unlikely that the West will be sympathetic to their call for funding, especially for NEPAD [New Partnership for Africa's Development]," he added.