NGOs call on AU rights body for aid

Zimbabwean NGOs have appealed to the African Union's human rights body to help the hundreds of thousands of people left homeless by the government's recent clean-up campaign. The AU's African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) is in session in Gambia until next week, "and we are asking the organisation to champion the cause of those affected by Operation Murambatsvina [Drive Out Filth] - it is a humanitarian disaster," said Eileen Sawyer, director of the Human Rights Forum (HRF), a coalition of 17 Zimbabwean NGOs. A UN report estimated that Operation Murambatsvina, which the government said was aimed at clearing slums and flushing out criminals, had left more than 700,000 people homeless or without a livelihood after kicking off in May. Bahame Tom Nyanduga, an ACHPR representative and Special Rapporteur Responsible for Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Internally Displaced Persons in Africa, attempted to gauge the impact of the operation in July, but had to leave the country without completing his mission after his visit was described by Zimbabwe's official media as "unprocedural" because diplomatic protocol had reportedly not been followed. HRF has also released an audit of ACHPR's recommendations, made in 2002 after a fact-finding mission in the wake of elections, which found evidence of human rights violations. The AU has not commented on the report, which was finally adopted last year. "We wanted to point out that there has been no improvement in the situation since then [2002]. While physical violence has dropped, there has been an increase in intra-party violence in both the ZANU-PF and the [opposition] MDC [Movement for Democratic Change] as a result of faction fighting ahead of the [26 November] senate elections," explained Sawyer. The intra-party violence "is to an extent" related to power struggles within the parties, she noted. The MDC is believed to be on the verge of a split over its participation in the senate elections, scheduled for this weekend. Sawyer said recent amendments to the constitution had made "life increasingly difficult for ordinary people": they effectively abolish freehold property titles; remove the landowner's right to appeal expropriation; usurp the authority of the courts, and restrict the movement of Zimbabweans. Early this month several hundred trade unionists and members of the National Constitutional Assembly, a pro-democracy civic alliance, were arrested for holding an anti-poverty demonstration. "As the Zimbabwean crisis extends into another year, the absence of national dialogue remains a deeply disturbing feature of the political landscape ... It appears highly unlikely that internal opposition forces will, in the near future, be able to build sufficient pressure to force ZANU-PF into a political compromise," the HRF report observed. According to HRF, the rapidly declining economy was unlikely to make the government "more pliant", and could perhaps lead to a "more authoritarian state reaction". Zimbabwe's Minister of Security, Dydimus Mutasa, dismissed HRF's claims as "lies", saying, "What human rights have been abused?" He also rejected suggestions of dialogue with the opposition. "Who is anyone to tell us to talk to the opposition - where in the world does that happen?"