Homyrrh
06-24-2008, 11:18 AM
(from The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/25/world/africa/25zimbabwe.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin))
June 25, 2008
Security Council Urges Zimbabwe to Halt Violence
By ALAN COWELL and CELIA W. DUGGER
After the United Nations Security Council issued its first sweeping condemnation of Zimbabwe’s violence, Morgan Tsvangirai, the beleaguered opposition leader, said Tuesday he would leave his temporary sanctuary in the Dutch Embassy in Harare within 48 hours following moves by Dutch authorities to assure his safety.
Two days after Mr. Tsvangirai announced his withdrawal from a presidential run-off vote scheduled for Friday, the shock waves of his country’s crisis spread ever further, from the Security Council in New York to the inner conclaves of South Africa.
As a growing roster of Western and African nations condemned President Robert Mugabe’s maneuvers as illegitimate, South Africa’s Ruling African National Congress issued a lengthy statement Tuesday, citing Zimbabwe’s colonial history and insisting that outsiders had no role to play in ending its current anguish.
“It has always been and continues to be the view of our movement that the challenges facing Zimbabwe can only be solved by the Zimbabweans themselves,” the statement said. “Nothing has happened in the recent months has persuaded us to revise that view.”
“Any attempts by outside players to impose regime change will merely deepen the crisis.” The statement seemed to be at odds with another declaration from its nominal ally, the Congress of South African Trade Unions, calling for a blockade of Zimbabwe and the global ostracism of its leader.
But the A.N.C. statement did express “grave concern” at President Robert Mugabe’s seeming determination to proceed with Friday’s vote unopposed and said it was “deeply dismayed by the actions of the government of Zimbabwe which is riding roughshod over the hard-won democratic rights of the people of that country.”
And, the statement said, a long tally of “violence, intimidation and outright terror” had “convinced us that free and fair elections are not possible in the political environment prevalent in Zimbabwe today.”
The A.N.C. statement was the first official response from South Africa since Mr. Tsvangirai’s withdrawal from Friday’s planned run-off and the Security Council’s conclusion late Monday that it would be “impossible for a free and fair election to take place” in Zimbabwe.
The country, once one of Africa’s most prosperous, has been reeling from a widening campaign of violence and intimidation ever since Mr. Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s president for nearly 30 years, came in second in the initial round of voting on March 29. Mr. Tsvangirai, the opposition standard-bearer, pulled out of the race Sunday, citing the extensive violence against his supporters.
Taking its first action on the crisis, the long-divided Council issued a one-page statement calling on the government of Zimbabwe to allow opposition rallies, which had been routinely blocked or canceled, and to free political prisoners.
“The Security Council regrets that the campaign of violence and the restrictions on the political opposition have made it impossible for a free and fair election to take place on 27 June,” said the statement.
In a radio interview on Tuesday, Mr. Tsvangirai said that the Security Council statement blamed the violence on Mr. Mugabe’s leadership.
“I think it’s a very important resolution,” he told Dutch public broadcaster Radio 1. “It recognizes the people who are accountable for the violence, and it squarely placed that responsibility at Mugabe’s leadership. I am sure that he can no longer remain defiant to that international position.”
Mr. Tsvangirai reiterated his decision to boycott the vote on Friday. “It’s ridiculous to go into an election of that kind,” he said. “It’s a one-man competition.”
He told the radio station his refuge in the Dutch Embassy in Harare was “temporary” and he would make arrangements to leave the building “today or tomorrow” following assurances from the Zimbabwean government to the Dutch authorities that he was not in danger.
“I hope that they mean what they say,” Mr. Tsvangirai said. “This is a regime which is acting irrationally.”
His spokesman, George Sibotshiwe, said Tuesday that Mr. Tsvangirai took refuge in the embassy after learning that soldiers were converging on his home, The Associated Press reported.
“The moment you have soldiers coming your way, you just run for your life,” Mr. Sibotshiwe said. “The only way he can protect himself is to go to an embassy.” Dutch officials said Mr. Tsvangirai had not requested political asylum.
Mr. Sibotshiwe, Mr. Tsvangirai’s closest aide, himself fled to South Africa on Monday as the police raided the opposition party headquarters, rounding up dozens of people, including women, children and those injured in recent political violence. Mr. Sibotshiwe arrived in Johannesburg, and in an interview shortly afterward said he saw four men armed with pistols approaching the door of his safe house on Sunday morning and only narrowly escaped capture.
On Monday, the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, sharply condemned the violence seizing the impoverished nation and took the unusual step of calling for the runoff to be postponed, saying a vote under the current conditions “would lack all legitimacy.”
“It will only deepen divisions within the country and produce a result that cannot be credible,” Mr. Ban said of the runoff, adding that he had spoken with “a number of African leaders” and found a consensus that it would be wrong to proceed with the vote. “There has been too much violence, too much intimidation,” he said.
The statement from the Security Council went through several drafts before it won the required unanimous acceptance of all 15 members. Britain led an effort, dominated by the West, to include the toughest language, while South Africa and allies including China and Russia pushed to dilute it somewhat.
Mr. Mugabe, however, has shown disdain for international criticism, so it remained unclear whether the Security Council’s statement would carry more weight in prompting his government to relax its oppressive measures than any previous condemnations from foreign leaders.
Boniface G. Chidyausiku, the United Nations ambassador from Zimbabwe, said that neither the statement from the Council nor the call by Mr. Ban to postpone the vote would affect the timing of the elections.
“The Security Council cannot micromanage elections in any particular country,” Mr. Chidyausiku told reporters. “As far as we are concerned, the date has been set.”
“These are M.D.C. tricks that should be seen for what they are,” he said in a speech, referring to the Movement for Democratic Change. “The British government’s hidden hand in all these political developments is evident and clearly visible.”
Sir John Sawers, the British ambassador to the United Nations, expressed astonishment that Zimbabwe could so readily dismiss the opinion of the Council. “I find that incredible,” he told reporters. “The actions of this regime are unpredictable, and they will pursue only those courses of action which are in their own self-serving interests.”
Mr. Mugabe may also face increasing pressure from his fellow heads of state in southern Africa. Foreign ministers from a regional bloc of 14 nations known as the Southern African Development Community met on Monday in Angola to discuss the crisis.
But the nations in the region have long been divided on the matter, and it is far from clear they will find enough common ground to act decisively. The president of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, chosen by the 14-nation bloc as mediator in the Zimbabwean crisis, has maintained a strategy of quiet diplomacy, pushing for negotiations between Zimbabwe’s opposition and ruling parties, without criticizing Mr. Mugabe publicly.
In a significant show of support for Mr. Tsvangirai, however, the powerful Congress of South African Trade Unions declared on Tuesday that it was “appalled at the levels of violence and intimidation being inflicted on the people of Zimbabwe by the illegitimate Mugabe regime.”
“The June 27 presidential election is not an election, but a declaration of war against the people of Zimbabwe by the ruling party,” the union group added.
Urging a blockade of Zimbabwe, it said, “We call on all our unions and those everywhere else in the world to make sure that they never ever serve Mugabe anywhere, including at airports, restaurants, shops, etc. Further we call on all workers and citizens of the world never to allow Mugabe to set foot in their countries.”
Botswana, Tanzania and Zambia have also harshly condemned the repeated detention of Zimbabwean opposition leaders during the campaign, as well as the violence against opposition supporters.
South Africa had resisted efforts to bring Zimbabwe’s political woes before the Security Council, contending that they were a domestic matter, not an international one.
On Monday, the wrangling over the Council statement took most of the day.
Opponents of a tougher stance by the Council succeeded in quashing an attempt to say that without a second round of elections, Zimbabwe should rely on the results of the first round in March. In that election, Mr. Tsvangirai won more votes than Mr. Mugabe, but, according to the official government count, less than the majority needed to avoid a runoff.
Jendayi E. Frazer, the American assistant secretary of state for African affairs, said in an interview on Monday that adding a mediator whom Mr. Tsvangirai trusts would be helpful, but she said that Mr. Mugabe had voiced no interest in talks.
“It’s going to require an international push to prevent a civil war,” she said.
Alan Cowell reported from London and Celia W. Dugger from Johannesburg. Neil MacFarquhar reported from the United Nations.
June 25, 2008
Security Council Urges Zimbabwe to Halt Violence
By ALAN COWELL and CELIA W. DUGGER
After the United Nations Security Council issued its first sweeping condemnation of Zimbabwe’s violence, Morgan Tsvangirai, the beleaguered opposition leader, said Tuesday he would leave his temporary sanctuary in the Dutch Embassy in Harare within 48 hours following moves by Dutch authorities to assure his safety.
Two days after Mr. Tsvangirai announced his withdrawal from a presidential run-off vote scheduled for Friday, the shock waves of his country’s crisis spread ever further, from the Security Council in New York to the inner conclaves of South Africa.
As a growing roster of Western and African nations condemned President Robert Mugabe’s maneuvers as illegitimate, South Africa’s Ruling African National Congress issued a lengthy statement Tuesday, citing Zimbabwe’s colonial history and insisting that outsiders had no role to play in ending its current anguish.
“It has always been and continues to be the view of our movement that the challenges facing Zimbabwe can only be solved by the Zimbabweans themselves,” the statement said. “Nothing has happened in the recent months has persuaded us to revise that view.”
“Any attempts by outside players to impose regime change will merely deepen the crisis.” The statement seemed to be at odds with another declaration from its nominal ally, the Congress of South African Trade Unions, calling for a blockade of Zimbabwe and the global ostracism of its leader.
But the A.N.C. statement did express “grave concern” at President Robert Mugabe’s seeming determination to proceed with Friday’s vote unopposed and said it was “deeply dismayed by the actions of the government of Zimbabwe which is riding roughshod over the hard-won democratic rights of the people of that country.”
And, the statement said, a long tally of “violence, intimidation and outright terror” had “convinced us that free and fair elections are not possible in the political environment prevalent in Zimbabwe today.”
The A.N.C. statement was the first official response from South Africa since Mr. Tsvangirai’s withdrawal from Friday’s planned run-off and the Security Council’s conclusion late Monday that it would be “impossible for a free and fair election to take place” in Zimbabwe.
The country, once one of Africa’s most prosperous, has been reeling from a widening campaign of violence and intimidation ever since Mr. Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s president for nearly 30 years, came in second in the initial round of voting on March 29. Mr. Tsvangirai, the opposition standard-bearer, pulled out of the race Sunday, citing the extensive violence against his supporters.
Taking its first action on the crisis, the long-divided Council issued a one-page statement calling on the government of Zimbabwe to allow opposition rallies, which had been routinely blocked or canceled, and to free political prisoners.
“The Security Council regrets that the campaign of violence and the restrictions on the political opposition have made it impossible for a free and fair election to take place on 27 June,” said the statement.
In a radio interview on Tuesday, Mr. Tsvangirai said that the Security Council statement blamed the violence on Mr. Mugabe’s leadership.
“I think it’s a very important resolution,” he told Dutch public broadcaster Radio 1. “It recognizes the people who are accountable for the violence, and it squarely placed that responsibility at Mugabe’s leadership. I am sure that he can no longer remain defiant to that international position.”
Mr. Tsvangirai reiterated his decision to boycott the vote on Friday. “It’s ridiculous to go into an election of that kind,” he said. “It’s a one-man competition.”
He told the radio station his refuge in the Dutch Embassy in Harare was “temporary” and he would make arrangements to leave the building “today or tomorrow” following assurances from the Zimbabwean government to the Dutch authorities that he was not in danger.
“I hope that they mean what they say,” Mr. Tsvangirai said. “This is a regime which is acting irrationally.”
His spokesman, George Sibotshiwe, said Tuesday that Mr. Tsvangirai took refuge in the embassy after learning that soldiers were converging on his home, The Associated Press reported.
“The moment you have soldiers coming your way, you just run for your life,” Mr. Sibotshiwe said. “The only way he can protect himself is to go to an embassy.” Dutch officials said Mr. Tsvangirai had not requested political asylum.
Mr. Sibotshiwe, Mr. Tsvangirai’s closest aide, himself fled to South Africa on Monday as the police raided the opposition party headquarters, rounding up dozens of people, including women, children and those injured in recent political violence. Mr. Sibotshiwe arrived in Johannesburg, and in an interview shortly afterward said he saw four men armed with pistols approaching the door of his safe house on Sunday morning and only narrowly escaped capture.
On Monday, the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, sharply condemned the violence seizing the impoverished nation and took the unusual step of calling for the runoff to be postponed, saying a vote under the current conditions “would lack all legitimacy.”
“It will only deepen divisions within the country and produce a result that cannot be credible,” Mr. Ban said of the runoff, adding that he had spoken with “a number of African leaders” and found a consensus that it would be wrong to proceed with the vote. “There has been too much violence, too much intimidation,” he said.
The statement from the Security Council went through several drafts before it won the required unanimous acceptance of all 15 members. Britain led an effort, dominated by the West, to include the toughest language, while South Africa and allies including China and Russia pushed to dilute it somewhat.
Mr. Mugabe, however, has shown disdain for international criticism, so it remained unclear whether the Security Council’s statement would carry more weight in prompting his government to relax its oppressive measures than any previous condemnations from foreign leaders.
Boniface G. Chidyausiku, the United Nations ambassador from Zimbabwe, said that neither the statement from the Council nor the call by Mr. Ban to postpone the vote would affect the timing of the elections.
“The Security Council cannot micromanage elections in any particular country,” Mr. Chidyausiku told reporters. “As far as we are concerned, the date has been set.”
“These are M.D.C. tricks that should be seen for what they are,” he said in a speech, referring to the Movement for Democratic Change. “The British government’s hidden hand in all these political developments is evident and clearly visible.”
Sir John Sawers, the British ambassador to the United Nations, expressed astonishment that Zimbabwe could so readily dismiss the opinion of the Council. “I find that incredible,” he told reporters. “The actions of this regime are unpredictable, and they will pursue only those courses of action which are in their own self-serving interests.”
Mr. Mugabe may also face increasing pressure from his fellow heads of state in southern Africa. Foreign ministers from a regional bloc of 14 nations known as the Southern African Development Community met on Monday in Angola to discuss the crisis.
But the nations in the region have long been divided on the matter, and it is far from clear they will find enough common ground to act decisively. The president of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, chosen by the 14-nation bloc as mediator in the Zimbabwean crisis, has maintained a strategy of quiet diplomacy, pushing for negotiations between Zimbabwe’s opposition and ruling parties, without criticizing Mr. Mugabe publicly.
In a significant show of support for Mr. Tsvangirai, however, the powerful Congress of South African Trade Unions declared on Tuesday that it was “appalled at the levels of violence and intimidation being inflicted on the people of Zimbabwe by the illegitimate Mugabe regime.”
“The June 27 presidential election is not an election, but a declaration of war against the people of Zimbabwe by the ruling party,” the union group added.
Urging a blockade of Zimbabwe, it said, “We call on all our unions and those everywhere else in the world to make sure that they never ever serve Mugabe anywhere, including at airports, restaurants, shops, etc. Further we call on all workers and citizens of the world never to allow Mugabe to set foot in their countries.”
Botswana, Tanzania and Zambia have also harshly condemned the repeated detention of Zimbabwean opposition leaders during the campaign, as well as the violence against opposition supporters.
South Africa had resisted efforts to bring Zimbabwe’s political woes before the Security Council, contending that they were a domestic matter, not an international one.
On Monday, the wrangling over the Council statement took most of the day.
Opponents of a tougher stance by the Council succeeded in quashing an attempt to say that without a second round of elections, Zimbabwe should rely on the results of the first round in March. In that election, Mr. Tsvangirai won more votes than Mr. Mugabe, but, according to the official government count, less than the majority needed to avoid a runoff.
Jendayi E. Frazer, the American assistant secretary of state for African affairs, said in an interview on Monday that adding a mediator whom Mr. Tsvangirai trusts would be helpful, but she said that Mr. Mugabe had voiced no interest in talks.
“It’s going to require an international push to prevent a civil war,” she said.
Alan Cowell reported from London and Celia W. Dugger from Johannesburg. Neil MacFarquhar reported from the United Nations.