SW Radio Africa (London)
Tererai Karimakwenda
9 June 2008
The international watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) has released a new report on Zimbabwe titled "Bullets for Each of You"-State-Sponsored Violence since Zimbabwe's March 29 Elections.
The title refers to threats made to villagers in remote areas by government officials, who warned that if they voted for the MDC, there would be enough bullets to kill each one of them.
The report examines the violent, systematic, government campaign initiated against the opposition after the March 29 elections, when the ruling party lost their majority in parliament for the first time and Mugabe lost to Tsvangirai. Tiseke Kasambala of Human Rights Watch said they focused on how widespread the violence is, the brutality of it, the displacements of opposition supporters and officials, the destruction of property and the suspension of the operations of non-governmental organizations. The group concluded there is no chance for a fair presidential runoff election in Zimbabwe.
Kasambala said in light of this African leaders, including SADC and the AU, must make a determination as to whether Zimbabweans can go and vote freely and then pressure the Mugabe regime to end the violence and resume operations by NGOs.
The report has recommendations for all the relevant key players in the political crisis that continues to grip the country and is now affecting the entire region. This includes the government of Zimbabwe, the regional grouping of SADC, the African Union, the European Union, the United States and other international donors. Kasambala said they have no mandate to interfere on the ground but their role as a human rights organization is to document the incidents and use their reports to help bring about change.
Most importantly the report recommends an end to the culture of impunity for perpetrators of human rights abuses, which has a long history in Zimbabwe. In 1988 perpetrators of the Gukuranhundi in Matabeleland were granted amnesty as part of the 'Unity Accord' between what was then ZANU and the Zimbabwe African Peoples' Union. It applied to the state security forces and the so-called dissidents who were implicated in human rights abuses in the mid- eighties. Amnesty was granted again after the elections in 2000, when Robert Mugabe granted indemnity to every person guilty of political crimes in the period leading up to the elections in 2000.
In their latest report Human Rights Watch recommends that the Zimbabwe government 'breaks with the past and investigates and brings to justice all those responsible for serious abuses in the aftermath of the March 29 elections, including those who may have planned and organized them'. It urges that any government that is in power after the presidential runoff on June 27, or as a result of any negotiations between the two main parties, should not grant amnesty to perpetrators of serious crimes.
This report is in line with the recommendations made by several Zimbabwean organisations, including the Zimbabwe Crisis Coalition and Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, who are also against the culture of impunity. The abuses in Zimbabwe are being thoroughly documented by various organisations, with the names, dates and details of incidents being recorded for future use.
When asked what HRW can actually do to change things on the ground, Kasambala said: "At the moment after this, we will be embarking on extensive advocacy, setting up meetings with some of the policy makers in South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia, talking to them, talking through our recommendations and after that the ball is in their court."
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