SADC leaders under pressure to discuss Zimbabwe

Southern African leaders are under mounting pressure from pro-democracy groups to take action against alleged repression in Zimbabwe ahead of a regional summit in Mauritius next week. As Zimbabwean NGOs finalise plans to possibly make a submission to Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders in Mauritius, the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference this week called on the region to "take stronger action, including the consideration of targeted sanctions, to prevent further suffering" in Zimbabwe. "The Zimbabwean situation of starvation and malnutrition, wilful political violence and intimidation, and the immoral use of food aid by the Zimbabwean government demands stronger and transparent intervention by African governments through the AU [African Union]," the bishops said in a statement. "With more than three million people displaced as a result of the crisis in Zimbabwe, a generation of exiles and refugees has been created. This situation cannot be allowed to continue - the government of Zimbabwe must care for its own people." The bishops added that "strong measures must be taken by the international community to ensure a meaningful and honest election in Zimbabwe in 2005, especially through sustained independent international and regional monitoring of the pre-election process as a prerequisite for validating the election itself". Rights group Amnesty International (AI) said its members in Southern Africa had written to their country's leaders, "calling on them to publicly and jointly condemn the government of Zimbabwe for its violation of human rights". "The letters denounce a series of grave human rights abuses in Zimbabwe, including: repressive laws that are used to criminalise peaceful gatherings, as well as shut down independent media outlets and NGOs; government moves to end international food aid distribution, despite independent warnings that millions of Zimbabweans will need food aid in the coming year; systematic government attacks on the independence of judges and lawyers; and failure to investigate widespread allegations of torture and ill-treatment, including rape, committed by security forces and 'youth' militia," AI said in a statement on Thursday. "Evidence suggests that an escalation in repression in Zimbabwe is already underway, ahead of parliamentary elections. We are urging SADC leaders to use this summit to demonstrate their commitment to protect human rights and to hold governments accountable in the SADC region," AI said. Zimbabwe's Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) Bill, if passed by parliament, will cut off donor funding to local civil society groups involved in governance and human rights issues and give government greater control over their operations. At the opening of parliament on 20 July, President Robert Mugabe confirmed that a new bill governing the operation of NGOs would be introduced to replace the Private Voluntary Organisations Act. AFP quoted Mugabe as saying that "NGOs must work for the betterment of our country and not against it". "We cannot allow them to be conduits or instruments of foreign interference in our national affairs," Mugabe reportedly said, adding that the new bill would "ensure the rationalisation of the macro-management of all NGOs". Brian Kagoro, chief executive of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, a group of pro-democracy NGOs, had earlier told IRIN that the proposed NGO bill would make it illegal for civic groups to continue to operate as trusts answerable only to boards of trustees and members. On Thursday he said local NGOs were still considering whether or not to send representatives to Mauritius with the intention of lobbying SADC leaders, as they believed the NGO bill was contrary to SADC protocols on civil society. "The real point is the role of civil society. The AU and SADC have defined within several protocols and conventions, even within the context of NEPAD [New Partnership for Africa's Development], a clear role for civil society," he noted. Kagoro said "suggestions by the Zimbabwe government that civil society must be answerable to government confuses the whole notion of free association, and the right of civil society to act as a supportive and critical element when the government fails [to uphold this]". Through the NGO bill, the government "is attempting to ... create a civil society that is uncritical; a civil society that acts as a conduit for the legitimisation of the [government's actions] in Zimbabwe," he alleged. Kagoro claimed the bill would also hamper the ability of NGOs to "monitor the administration of development assistance and humanitarian aid, and to make sure it is not politicised to the benefit of any party, especially the ruling party. That there is an attempt [through] the bill to proscribe and severely limit the role of civil society speaks volumes of the extent to which they [government] intend to control the forthcoming elections".