Human Rights Watch urges SADC to deploy team to Zimbabwe

By Tererai Karimakwenda
15 August, 2007

With Zimbabwe in the spotlight at the SADC summit in Lusaka, an international human rights watchdog is urging the African Heads of State to focus on the deteriorating humanitarian crisis. Human Rights Watch drafted a report that was launched Tuesday which recommends that the regional grouping deploy a team to assess the situation on the ground in Zimbabwe and report back.

Speaking to Gugulethu Moyo on the programme In The Balance, researcher Tiseke Kasambala said they recommended that the SADC team looks at issues such as freedom of expression, state-sponsored violence and torture, impunity and excessive use of force by the police. She added that Human Rights Watch was disappointed that SADC had not dealt with humanitarian issues at the last summit in March when they appointed Thabo Mbeki as mediator. This new report was a reminder that the situation still exists, and had actually become worse.

Kasambala said SADC has a mandate to promote and protect democracy within member states. Sending a team to Zimbabwe would be one way for the African leaders themselves to monitor the crisis. She stressed that all this must be done within a specific time frame since elections are scheduled in Zimbabwe within 6 months. Human Rights Watch recommends the deployment of observers at least 3 months ahead of the elections.

The new report is being circulated to civil organisations and to SADC delegates so they can exert pressure for the Zimbabwe crisis to be dealt with. Kasambala said posters for Zimbabwe discussions and briefings are everywhere. She explained that unless human rights issues are addressed by the Heads of State, it will be impossible to adhere to SADC’s own guidelines on free and fair elections, come March.